Hazara Genocide Memorial Day
Statement – Recognize and Prevent Hazara Genocide in Afghanistan
September 25 is observed as the Hazara Genocide Memorial Day. Today, the Hazara people and their friends worldwide honor the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Hazara lives lost in the ongoing Hazara genocide in Afghanistan – particularly the Hazaras who were massacred, enslaved, and displaced during Amir Abdur Rahman Khan’s Hazara genocide 1891–1893. In Hazara history, Amir Abdul Rahman Khan’s brutal genocide marked the beginning of a long run pattern of persecution that not only has not stopped to this day but rather intensified at the hands of Taliban and IS-KP (Islamic State-Khorasan Province) in Afghanistan.
The roots of the Hazara genocide trace back to the late 19th century under Amir Abdul Rahman Khan – who declared holy wars against the Hazaras – massacred more than 60% of the Hazara population, enslaved Hazara women and children, and dispossessed the community of their ancestral lands (see e.g. Minority Rights Group). This campaign of annihilation set the stage for the ongoing genocidal attacks since 1891.
During Afghanistan’s 1990s civil war, Hazaras were targeted, tortured, and slaughtered such as in Afshar massacre in Kabul where hundreds of Hazara civilians were killed by several waring parties. The first Taliban regime continued this violence, referring to Hazaras as “infidels” and subjecting them to further massacres and displacement. More recently, the rise of ISIS-KP introduced new brutal methods of targeting Hazaras, including suicide bombings in schools, mosques, maternity wards, and public gatherings, deliberately striking the heart of Hazara life and identity. Under the Taliban’s second rule since 2021, Hazaras face escalating violence, land seizures, forced evictions, and continued exclusion, leaving them defenseless and vulnerable to further atrocities.
The mass atrocities committed against the Hazara people in Afghanistan, reflect an unbroken pattern of systematic persecution and targeted destruction — amounting to an ongoing genocide against the Hazara people, one that has yet to be formally recognized by the international community.
On this day, we remember the countless victims and survivors of past and present atrocities and call on governments, human rights institutions, and the United Nations to recognize and prevent the Hazara genocide and take urgent action to ensure justice, protection, and accountability for the Hazara people around the world.
