Amnesty A to Z: A for Afghanistan
AP the Baltimore Sun
Amnesty International has published its report for 2009 on the state of the world’s human rights. The report is a comprehensive profile of 157 countries covering security, forced evictions, the death penalty, freedom of expression, discrimination against women and accounts of specific breech of human rights occurrences. TLS is a global health journal that advocates human rights, specifically the right to health. Today we launch a series that will highlight the status of human rights in 26 countries, one country for each letter of the alphabet. It’s amnesty A to Z, and ‘A’ is for Afghanistan.
They live in a state of suspended life- denied health care, education, and a means of existence.
2,000 civilian deaths resulted from military and insurgent attacks in Afghanistan in 2008. Anti-government fighting has spread to areas occupying over one-third of the country. 373 civilians died from Taleban and insurgent suicide bombings, targeting both the Indian Embassy and the Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul as well as civilian crowds and gatherings. 2008 saw a thirty percent increase in civilian casualties due to domestic and international military action since the previous year. Responding to reports of unfettered air strikes, NATO has agreed to restrict unplanned attacks to coverage for ground forces coming under fire. 47 civilians, 30 of them children, died from a U.S. air initiative in July; 90 more civilian deaths, 62 children among them, resulted from an additional attack in August. Attempts at remunerations for families of victims made by the governments responsible have been stunted by the lack of a coordinated assistance program.
Management Sciences for Health, msh.org
Women are particular targets of violence and have decreasing power and minimal protection of their rights. Marriages forced upon women comprise 60-80% of the total unions in Afghanistan. Those women and girls attempting to escape violent marriages are considered moral or domestic criminals. Pursuit of an education also proves perilous for young women; during a walk to school last November, 15 girls were accosted by two men who squirted them with water pistols filled with acid.
A 21 year old in Afghanistan is middle aged- average life expectancy does not exceed 43 years.
Civil insecurity is a direct impediment to ensuring health as a human right and allowing access to health care. The Afghan government has failed to provide sufficient funding and resources to support a functioning health care system. As a result of security threats, the Ministry of Public Health has ordered the closure of multiple health clinics, the only means of accessing treatment for many Afghan citizens. 31 aid workers were killed within the country over the past year, prompting several NGOs to pull their Afghan relief programs. In Logar in August an Afghan driver and three aid workers from the International Rescue Committee were killed by the Taleban; in October a member of British Christian Aid was openly shot in Kabul, also by Taleban forces.
Facing a constant threat of violence, over 235,000 Afghan people are internally displaced. 276,000 refugees returned from Iran and Pakistan over the past year, and an additional 20,000 people have fled to eastern Afghanistan from the Pakistani conflict. They live in a state of suspended life- denied health care, education, and a means of existence.