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We
inform about Afghanistan
Part
one of this newsletter is about the social crisis in Afghanistan.
Part two describes briefly the crisis of tens
of thousands of Afghans who have been forced to flee their homes
as fighting rages in the northeastern provinces, leaving them
destitute just weeks ahead of the harsh winter months.
The
Social Crisis
As of
1996, Afghanistan had one of the highest infant mortality rates in
the world. 165 out of every 1.000 babies died before the age of
one (UNDP, Human Development Report 1997). One-fourth of all
children died before their fifth birthday, or 250 per 1.000,
compared to 169 over all least developed countries. Many children
die of simple, preventable diseases like diarrhea because they
couldn’t reach a hospital and couldn’t drink safe water.
A staggering 1,640 mothers out of 100.000 die giving births,
compared with 1.030 over all least developed countries and 471
over all developing nations (UNDP, Human Development Report 1997).
Life expectancy for men and women is just 43-44 years old. Only 29
per cent of the population has access to health facilities and
only 12 per cent has access to safe water.
Women and children suffer the most. After more than twenty years
of war, a large number of households are headed by women. Their
husbands have been killed, disappeared or imprisoned for political
reasons. Since 1996, the Taliban have generally not permitted them
to work outside their homes. The majority of those who were
educated and had jobs or professional careers are restricted to
very limited activities at home. Many, particularly
those from rural areas,
had never been outside their compound or village, and suddenly
were thrust out on their own with children to care for. Most are
unskilled, or skilled only in needlework like embroidery. Some do
piecework for traders who bring materials to their homes. The
poorest often do laundry for other women for around 25 cents (US$)
per day.
Therefore, women’s opportunities to earn a living are severely
limited, which often leaves them dependent upon family, neighbors
and, increasingly, on their young children to work in streets or
to beg. Many women have turned to begging to support their
families.
Afghan
society, even without the Taliban’s Ministry for the Suppression
of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, is extremely conservative. Even
before the arrival of the Taliban the former Supreme Court of the
Islamic State of Afghanistan issued 1994 an “Ordinance on
Women’s Veil” which ordains that women must wear the burqa, a
body-length covering with only a mesh opening to see and breathe
through.
With
the capture of Kabul by the Taliban in 1996 extreme dress codes
have been enforced on both men and women and social behavior has
been severely restricted. Music, TV and cinemas are banned and
sport is restricted. Women and girls have been the most seriously
affected, and many have chosen to stay at home rather than risk
punishment on the streets. Women’s health care is severely
limited since men generally have not been allowed to treat women
and most female health care professionals are not allowed to work,
although those restrictions have been eased somewhat by the
authorities.
As of 1996, only 13% of women and 44% of men were literate (UNDP,
1997). The Taliban restriction against girls and women’s
education remains, with some exceptions for girls under 12 in
urban areas, but in some rural areas girls do have freer access to
public schools. Since most teachers were women prior to the
Taliban, and women were then forbidden to work, the vast majority
of schools were closed. "Within three months of the capture
of Kabul, the Taliban closed 63 schools in the city affecting
103,000 girls, 140,000 boys and 11,200 teachers, of whom 7,800
were women.
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We all feel a genuine
concern for the freedoms that so many female professional Afghan
women are presently denied. The international media, high level
donor meetings, UN Special Rapporteurs, and sometimes even our own
reports all too often describe and articulate the miseries of
Afghan women. But very often these reports are over-generalized,
misrepresentative, and selective.
Statements indicate that the greater severities of Kabul are
extended to the whole nation; that the greater rights and freedoms
once enjoyed by the privileged, educated elite were shared with
the 80% of rural women and men; that services addressing basic
human rights such as water, health, education have been destroyed
by war. Such reporting understates historical fact: that the
development of Afghanistan and its people scarcely extended beyond
the major cities; that in fact the vast majority of the population
today – both women and men – suffer not only from human rights
violations perpetuated by uncompromising conflict, but also from a
human rights deficit.
Despite the many constraints, most notably the lack of will for
peace among military protagonists and their external supporters,
today we actually have achievements that ameliorate historical
underdevelopment. Today there are more health services in rural
areas than at any time in the past. Today in rural areas, there
are more girls relative to boys attending primary school than at
any time in the past. Such facts are sadly absent from so-called
“official reporting. (Carol Le Duc: “In Honour of
Professional Afghan Women”; AINA 2000; UN Magazine).
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Even for boys, the authorities commit few resources to education,
as their focus remains on the war. “Education for boys is also
at a standstill in Kabul because most of the teachers are women,
who cannot work. An entire generation of Afghan children are
growing up without any education. Thousands of educated families
have fled Kabul for Pakistan simply because their children can not
longer receive education” (Ahmed Rashid in Taliban: Islam..)
