Afghanistan

Joint Statement by United Nations Agencies - In Afghanistan, A Population in Crisis
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, World Food Programme, UNDP, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

In October, 2003, CESR co-hosted a talk with Tariq Ali and Amy Goodman in New York City. Other sponsors of the talk included Verso, Campus Antiwar Network, and the Muslim Students Association.

Kabul, Afghanistan - I am a member of the loya jirga's silent majority -- or rather, silenced majority -- who came here to Afghanistan's capital expecting to shape our nation's future but instead find ourselves being dragged back into the past.

Afghans and Aid Workers Criticize International Policy and Call for Meaningful Focus on Human Rights

Human Rights Conditions

Over twenty years of successive armed conflicts and massive human rights violations have killed at least 1.5 million Afghans and rendered 6 million homeless. Even prior to 11 September and 7 October, the Afghan population suffered severe destitution and hardship: a ruined infrastructure, abysmal socio-economic indicators, the world’s largest population of refugees and internally displaced persons, the world’s highest concentration of land mines, three years of worsening drought, a repressive government and international isolation marked by economic sanctions.

To the Editor:

Congratulations on your comprehensive and moving account of the food crisis in Afghanistan ("Now the Battle to Feed the Afghan Nation"). But the article overlooks the dangers of militarizing the humanitarian effort.

This report presents the findings of a human rights assessment mission to Afghanistan, undertaken in January 2002 by the Center for Economic and Social Rights. To provide a snapshot of local human rights priorities, the CESR mission interviewed a cross-section of Afghans and international aid workers.

CESR researcher Hadi Ghaemi (CUNY) presented a half-hour talk accompanied by a videotape upon his return from Afghanistan as part of the CESR human rights research meeting.

Speakers include Roger Normand, CESR

A group of Brooklyn organizations are trying to respond to the urgent need for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. An estimated 3 million people lack food, shelter and basic medical care and many will die this winter. We reach out to you in the hope that you will attend the following event: