Letters, Op-Eds, and Presentations 2

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

To the Editor:

Congratulations on your comprehensive and moving account of the foodcrisis in Afghanistan ("Now the Battle to Feed the Afghan Nation"). Butthe article overlooks the dangers of militarizing the humanitarianeffort.

1. Domestic remedies must be exhausted prior to filing claims in theInter-American Commission, however, that requirement does not applywhen no remedy is available. Exhaustion is satisfied by article 37 ofthe Regulations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rightsbecause US law "does not afford due process of law for protection of[the economic and social] rights that have allegedly been violated."Inter-Am. C.H.R. Regulations, suprapar. 13, at art. 37. Challenges, constitutional as well as statutory,to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, PRWORA, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, inthe courts of the United States would be futile thus exhaustion ofdomestic remedies requirement does not obstruct this claim in theInter-American Commission.

Letter to U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld

Letter to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

To the Editor:

That previous US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk (Op-Ed Aug. 8)can purport to offer solutions to the escalating Israeli-Palestiniancrisis without once mentioning the word ???occupation??? testifies to theextraordinary pro-Israel bias in US policy.

This presentation was made to CESCR in connection with the fact-finding mission to Honduras investigating the gold mining industry.

Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Inthis presentation I will talk about how a human rights analysis andspecifically an economic, social and cultural rights analysis canbenefit the issue of mining and campaigns around mining. I willdescribe the work that the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)has been doing in Central America and internationally and give somethoughts on challenges and the possibilities for further work. FinallyI will talk about whether a rights analysis benefits community members.

Presentacion

El ???Center for Economic and Social Rights??? (Centro por los DerechosEcon??micos y Sociales) (CESR) fue establecido en 1993 para promover lajusticia social a trav??s de los derechos humanos. El CESR trabajacon soci??logos y organizaciones locales en comunidades afectadas, paradocumentar las violaciones a los derechos, abogar por cambios en laspol??ticas que empobrecen y explotan a la gente y movilizar la presi??nlocal hacia el cambio social. Siendo una de las primeras organizacionesen se??alar las injusticias internacionales como violaciones al derechointernacional de los derechos humanos, el CERS cree que los derechos econ??micos y sociales ???legalmentevinculantes sobre todas las naciones ??? pueden proporcionar un marcouniversalmente aceptado para el fortalecimiento del activismo de lajusticia social.