South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019 of violent Islamist groups, prompting many to migrate to India.63 Conclusion Minority rights in Afghanistan have improved comparatively since the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001. But there is a long way to go to achieve an equal status for the members of the minority groups. Minorities, who have been historically stripped of their most basic rights, are still systematically excluded from government positions and provision of services. The 2004 Afghan Constitution which recognises equal rights for all ethnic groups, appears to be limited on paper. In practice, things have not changed much. With security deteriorating, threats to their life is especially rife now. The militant Islamists still attack religious minorities often, targeting Shia mosques and religious ceremonies in particular. Civilian casualties, resulting from deliberate attacks to religious minorities have increased significantly since 2016.64 The Shia Hazara population is generally the most common victim of ethnoreligious terrorism. Hindu-Sikh communities have also come under attack in recent years with the rise of Islamic militancy. Recommendations In order to protect the rights of minorities living in the country, the government of Afghanistan needs to: • Develop initiatives to combat discrimination based on ethnicity, language and religion; • Enact the Anti-Discrimination Law as soon as possible; • Report on the implementation of the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD); and • Initiate a process to systematically incorporate the provisions of all the international human rights conventions ratified by Afghanistan into the domestic legal system. 63 ‘We Cannot Live Here’: Afghanistan’s Sikhs Weigh Future after Suicide Bombing’, Reuters, accessed November 11, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/ us-afghanistan-sikhs/we-cannot-live-here-afghanistans-sikhs-weigh-future-aftersuicide-bombing-idUSKBN1JS0VZ. 64 Mustafa Sarwar, ‘Amid IS Attacks, Hazaras Fear Dangerous Sectarian Divide in Afghanistan,’ Gandhara, September 13, 2018, accessed November 11, 2019, https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/Afghanistan-is-attacks-hazaras-sunni-shia-sectariandivide/29487602.html. 14