Quelques éléments sur la situation des enfants et adolescents en

Transcription

Collectif de soutien des exilés du 10ème
Quelques éléments sur la situation
des enfants et adolescents en Afghanistan
2008
Décembre 2008
Ce document présente quelques éléments sur la situation des jeunes en Afghanistan. Il ne prend pas
en compte les réfugiés en Iran et au Pakistan.
Pourtant dans les camps de réfugiés en Iran, 43% des 920 000 afghans de ces camps sont âgés de
moins de 18 ans et dans ceux du Pakistan ils représentent 46% du million d’afghans1, et ceci sans
compter les réfugiés non reconnus dans ces deux pays qui sont respectivement 1,5 et 1 millions.
Cela représente plus de 600 000 jeunes de 12 à 18 ans
Les problèmes rencontrés dans ces deux pays, l’aggravation de la situation en Afghanistan, la
volonté de renvoyer les afghans vivant en Iran et celle de fermer progressivement des camps au
Pakistan, accentuent les difficultés rencontrés par les jeunes afghans et contribuent à leur faire
prendre la route de l’exil vers l’Europe.
Février 2008
1
Chiffres HCR 2006
6 des 12 millions d’enfants scolarisables ont accès à l’éducation, AFP janvier 2008
4
L’ONU préocccupée par l’utilisation d’enfants comme boucliers humains par les taliban janv 08
5
L’ONU veut engager des discussions avec les taliban au sujet des enfants soldats, janv 08
6
Une vie détruite par les mariages forcés, BBC février 2008
7
Terrorists targetting children, Pajhwok février 2008-04-20
11
La pauvreté pousse les jeunes à rejoindre les taliban, IRIN février 2008
12
Les garçons perdus de Kandahar, Bassirat mars 2008
14
Dans le Helmand le pavot avant l’école, IRIN mars 2008
17
Travail des enfants dans les briqueteries pour payer les dettes de la famille, IRIN avril 2008
20
Les communautés font face à la violence et envoient leurs enfants à l’école, Afghana mai 2008
23
Les ecoles fermées devant les menaces, BBC mai 2008
25
Les enfants afghans paient les dettes de leur famille , Al Jazeera juin 2008
26
Un adolescent décrit l’action des madrasas pour faire de lui un kamikaze, RFE juin 2008
28
Fatima 11 ans nous avons quitté l’école pour aider notre famille, IRIN juin 2008
30
Arrestation d’un gang qui enlevait et violait des enfants, AFP juin 2008
31
Un terroriste afghan de 14 ans, The Independent juin 2008
32
Peu d’appui pour les enfants victimes d’abus sexuel, IRIN juin 2008
33
L’UNICEF dénonce les conditions de détention des enfants juin 2008
35
Les enfants victimes oubliées du conflit, AFP juillet 2008
36
Arrestation d’une femme et d’un enfant, kamikazes présumés, AFP juillet 2008
37
Les attaques d’écoles menacent le développement, UNICEF juillet 2008
38
Afghanistan les enfants en danger, IRIN juillet 2008-
39
Parwan school children are forced to toil in farms, PAN, août 200_
41
Taliban cut off afghan teacher ear, AFP, septembre 2008
43
Attacks deprive 300 000 students of education, IRIN, septembre 2008
45
Kidnappers target the rich influential, AFP, septembre 2008,
48
Rohullah 13 “I was trained to carry out a suicide attack, IRIN, novembre 2008,
52
Streets kids turn from beggars to beauticians, UNHCR, novembre 2008,
54
15 écolières aspergées de vitriol à Kandahar, Le Monde, novembre 2008,
56
Young afghans return to a homeland they never knew, UNHCR, novembre 2008,
58
Returning home, young refugees confront complex issues,
60
Child abuses rise in North, Quqnoos novembre 2008,
61
The workloads of afghan children, BBC, novembre 2008,
62
Taliban set up child recruitment, Quqnoos, novembre 2008,
63
Afghan children being recruited as fighters, AFP, novembre 2008,
64
Malnutrition pour 1, 6 million d’enfants, IRIN, novembre 2008,
67
Drought, poverty lead children to abandon school,
69
Un calls for more actions to protect children, IRIN, décembre 2008,
71
Kandahar schools empty after acid attack on girl, IWPR, décembre 2008,
73
Afghan parents keep children home, BBC, décembre 2008,
76
Un kamikaze de 13 ans à Helmand, UNAMA décembre 2008,
77
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=2008012535efkrVeq0
AFP, 21 janvier 2008
SIX DES 12 MILLIONS DE JEUNES SCOLARISABLES ONT ACCèS à L'INSTRUCTION
AFGHANISTAN : PAS D'éCOLE POUR 300 000 éLèVES à CAUSE DES TALIBANS
L'insurrection de plus en plus sanglante des talibans empêche 300 000 élèves d'être scolarisés dans le sud
de l'Afghanistan, a déclaré lundi le président afghan Hamid Karzaï à l'ouverture de la troisième année de
travaux du parlement.
