Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to talk a little bit about and reiterate the devastation that the 1891-93 campaigns by Abdur Rahman had on the Hazara society in Afghanistan. My research in Afghanistan, which I've undertaken since 2009, focused on Hazara collective trauma and the Hazara community at large.
One of the things I found was that at the centre of this collective trauma was this event in 1891-93 and the actions of Abdur Rahman. While there had been loss of Hazara land prior to that, and while of course we've heard about many of the horrific things that have happened to Hazaras since then, this event set the stage for more than 100 years of Hazara persecution within Afghan society.
Really quickly, Abdur Rahman did carry out campaigns against other communities in Afghanistan, but what was particular about the Hazara community was that it was done with an intent to target a specific ethnic group that had specific somatic or racial features and that was a religious minority. There was dehumanizing language, and there were efforts to mobilize not just the army but the entire society. There were civilians who were brought in and were called upon to commit jihad against Hazaras and target them specifically, so this was a very specific event. It targeted the Hazara culture, as well, and the social structure was almost completely destroyed.
I don't want to take too much time, but I want to reiterate several things that point to this being a genocide. Number one, this was a specific group. This was the targeting of a specific group, an ethnic and religious group. There is documentation of this. We see, of course, the killing of huge numbers of Hazaras, the displacement of huge numbers of Hazaras from their land and the enslavement. I think we've already heard the number, more than 62%. This is pretty much the agreed-upon number.
We also saw, however, that there were conditions put in place to bring about the destruction of Hazaras after this. We had Hazara land that was given out to those who assisted in these campaigns and to others, as well, so Hazaras were removed from the land and it was given to other populations in Afghanistan.
We had incredibly high taxation rates put on Hazaras that made it nearly impossible for them to live, and of course we had the enslavement of huge numbers of people. This was also treated as the spoils of war for those who took part in the campaign.
I think it's important to underline that women—this has been brought up—were forced into marriage and raped, both enslaved women and non-enslaved women, so this could also be viewed in the context of genocide as an attempt to prevent the birth of Hazaras. Again, all of this, these events from 1891 to 1893, has set the stage and has led to current Hazara vulnerability and the current risk that Hazaras face of genocide again in Afghanistan. We have the past history of that, and then we have that going forward.
I think it's very important that this time period of 1891 to 1893 and Abdur Rahman's campaigns against Hazaras be recognized as a genocide for all of these reasons.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.