Human Rights Watch has written to the prime minister to remind him that Australia is obliged to compensate war crimes victims, saying it is “troubled” by recent comments suggesting the government is not currently considering reparations for Afghan families.
The global human rights group has also urged Scott Morrison to ensure the office of the special investigator is able to probe the potential criminal liability of senior commanders for the alleged atrocities, and is shielded from political or military interference.
The public fallout from the Brereton inquiry has, in recent days at least, focused on a proposal to strip special forces soldiers who served in Afghanistan of their meritorious unit citation, a move decried by the independent senator Jacqui Lambie on Tuesday.
The ongoing plight of the victims and their families has, though, faded from public discussion.
Afghan human rights and legal groups have previously urged the Australian government to make reparations to affected families, a proposal the chief of the defence force, Angus Campbell, backed when releasing the Brereton report last month.
“We will seek to develop [the compensation plan] with the other parts of government involved and, indeed, engaging with the Afghan government as quickly as possible,” Campbell said.
Morrison, however, has since told reporters that compensation is “not a matter that’s currently being considered by the government at this stage”.
The Human Rights Watch Australia director, Elaine Pearson, wrote to Morrison expressing concern about his comments and reminding him that international humanitarian law “affords victims the right to adequate, effective, and prompt reparation for harm suffered”.
“We are troubled by your comment that compensation for Afghans who were harmed by these incidents was not being considered by the government at this stage,” Pearson said.
Pearson said a finding of criminal guilt was not required to pay such compensation and urged the government to act proactively to pay reparations, and also help victims lodge civil claims in Australian courts.
Human Rights Watch otherwise praised the government for releasing the report, apologising to the Afghan people, and setting up the office of the special investigator.
Pearson said the investigator’s office now needed to be shielded from any political or military influence and given the power to investigate all levels of the chain of command.
“The Office of the Special Investigator should have authority to investigate up the chain of command since civilian officials and military commanders can be held criminally liable as a matter of command responsibility if they knew or should have known about violations committed by forces under their control and failed to prevent them or punish those directly responsible,” she wrote.
“Command responsibility has been incorporated into Australia’s Law of Armed Conflict Manual and Criminal Code Act.”
The letter also calls for the prosecution of David McBride, a former military lawyer who leaked documents to the ABC, to be dropped.
The Brereton report, released last month, found 39 Afghans were allegedly murdered by Australian special forces in 23 incidents. Two more were allegedly cruelly treated.
None of the alleged killings took place in the heat of the battle, the report said.
Heston Russell, a veteran and former special forces soldier who now campaigns on veterans issues, questioned what was meant by “heat of the battle” while speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
He was asked about vision showing an Australian special forces soldier shooting a cowering Afghan civilian in a field at point blank range.
“That situation in particular is indeed an allegation that I am going to afford the presumption of innocence, as opposed to the snapshot version put forward to the media,” he said.