L'an dernier, ils étaient 200.000 à être privés d'école, a comparé le chef de l'État. «Les ennemis de ce pays
veulent que les écoles soient fermées et nos enfants sans éducation», a affirmé le président.
«Malheureusement, environ 300.000 enfants ne peuvent pas aller à l'école par crainte des terroristes», a-til dit, en parlant des zones du sud du pays où l'insurrection est la plus violente.
Au pouvoir de 1996 jusqu'à leur renversement à la fin 2001, les talibans mènent, depuis, des attaques
dirigées contre les institutions, dont les écoles et les instituteurs.
Dans des zones plus stables, un million d'enfants ont pu entrer en classe cette année, a expliqué le
président, soulignant que 40% d'entre eux étaient des filles.
Un haut responsable de l'éducation avait indiqué à l'AFP en septembre que depuis 2005, plus de 110
instituteurs, étudiants et autres employés du secteur de l'éducation avaient été tués, la plupart dans le sud
de l'Afghanistan, dans des attaques attribuées aux talibans.
Au moins six millions d'enfants, soit la moitié de la population en âge d'être scolarisée en Afghanistan,
allaient à l'école l'an dernier, soit six fois plus que lorsque les talibans ont perdu le pouvoir.
La majorité des filles n'avaient pas le droit d'aller à l'école quand les talibans gouvernaient le pays.
url : http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080121/CPMONDE/80121073/1032/CPMONDE
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=2008012535efkrVeq003/02/2008 12:10:42
http://www.pajhwak.com/
UN disturbed over Taliban using children as human
shield
Lalit K Jha - Jan 30, 2008 - 15:07
United Nations (PAN): A United Nations report released Tuesday expressed concern over the increasingly use of
children as human shield by Taliban and the deliberate attacks by the terrorist outfit on girl students.
In his 45-page report, submitted to Security Council and General Assembly; the Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, said
children continue to be a major victim of the conflict between anti-government elements including the Taliban and the
international forces in Afghanistan .
The report Children and Armed Conflict alleged that Taliban has been responsible for killing and maiming of children
and attacks on schools. In Afghanistan, insurgents continue to burn down schools, especially girls schools, in an effort
to intimidate and prevent girls from accessing education, Ban said.
Besides Afghanistan, the annual report Children and Armed Conflict said child recruitment is taking place in Burundi,
Chad, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma, Nepal, the Philippines,
Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Uganda.
Ban recommended considering a range of measures, including bans on military aid and travel restrictions on leaders, to
use against parties to armed conflict who continue to systematically commit grave violations against children.
He also urged the Security Council to refer violations against children in armed conflict to the International Criminal
Court .
The report acknowledged that children have also become casualties in military operations against the insurgency,
including air strikes by international military forces. Air strikes have in some cases missed their targets and fallen on
civilian areas, killing children, it said .
Giving examples, it said on 9 March 2007, nine civilians in Kapisa Province, including four children, were killed in a
Coalition military air strike. On 8 May 2007, 21 civilians, including women and children, were reportedly killed in
Helmand Province as a result of air strikes that supported ISAF operations. ISAF acknowledged, that mistakes had been
made during operations and informed the UN that it continued to adjust operations to minimize civilian casualties, the
report said.
Referring to the use of children by the Taliban as human shield, Ban said: The UN remains disturbed by reports of
children being used to perpetrate attacks and, in some cases, as human shields by the Taliban and other insurgents.
