The perpetrators of this week's brutal murder of four aid workers supporting education projects in Afghanistan must not go unpunished, an independent United Nations human rights expert said Friday.
“There must be an end to impunity for those who attack schools, students and educators," the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Muñoz Villalobos, said in a statement issued in Geneva.
Three female international aid workers and their Afghan colleague were killed after their vehicle, belonging to the United States-based International Rescue Committee, was attacked by gunmen while travelling from Kabul to Logar.
Mr. Villalobos said the incident "highlights starkly the extreme risks faced by all those promoting the right to education in conflict areas and the urgent need for the international community, and all those involved in this and similar conflicts, to put a stop to such attacks."
The Taliban, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, "do not simply fail to value education: they deliberately target it," the Special Rapporteur noted.
"Their attacks on schools, teachers and others working on education are systematic, not random. They are part of a deliberate attack on human rights, on equality for women and on any attempt by their fellow citizens to control their own destiny," he stated.
Mr. Villalobos paid tribute to Jackie Kirk, whom he called "a friend, a colleague and a great champion of the right to education" and her IRC colleagues - Shirley Case, Nicole Dial and Mohammad Aimal - who were "dedicated human rights workers, trying to ensure that this generation of Afghan children would not be denied an education, like so many of their parents."
"The murder of Jackie Kirk and her colleagues is a crime, a tragedy and a terrible loss for Afghanistan," he stressed.
Wednesday's incident was the latest and most deadly single attack against the Afghan aid community this year, according to the UN. Already 19 aid workers have been killed in 2008, surpassing the total number of lives lost in 2007.
Kai Eide, the head of the United Nations UNAMA mission, Wednesday condemned in a statement the attack on the aid workers.
Top UN envoy speaks out after aid workers killed in Afghanistan
The top United Nations official in Afghanistan has voiced his outrage at the deaths of three female international aid workers and their Afghan colleague after their vehicle was attacked.
The vehicle, belonging to the United States-based International Rescue Committee, was travelling from Kabul to Logar when it was fired on by unknown gunmen this morning.
"I condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest possible terms and urge the authorities to leave no stone unturned in the search for the perpetrators," Kai Eide, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, said in a statement.
"The IRC provides life saving humanitarian assistance to those most affected by the conflict and it is reprehensible that such selfless individuals working for the most vulnerable communities should be deliberately targeted in this way," he added.
Mr. Eide, who is also head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), pointed to a "growing humanitarian challenge" in the strife-torn nation, and urged all parties to recognise and respect the neutrality and independence of the humanitarian assistance being provided to the Afghan people.
Afghanistan this year has witnessed some of the worst violence since the ouster of the Taliban six years ago, with humanitarian aid workers and their vehicles coming under increasing attack.
Just last month, a UN World Food Programme (WFP) convoy transporting more than 320 tons of vital food aid was attacked in the western province of Farah. Two trucks were torched, and another eight were stolen.
