Kabul Maternity Ward Attack

That the Parliament condemns the horrific attack on 12 May 2020 in Kabul, Afghanistan, against a Medecins Sans Frontieres maternity clinic, which it understands was working within the Kabul Shia community; notes with sorrow the reported loss of 24 innocent lives, including two babies, 12 mothers, one of whom was a mother giving birth, plus a number of nurses and technicians; recognises that this attack is within the context of a history of violence perpetrated by the Taliban, IS-K and other militant groups against minority groups in Afghanistan, particularly from the Shia community and the Hazara ethnic group; highlights what it sees as the prolific gender-based violence against women and girls in Afghanistan, including killings, beatings, torture and corporal punishment, which Amnesty International has reported as going uninvestigated and unpunished; understands that incidents of such violence are believed by human rights groups to be significantly under-reported; condemns these acts of violence, and affirms international calls for an end to this internal ongoing conflict.