There have been reports that the Taliban have recruited and used children in their activities, such as suicide attacks .
Observing this is a relatively new phenomenon, the report said the UN has documented several high-profile cases of
children involved in attacks .
In February 2007, a boy estimated to be between 12 and 15 years old killed himself and a guard and injured four
civilians as he attempted to gain entry to a police station in Khost city, Khost Province. Additionally, a 14-year-old boy
was caught wearing a suicide vest on his way to assassinate the Khost provincial governor. No commitments have yet
been made by any of these groups to end this practice.
The report has also expressed concern over continued attacks against schools by the Taliban and other anti-Government
elements, and security incidents affecting schools and threats against students and teachers .
Between August 2006 and July 2007, there were at least 133 documented incidents of school attacks. These caused at
least 10 reported deaths among students, mainly in the southern provinces, it said. At least 100 attacks in the south were
reported in the first six months of 2007 .
There have been deliberate attacks on female students and women teachers, and girls schools are particularly targeted,
said the report. On 12 June 2007, two gunmen killed two schoolgirls and injured six others as they left the Qalay
Meadan Girls School, in Qala-e Saeed Habib area, Logar Province. According to the Ministry of Education, 384 of the
total 721 schools in the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul are currently closed.
From January to July 2007, there were at least 950 civilian deaths as a result of insurgency-related violence, out of
which the UNAMA has documented at least 49 deaths and 19 injuries to children. On 15 June 2007, a suicide attack
against an ISAF convoy in Uruzgan Province that was distributing sweets and water to local children resulted in the
deaths of four girls and seven boys, aged between 8 and 15 years, it said.
UN agency wants to talk to the Taliban on the issue of
child soldiers
Lalit K Jha - Jan 31, 2008 - 10:38
United Nations (PAN): The United Nations wants to open a channel of dialogue with the Taliban, which has
increasingly been recruiting child soldiers and deploying them for suicidal attacks, a top UN official said Wednesday .
The Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, said
UN offices and its other agencies on the ground like UNICEF have approached the Government of Afghanistan in this
regard .
Afghan Government has not yet approved (our proposal to talk with the Taliban). We have to negotiate with them (the
Afghanistan Govt), Coomaraswamy said .
However, the Government of Afghanistan has recently agreed to allow the appointment of child protection officers
attached to the United Nations peacekeeping operations in the country. Such dialogues are normally carried out by these
officials, she said.
Coomaraswamy was addressing the press at the UN headquarters on Wednesday, a day after the release of the annual
report on Children and armed conflict.
The report by the Secretary General expresses deep concern over the recruitment of child soldiers by the Taliban to be
used in terrorist attack against the government and international forces. Taliban, in fact, figures in the reports list of
shame which includes the name of organizations that recruit child soldiers .
The 45-page report, which speaks in detail about recruitment of child soldiers in the conflict prone areas all over the
world, also expresses concern over use of children as human shield and the increasing attack by the Talibans on schools,
its students and teachers.
The UN Security Council is slated to discuss the report at a special meeting on this issue on February 12, following
which it is expected to either pass a resolution with a set of recommendations or issue presidential statements.
Coomaraswamy said the idea behind the List of Shame where the Taliban is placed -- is that the UN or its agencies on
the ground would try and enter into a dialogue with these non-state actors to have them prepare an action plan to have
the child soldiers released .
There is a very specific procedure laid down by the Security Council in this regard. There is a problem in the sense that
some nation States do not like us taking to the non-state actors. So first we have to find a mechanism and technical
procedure where we can talk to the non-state actors that the nation State is comfortable with. On many occasions we
have come through that process, she said.
With regard to the Afghanistan situation specifically, she said: We have been hindered by the fact that normally this
kind of work is done by child protection officers attached to peacekeeping operations. It was absent from the UNs
Afghan operations.
We are happy to announce that it has just been approved that such officers would now join the peacekeeping forces in
Afghanistan, she said.
The only problem is the Government of Afghanistan does not like the UN speaking to the Taliban. So weather on the
child protection issue, we can get the government to agree that at the technical level they would allow child protection
officers to speak to the Taliban, we have to negotiate that (with the Afghan Govt.), Coomaraswamy said,
The portion of the report dealing with Afghanistan refers to numerous reports of child soldering by the Taliban and
associated forces. Though there have been reports of such a thing by other forces in the country too, the verification
process of them have not been completed.
