We, the people of the world, witness the approval of the UN Security Council's Resolution No. 2721 of December 29, 2023, concerning the fate of Afghanistan under the Taliban's rule. This regime, known for its fundamentalist and fascist ideology and widely recognized as a terrorist group, has in over two years of governance in Afghanistan, perpetrated numerous human rights violations. These include executions, stoning, imprisonment, threats, and the oppression of our people, especially women and children, further exacerbating eight fault lines1) oppression of women, 2) oppression of children, 3) Oppression of nationalities, 4) proxy wars, warlordism and direct occupation, 5) immigration, 6) poverty, 7) Lack of freedom of thought, opinion, and expression, 8) Integration of religion and state. These actions, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions and its annexes (specifically referring to Paragraph 4 of Article 1 and Paragraph 3 of Article 96 of the First Additional Protocol), and the UN conventions on combating terrorism, have not only disregarded all standards of human rights but also involved the killing, imprisoning, torturing, humiliating, and insulting of military personnel of the associated government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. These constitute international armed conflicts (IAC), with civilians now considered victims of war crimes.

Resolution No. 2721, despite the historical context and the numerous UN Security Council Resolutions (from 1998 to 2015) addressing Afghanistan and the threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, inappropriately recognizes the Taliban as a party in dialogue. This stance is a regression to the circumstances of 2001 when the American government occupied Afghanistan under the pretext of self-defense. Back then, the dialogue included Mujahideen groups with blood-stained hands. Now, the dialogue involves the Mujahideen, the Taliban, technocrats, and governments directly involved in the massacre of our people.

This self-defense and the fight against terrorism, as paralleled by the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, have led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, as per UNIMA reports, without accountability from the United States, international forces, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Taliban, and other involved groups.

UNIMA's regular reports (from 2009 to 2021) on conflicts in Afghanistan reveal the horrific impact on civilians, including suicide bombings, the placement of explosives in public and civilian areas, targeted assassinations, airstrikes, and the use of war tools such as mortars in civilian-inhabited areas. These acts, especially those of the Taliban and ISIS against civilians and specifically the oppressed Hazara nationality, are indicative of crimes against humanity (refer to Article 7, Clause 1 (h) of the Statute of the Criminal Court).

The resolution's use of incorrect terminology regarding different Afghan nationalities, recognizing them as ethnic minorities, risks establishing an even more corrupt government than its predecessors, one yet to be cleansed of the blood of our innocent people and failing to deliver justice. This government will not be founded on the fundamental interests of the people but rather on the distribution of political power among corrupt military figures and those responsible for the people's suffering.

We, the people, have experienced similar scenarios in the past. We recall how the Mujahideen, their hands stained with the blood of the people, traded with technocrat groups affiliated with Western governments, bargaining over the fate of our people with the support of these governments. The behaviors of all parties involved in the conflicts in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, which led to the sacrifice of tens of thousands of civilians, are examples of war crimes as per the Geneva Conventions and its appendices. These reports indicate that in several years from 2009 to 2021, between thirty and forty percent of the victims of war crimes in Afghanistan were children, as per the Geneva Conventions and its appendices, and specifically Article 38 of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In the 20-year conflicts from 2001 to 2021 between various governments and the Islamic State of Afghanistan with the Taliban and ISIS, as two terrorist groups, the rules of war concerning the separation of combatants, proportionality, precautionary measures, and the prohibition of causing excessive harm or unnecessary suffering were not adhered to. All parties to the war in Afghanistan, specifically the Taliban and ISIS, the affiliated government (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan), and other governments with a military presence in Afghanistan, have committed war crimes, disregarding the rules of international humanitarian law and human rights.

This resolution, approved by majority of the members of the UN Council with Russia and China abstaining, highlights that the reasons for these two governments' abstention are no different in essence from the governments that voted in favor. Contrary to the immediate and fundamental interests of the people of Afghanistan, Resolution No. 2721, with its contradictions to previous resolutions issued by the same UN Security Council authority, as well as international humanitarian law and human rights, vividly demonstrates one thing: this system not only oppresses forty million people in Afghanistan but also the more than eight billion people worldwide, offering only two alternatives (religious fundamentalism and imperialism) that will bring nothing but a more terrible future for our people.

We, members of the Move for Change movement, and signatories of this declaration, seriously reject Resolution No. 2721 of December 29, 2023, of the United Nations Security Council. We will not allow the fate of our people and their immediate and fundamental interests to be manipulated for the umpteenth time, becoming a victim of the political, military, economic, and diplomatic interests of governments and fundamentalist, fascist, and terrorist groups that have slaughtered people from Ukraine to Gaza and from Afghanistan and Iran to America and Europe. Women have been reduced to the level of slavery, and from Afghanistan to Africa, children are exploited or killed.

We, the signatories, support this declaration and agree with its content and fight for the implementation of these three items:

1. Specifically, the implementation of the basic interests of the Afghan people, including the radical different solution of the eight fault lines: 1) oppression of women, 2) oppression of children, 3) Oppression of nationalities, 4) proxy wars, warlordism and direct occupation, 5) immigration, 6) poverty, 7) Lack of freedom of thought, opinion, and expression, 8) Integration of religion and state. No national or international decision and no institution or movement that does not specifically and fundamentally – not merely reformist – resolve these eight social gaps is acceptable to us.

2. We ask the Hague International Criminal Court, referring to article 9, paragraph 1 (c)) of the Prosecutor (General Prosecutor of the Hague Criminal Court) regarding war crimes, to refer to the Statute of the International Criminal Court, Section 2, Article 5, Clause 1 (c))

A. Based on the Geneva Conventions and its appendices and the Hague Criminal Court Statute against all international military forces, especially the United States, which have fought in Afghanistan and committed war crimes; to start your research.

B. Based on the Geneva Conventions and its annexes and the Statute of the Hague Criminal Court, start an investigation against all the leaders of the Islamic State of Afghanistan who have committed war crimes as per the Geneva Conventions and its annexes and the Statute of the Hague Criminal Court.

C. Begin investigations against the fundamentalist and fascist Taliban group, which is currently perpetrating war crimes, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, its annexes, and the Statute of the Hague Criminal Court.

3. Furthermore, as stipulated in our declaration, we demand the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners, a plea endorsed by hundreds of individuals and institutions. We insist on the liberation of political prisoners from the rule of the fundamentalist and fascist Taliban group. The definition of political prisoners is clearly articulated in the text of the declaration.