Frederikshavn d. 28.07.03

Til flygtningeminister Bertel Haarder

Jeg vil bede dig læse nedenstående resume af Human Right Watchs rapport ”Killing You Is a Very Easy Thing for Us" og genoverveje om afghanske asylsøgere kan tvangsudvises ”i sikkerhed og værdighed” til det nuværende (rets)sikkerhedsmæssige kaos i Afghanistan, jf Human Right Watch ?

Og hvordan sikrer du, at de allerede udviste afghanere ikke bliver udsat for overgreb og i øvrigt overlever ?

Med venlig hilsen

Arne Hansen, medlem af LDF, Pamelas venner mm.

To: post@arnehansen.net

Subject: Afghanistan: Warlords Implicated in New Abuses

From: Human Rights Watch <afghanistan@topica.email-publisher.com>

Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 13:41:34 -0700

For Immediate Release:

Afghanistan: Warlords Implicated in New Abuses

Report Details Threats to Women's Rights, Freedom of Expression

(New York, July 29, 2003) - Afghan warlords and political

strongmen supported by the United States and other nations are

engendering a climate of fear in Afghanistan that is threatening

efforts to adopt a new constitution and could derail national

elections scheduled for mid-2004, Human Rights Watch said in a

new report released today.

The report warns that violence, political intimidation, and

attacks on women and girls are discouraging political

participation and endangering gains made on women's rights in

Afghanistan over the last year.

"Human rights abuses in Afghanistan are being committed by gunmen

and warlords who were propelled into power by the United States

and its coalition partners after the Taliban fell in 2001," said

Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division of Human

Rights Watch. "These men and others have essentially hijacked the

country outside of Kabul. With less than a year to go before

national elections, Afghanistan's human rights situation appears

to be worsening."

The 101-page report, "Killing You Is a Very Easy Thing for Us":

Human Rights Abuses in Southeast Afghanistan, documents army and

police troops kidnapping Afghans and holding them for ransom in

unofficial prisons; breaking into households and robbing

families; raping women, girls and boys; and extorting shopkeepers

and bus, truck and taxi drivers. The report also describes

political organizers, journalists and media editors being

threatened with death, arrested and harassed by army, police and

intelligence agents. The subject area of the report, the

southeast of Afghanistan and Kabul city, is one of the most

densely populated areas of Afghanistan.

Because soldiers are targeting women and girls, many are staying

indoors, especially in rural areas, making it impossible for them

to attend school, go to work, or actively participate in the

country's reconstruction. In many places, human rights abuses are

driving many Afghan families to keep their girls out of school.

The atmosphere of violence, along with resurgent religious

fundamentalism in parts of the country, is endangering the most

important human rights improvement since the end of the

Taliban--the ability of girls to go back to school.

"The fact is that most girls in Afghanistan are still not in

school," said Adams. "In many cases, returning refugee families

who sent their girls to school in Pakistan or Iran are afraid to

do the same in Afghanistan."

The testimony of victims and witnesses implicates soldiers and

police under the command of many high-level military and

political officials in Afghanistan. These include Mohammad Qasim

Fahim, the Minister of Defense; Hazrat Ali, the military leader

of the Eastern Region; Younis Qanooni, the Minister of Education;

Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former president of Afghanistan; and

Abdul Rabb al-Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful former mujahidin leader to

whom many of the officials involved in the documented abuses in

Kabul city and province remain loyal.

The report urges the Afghan government to sideline and pressure

abusive leaders and to seek more international assistance in its

efforts.

Human Rights Watch called on the United States, the United

Kingdom, Iran, Russia and other external powers to end their

support for local strongmen and commanders involved in human

rights abuses.

"External support for warlords is destabilizing Afghanistan,"

said Adams. "The United States and the United Kingdom, in

particular, need to decide whether they are with President Karzai

and other reformers in Kabul or with the warlords. The longer

they wait, the more difficult it will be to loosen the warlords'

grip on power."

Human Rights Watch emphasized the need for the Afghan government

and the international community to redouble efforts to reform the

Afghan Ministry of Defense. The Ministry of Defense in Kabul is

currently dominated by the political and military faction "Shura-

e Nazar," a loose alliance of former mujahidin parties. Making

the ministry more ethnically and politically representative is a

vital prerequisite for the disarmament, demobilization and

reintegration programs that could lessen the power of abusive

military rulers and their troops.

Human Rights Watch urged NATO to expand the geographic scope of

the U.N. authorized security force, the International Security

Assistance Force (ISAF), currently stationed only in Kabul, when

it takes over ISAF command in August. Human Rights Watch also

urged NATO to widen ISAF's mandate to include disarmament and

human rights protection. Plans to deploy more international

Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) may be a positive step if

they focus on security, but they are not a substitute for an

expanded security force.

Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations to increase its

human rights monitoring and protection efforts through the

deployment of significant numbers of U.N. human rights officers

around the country.

"With more U.N. human rights workers on the ground, victims will

be better able to seek redress and protection. An increase in

monitoring will have the added benefit of giving the Afghan

administration and the international community better information

about what is happening around the country," said Adams. "This

is standard operating procedure in other U.N. missions, but so

far the United Nations has refused to take this step."

Human Rights Watch also urged the United Nations to increase its

public reporting on the human rights situation and to supply more

personnel to work side-by-side with the Afghan Independent Human

Rights Commission.

To view the report, please see:

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/afghanistan0703/

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