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=200802032BhWmjW9ct
BBC, 02 février 2008
EN GRANDE-BRETAGNE, 15% DES DEMANDEURS D'ASILE POUR MARIAGE FORçé
SONT DES HOMMES
CALL FOR MALE FORCED WEDDING HELP
The government has agreed to look into funding the UK's first male-only refuge for victims of forced
marriage.
It has emerged that 15% of the people who seek help about being forced into wedlock are men or boys.
A man taken to Pakistan as a child and forcibly engaged to his five-year-old cousin has called for a men's
refuge.
Foreign Office minister Meg Munn said authorities must talk to those affected to "listen to their
experiences" and "learn directly from them".
'Devastated' by marriage
She said: "Generally people expect men to be able to look after themselves, to manage situations, so men
subject to domestic violence, men subject to forced marriage are likely to find it much, much more
difficult."
She added "there could well be" a need for a male shelter.
The British High Commission in Pakistan said that the issue of boys and men being forced is a problem
that it is aware of.
Spokesman Theepan Selparatnum said: "Sixty per cent of our case load is forced marriage work and
between 10 to 15% of that are male.
"Our workload is increasing yearly and that's probably attributed to increased publicity and increased
knowledge of what we can do."
'Abducted'
Imran Rehman, from Derby, said his family took some extreme measures to get him back in line when he
resisted the marriage, explaining that he was abducted and taken to Pakistan.
He said a relative shackled his legs together and he was imprisoned for 15 days.
Mr Rehman has now urged the government to take action.
"What I'm calling on the government to do would be set up a male refuge," he told BBC 5 Live.
He went on: "There are no male refuges at all for Asian men. We have 165 women's refuges. What about
the men?
"We know it's happening, and I have a caseload of 36 men. We definitely require male refuge."
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=200802032BhWmjW9ct (1 of 4)07/02/2008 16:00:48
Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, told BBC Radio 5 Live a male
refuge was a good idea.
"We have even heard of bounty hunters chasing people," he said. "It exists, all these things, so I think
people do need solid support."
*******
BBC 2 février 2008
Life devastated by forced marriage
The UK's first male-only refuge for those who have been forced into marriage is being considered. One
victim tells of the dramatic effect the experience had on his life - and how he has come through it.
When Imran Rehman was 10, he was taken to Pakistan and found himself in the middle of an enormous
family party.
He remembers being told to sit next to a little girl in a fine dress. He did not understand why, but he and
the little girl were, jointly, the centre of attention.
They were showered with money and presents and they had garlands cast around their necks.
Imran said: "I was just paying attention to the food and the money. I didn't know what was happening. I
just thought it was a party."
It was not until five years later - the year he sat his O-levels - that he was shown a photograph of that
celebration - and he finally understood its significance. It had been his own engagement party.
The little girl was his five-year-old first cousin. She was also to be his wife - whether he liked it or not.
Locked up
"It made me feel sick, knowing that was my engagement. I went off the rails. I got into the wrong crowd, I
got into fights, I got expelled from two schools," he said.
To get him to behave, his parents took measures that many people might see as extreme.
They sent him to Pakistan, telling him it was so he could see the area where they had been born. For a
while, he says, "it was nice to be on holiday".
Then, one morning, he says, he was drugged, taken to a mosque in a deserted village, and imprisoned.
Once there, he had shackles locked around his feet.
"I was kept in a room, locked up. I had to sleep like that. I even had to eat, go to the bath, toilet, shackled
like that, for 15 days."
Emotional blackmail
With the help of friends, he was eventually able to find his way back to the UK.
When he got home, the only explanation he got from his family was it was his "rehabilitation".
The pressure continued, perhaps to a lesser degree, for years, until something happened that finally made
up his mind up that he had to get married.
He said: "I was 24. I was working at Birmingham airport. I got a phone call to say one of my close
relatives was extremely ill. I was the first person there, by their bedside. I said: 'What can I do to help?'"
His poorly relative told him that if anything was to happen to her, it would be his fault, for not going to
Pakistan to get married. He says he was emotionally blackmailed, and he felt that he had no choice.
