Home Country Guidance Afghanistan 2023 4. Subsidiary protection 4.3. Article 15(c) QD: indiscriminate violence in situations of armed conflict 4.3.4. Indiscriminate violence New version of this publication is available Table of Contents Introduction Guidance note Recent developments Actors of persecution and serious harm Refugee status Subsidiary protection Article 15(a) QD Article 15(b) QD Article 15(c) QD Actors of protection Internal protection alternative Exclusion Common analysis 1. Recent developments 2. Actors of persecution or serious harm 2.1. Taliban and affiliated groups 2.2 Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) 2.3. Armed groups resisting the Taliban 2.4. Other non-State actors 3. Refugee status General remarks 3.1. Members of the security institutions of the former government 3.2. Public officials and servants of the former government 3.3. Persons affiliated with foreign forces 3.4. Individuals perceived as members or supporters of the National Resistance Front (NRF) 3.5. Individuals perceived as members or supporters of the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) 3.6. Persons fearing forced recruitment 3.7. Human rights defenders, activists and others perceived as critical of the Taliban 3.8. Journalists and media workers 3.9. Educational personnel 3.10. Humanitarian workers 3.11. Individuals considered to have committed blasphemy and/or apostasy 3.12. Individuals perceived to have transgressed religious, moral and/or societal norms 3.13. Individuals perceived as ‘Westernised’ 3.14. Ethnic and religious minorities 3.14.1. Overview 3.14.2. Individuals of Hazara ethnicity and other Shias 3.14.3. Hindus and Sikhs 3.14.4. Salafis 3.14.5. Tajiks 3.15. Women and girls 3.16. Children 3.16.1. Violence against children 3.16.2. Child recruitment 3.16.3. Child labour and child trafficking 3.16.4. Children without a support network in Afghanistan 3.17. LGBTIQ persons 3.18. Individuals involved in blood feuds and land disputes 3.18.1. Blood feuds 3.18.2. Land disputes 3.19. Persons living with disabilities and persons with severe medical issues 3.20. Individuals who were born in Iran or Pakistan and/or who lived there for a long period of time 4. Subsidiary protection 4.1. Article 15(a) QD: death penalty or execution 4.2. Article 15(b) QD: torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 4.2.1. Healthcare 4.2.2. Socio-economic conditions 4.2.3. Arbitrary arrests and treatment in detention 4.2.4. Corporal punishments 4.2.5. Criminal violence 4.2.6. Other circumstances 4.3. Article 15(c) QD: indiscriminate violence in situations of armed conflict 4.3.1. Preliminary remarks 4.3.2. Armed conflict (international or internal) 4.3.3. Qualification of a person as a ‘civilian’ 4.3.4. Indiscriminate violence Assessment of indiscriminate violence: general approach Security situation in Afghanistan: recent events Focus on provinces Badakhshan Baghlan Balkh Kabul Kandahar Kapisa Kunar Kunduz Nangarhar Panjshir Parwan Takhar 4.3.5. Serious and individual threat: assessment of personal circumstances 4.3.6. Qualification of the harm as ‘threat to (a civilian’s) life or person' 4.3.7. Nexus/’by reason of’ 5. Actors of protection 6. Internal protection alternative 7. Exclusion 7.1. Relevant circumstances 7.1.1. Human rights violations by armed actors since 2001 7.1.2. Past conflicts (1979-2001) 7.1.3. Criminality 7.2. Guidance with regard to Afghanistan 7.2.1. Article 12(2)(a) and Article 17(1)(a) QD 7.2.2. Article 12(2)(b) QD and Article 17(1)(b) QD 7.2.3. Article 12(2)(c) QD and Article 17(1)(c) QD 7.2.4. Article 17(1)(d) QD Abbreviations and glossary Country of origin information references Share Print COMMON ANALYSIS Last update: January 2023 The contents of this section include: Assessment of indiscriminate violence: general approach Security situation in Afghanistan: recent events Focus on provinces Book traversal links for 4.3.4. Indiscriminate violence Previous Parent Next