Tens of thousands flee Afghan fighting as winter nears
Tens
of thousands of Afghans have been forced to flee their homes as
fighting rages in the northeastern provinces, leaving them destitute
just weeks ahead of the harsh winter months.
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Since
the start of the year, around 80,000 people, mainly Tajiks and
Uzbeks have fled to the east and the north of the country to escape
fighting between the Taliban and the opposition forces. For many of
them it is their second exodus. Many Afghans fled last year at
around the same time, after the offensive by the Taliban in the
northeastern region, the last bastion of opposition troops.
Destitutes among
destitutes, the refugees must compete with the locals to set up
their camps and gather some food. But these newly-arrived refugees
have to wait for aid as local authorities and international
organizations struggle to find resources.
Wearing ragged clothes, with despair written large on their faces,
more than 8,860 men, women and children are waiting for help in
Rustaq town. They had to flee their houses in northern Afghanistan
following the fierce fighting around Taloqan between Taliban militia
and the forces loyal to Commander Ahmad Shah Masood. The influx to
Rustaq town intensified after the fall of Taloqan and the spread of
fighting up to the border of Tajikistan. Hundreds of families are
congested in private and public buildings, sharing rooms with other
families and suffering from shortage of food, drinking water and
unfriendly weather conditions. They also fear that unhygienic
environment may also cause spread of epidemics among the internally
displaced people, especially the children. “Malnutrition may be
the first happening” said Terre des hommes’ doctor at
Rustaq Clinic.
Terre des hommes with its local Partner NPO/RRAA is since end
of September 2000 providing humanitarian assistance to meet the
needs of the displaced families in Rustaq, Takhar Province.
Providing them food and other everyday use articles, setting up of
dispensaries and immunization of children are some of the
priorities.
Afghan
News
3 October: The Swiss
government imposed sanctions on the regimes of Afghanistan and
Myanmar, in line with decisions by the United Nations and the
European Union, said the Swiss Foreign Minister in Switzerland.
5 October: A powerful bomb went off overnight inside the Afghan
Communication Ministry in the center of Kabul, shattering windows
but causing no casualties.
10
October: Afghanistan ruling Taliban movement condemned fresh moves
by the United States to impose more economic sanctions on the
war-shattered country, accusing Washington of trampling human rights
by adopting a policy of coercion.
12 October: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban accused the opposition of
violating a cease-fire, which had been broke-red by the UN to
vaccinate Afghan children against polio.
17 October: An explosion rocked the police headquarters in Kandahar,
southern Afghanistan, injuring four people, said the Afghan Islamic
Press.
19 October: Afghan health authorities said that besides other
diseases, at least three million people in Afghanistan are suffering
from Malaria, reported BBC.
19 October: Taliban banned all sports played between late afternoon
and evening to avoid disturbing prayers, Taliban-controlled radio
Shariat reported.
20 October: A large number of prisoners, many of them belonging to
opposition parties, escaped from a prison after one of its boundary
walls collapsed as a result of an explosion in Kandahar.
28 October: The United Nations on Friday said up to one million
Afghans could die of starvation amid the worst drought in 30 years
unless
international donors react swiftly to appeals for help.
29 October: In a major anti-narcotic drive, Taliban destroyed
25 heroin-manufacturing factories in Helmand province.
30 October: Uzbekistan agreed to open its border with Afghanistan
for facilitating businessmen of the two countries to resume to
trade, an Afghan embassy spokesman said here Sunday.
2 November: Tension is rising in Afghanistan and Pakistan following
fear of a possible US attack on Afghan cities, says the Washington
Post.
3 November: Afghanistan’s controversial seat at the United Nations
will stay with the ousted Rabbani government for an-other year in a
major blow to the Taliban, opposition officials said on Thursday.
5 November: Afgha-nistan’s ruling Tali-ban and opposition
officials agreed Friday to peace talks sponsored by the United
Nations, a top UN official said here.
6 November: Peace talks agreed to between Taliban and northern
alliance forces last week will come too late for many of the
refugees arriving daily at the Pakistan Torkham border post here,
where UN officials fear a humanitarian emergency is unfolding.
8 November: Rains arrived in Afghanistan Tuesday, raising hopes of a
break in the worst drought in generations which has forced of
subsistence families off their ancestral lands.
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Foundation
of Terre des hommes Lausanne
Terre des hommes in Afghanistan
The Liaison Delegation Office
P.O.Box 729 UT Peshawar
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
tdhkabul@brain.net.pk
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