Timeline for War Crimes in Afghanistan

2001
War Crimes in Afghanistan: Timeline

Chronology of Human Rights Since 1863
1863	Abraham Lincoln distributes pamphlets to the Northern and Southern Armies outlining the behavior of troops. Topics covered include the use of enemy's property, the treatment of women and children, and the treatment of prisoners.
1863	International Committee for the relief of military wounded - Establishes the national committees for the relief of wounded military personnel.
1864	Geneva Convention for the amelioration of the wounded in the field.
1867	First International Conference of the Red Cross
1899	The Hague Convention- Establishes the individual's duty to the rights of humanity. Among the issues covered were; the prohibition on attacking undefended towns, the use of weapons that cause unnecessary injury, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and violating a nation's neutrality.
1907	The Hague Conventions- Continuations of the 1899 Hague Convention.
1919	League of Red Cross Societies forms.
1925	Geneva Protocol- Prohibits the use of chemical and bacteriological agents in weapons.
1929	Geneva Convention- Addresses the treatment of prisoners of war
1949	Geneva Convention- Revision of the 1929 Geneva Convention addressing the treatment of prisoners of war.
1977	Protection of Victims of International and Non-International Armed Conflict.
1980	Convention on the Prohibition on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which Cause Excessive Injury
1989	Conventions on the rights of the child.
1993	Prohibition on the use of chemical weapons.
1995	Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons.
1996	Prohibition on mines, booby traps, and other such devices.
1997	Convention on the use of anti-personnel weapons.
1998	Rome Statue of the International Crime Court.

Timeline of PHR Involvement in Afghanistan
December-January, 2001-02	Witnesses from a local town claim to have seen three trucks backed into one of the gravesites.
January 16, 2002	PHR visits Sheberghan Prison, discovers mass gravesites.
February 7, 2002	PHR send forensic expert to asses the gravesites.
February 26, 2002	PHR sends letter to Rumsfeld about the United States' responsibility for the prisoners at Sheberghan, they received no response.
March 1, 2002	PHR sends letter calling for protection of mass gravesites in Afghanistan.
April 2002	PHR along with the United Nations, sends forensics experts to the gravesites at Sheberghan to conduct preliminary exhumations.
May 7, 2002	UN releases the preliminary findings from the investigation of the gravesites.
August 2002	PHR meets with Deputy Assistant Secretary Collins, who says that the Department of Defense will not secure the gravesite for further investigation.
August 7, 2002	PHR seeks UN assistance in protecting the mass gravesites.
September 19, 2002	UN authorizes official investigation of the mass gravesites in Afghanistan.