Australia urged to establish ‘permanent, specialized international crimes unit’ to probe Afghan war crimes

An independent think tank urged Australia on Thursday to establish a "permanent, specialized international crimes unit," amid allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan.

The Australian Centre for International Justice said in a policy paper that Canberra's current approach and institutional capacity to investigate the international war crimes, is "weak."

"Australia’s approach to date has been to leave the responsibility for international crimes investigations to generalist teams within the Australian Federal Police or to set up ad hoc units with a limited mandate – such as the Office of the Special Investigator to investigate allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan," it said.

The approach leads to a waste of time and resources, an inability to develop and retain multidisciplinary expertise, a lack of institutional networks and cooperation and ultimately the risk that "Australia becomes a safe haven for perpetrators of atrocity crimes."

The government is investigating up to 40 murders by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan in the past decade.

The Office of the Special Investigator was established after the release of the Brereton Report in late 2020, which found “credible evidence” that soldiers murdered civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan.

"The establishment of a permanent, specialized international crimes unit would finally open up a pathway for survivor communities in Australia to seek redress for atrocity crimes, and for Australia to effectively coordinate with national and international authorities in an effort to close the impunity gap for international crimes,” said the paper.​​​​​​​