Securing human rights: Concern for Afghanistan must be clearer and opener!

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) held a vigil at the Extraordinary Party Conference of the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) on Saturday in Göttingen calling for a re-think in Germany’s Afghanistan policy. The human rights workers appealed in an open letter, on banners and posters with pictures of the war-lords forming part of the Afghan government, for a continuation of the ISAF programme to prevent the risk of a failure of the work of reconstruction. At all events measures must be taken to ensure that probable war criminals be removed from office, security forces better trained, corruption and nepotism abolished and the civilian population protected from the increasing violence. Protection of human rights and the building-up of a genuine and transparent constitutional state in Afghanistan must be in the forefront of the ISAF programme.

Text of the open letter:

OPEN LETTER

To the delegates of the Extraordinary Party Conference of the Green Party in Göttingen

Dear delegates of the Extraordinary Party Conference of the Green Party,

Six years after the fall of the Taliban the ISAF soldiers are still as far from fulfilling their mission as at the outset. Their original task was to provide security during the phase of building up a new democratic constitutional state. However Afghanistan is sinking into arbitrariness and violence. Added to that, there is no effective Afghan army which could help protect the young democracy.

Afghanistan’s civilian population is suffering increasingly under the escalation of violence. Taliban attacks on schools, suicide attacks and abductions after 30 years of war make people feel very afraid. The large number of civilian casualties from the NATO air raids is causing considerable bitterness. Many questions remain unanswered concerning the building-up of a democratic state. There are still war-lords with responsibility for the mass killing of civilians who have great influence in government and administration.

It is true that women can now once more move about in the open and many girls have the chance of going to school, yet discrimination and violence against women still take place almost every day. Instead of protecting the population the police themselves are often involved in robberies and abductions. Corruption, nepotism and the lack of control prevent the building-up of a trustworthy security force.

Beyond Kabul the work of reconstruction is taking place at a snail’s pace. There are many new schools, but most people still live in abject poverty and suffer under the arbitrary actions of war-lords. There is often a lack of drinking-water, land and work. Hundreds of thousands of deported refugees find themselves on their return with absolutely nothing. Their return home frequently sparks off conflicts over land. Thus in June 2007 more than 4000 Hazara were driven out because Kuchi nomads claimed a right to their land.

There can be no reconstruction without security. Without reconstruction war and violence will escalate. For this reason the ISAF mission must be continued. The special commissioner for Afghanistan, Joschka Fischer’s comrade Tom Koenig, also warns of the unforeseeable consequences of an ISAF withdrawal. However a change of course is required to make our concern for Afghanistan clearer and opener. It is quite unacceptable that the abduction of a girl by a war-lord under the eyes of the German army unit can be covered up by a governor in Kundus. War-lords must be brought to justice for their actions and removed from their offices. Human rights and the building-up of a trustworthy constitutional state must be given more encouragement by the international community. The strengthening of a civilian society and good government must have special priority so that civil rights workers cannot be intimidated by arbitrary actions. The protection of women must be improved and their rights firmly anchored in the constitution. Special measures must be taken to combat corruption and nepotism. The building-up of a trustworthy army and police must not just be encouraged. In the light of the previous misuse the security forces must be better trained and supervised. Reconstruction must be better coordinated and placed into the hands of Afghans to ensure that the funds are more efficiently employed. Talks with the moderate Taliban and the elders must be encouraged to prevent further escalation of violence.

In the use of foreign soldiers there must no longer be any distinction made between ISAF and the anti-terror force Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). There is therefore no point in renewing the ISAF mandate and refusing to agree to the OEF. However it is important for rethinking to take place with the OEF also and for human rights to be given greater priority. Protection of the civilian population must have absolute priority since otherwise there is no founding for any military action. This is particularly the case with the use of Tornados: no further air-raids on the civilian population can be tolerated since these heat up the spiral of violence and compromise the entire aid mission to Afghanistan. Indiscriminate bombing of the civilian population not only endangers the trustworthiness of the international community but also the lives of German soldiers.

Yours Truly,

Tilman Zülch

General Secretary