"So I went to Pakistan. I didn't want that on my head, you know," he said.
Family disowned
He married his cousin. But the marriage only lasted a month before Imran told his family it was over.
He was told he had just two choices: "Stay with your wife, buy a house, have kids, live your life. Or get
disowned."
"So I left home," he said.
It was the beginning of a seven-year severance from his family. He says he drifted from job to job, drank
too much and struggled to deal with his trauma.
"My family had disowned me. I just thought: 'I've got to stand on my own two feet and try and battle it
out'. Which I couldn't understand how to do."
'Stressed out'
He eventually found a support organisation called Karma Nirvana. At the time, this Derby-based self-help
group was only for women.
But they realised, through their dealings with Imran, that men were also vulnerable to becoming victims
of honour-based violence.
Now, Imran works with Karma Nirvana as a support worker for men who suffer in the same way he did.
He says it is harder for men to seek help than women because men are not allowed to be open about their
feelings.
He said: "You're a man, you don't cry. If you cry, you're not supposed to show your tears. It really stressed
me out.
"I knew there was no support for me to go anywhere. Now, there is support out there for men. I encourage
men to come forward.
"What I tend to do is I tell my personal experiences to the men I work with, male victims. And believe
me, they do open up."
Imran now supports 36 men who have been victims of forced marriage or honour-based violence.
He says helping them get over their problems is a way to help himself to stay positive.
"It makes me feel good, you know? I know I'm not alone any more. Before, when I was alone, I used to
feel like I was the only man who was going through it," he said.
Now he knows there are others who have gone through what he has been through. And he hopes they will
all get the kind of support that will help keep them safe from their families.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7224109.st tm
url : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7223743.stm
Terrorists targetting children: Tanin
Lalit K Jha - Feb 13, 2008 - 16:45
NEW YORK (PAN): Despite remarkable progress made by Afghanistan, terrorism remains a harsh
reality in the lives of Afghan children, the countrys permanent representative to the United Nations
has said.
Addressing a special day-long meeting of the UN Security Council on Children and Armed
Conflict, Zahir Tanin said on Tuesday terrorists had begun targetting innocent children in
Afghanistan.
Terrorists have increased attacks against schools, teachers, children and clinics, he said. Burning of
schools kept approximately 300,000 children from attending school out of fear of violence.
Between August 2006 and July 2007, at least 133 incidents of school attacks were reported.
The attacks, which occurred mainly in southern provinces, led to the closure of 384 of the 721
schools in the provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul, the ambassador added.
With children are increasingly becoming victims of conflict, Tanin continued, terrorists spared no
effort to harm all segments of society by stepping up attacks in densely-populated areas or near
public gatherings.
He recalled three months ago, a terrorist attack on a Parliamentary delegation in the Baghlan
province led to the death of more than 50 children while another 90 were left severely wounded. I
express my delegations appreciation to the Council for its swift response in condemning the attack
on the 8th of November, Tanin observed.
The use of children as human shields and their recruitment as suicide bombers by Taliban was a
matter of grave concern, said the envoy. In the most malicious practice conceivable, terrorists are
recruiting children and sending them to operate as suicide bombers.
He also expressed concern over the loss of life and injury suffered by children during counterterrorism operations, resulting mainly from Talibans use of the civilian population as human
shields.
In this regard, we call on our international partners to exercise maximum caution and enhance
coordination with Afghan security forces during counter-terrorism operations to avoid the loss of
civilian life, Tanin said.
Long-term commitment: Senator John McCain - almost assured of Republican nomination for the
November presidential election - urged NATO countries for a long-term commitment to
Afghanistan.
NATO, in partnership with the rest of the international community, must launch a comprehensive,
urgent and long-term recommitment to Afghanistan, McCain told the Munich Security Conference
in a statement.
The senator from Arizona said the US-led international community had been trying to win the
struggle in Afghanistan with insufficient forces and with too little economic aid. We have failed to
develop a clear, integrated political and development strategy."
In an apparent reference to sharp divisions among NATO allies on their role in Afghanistan, he
said: We need not unending arguments and finger-pointing over which allies have stepped up to the
fight, but rather a fresh look at what more each of us can bring to the effort.
McCain remarked: The truth is that we all need to do more, not just on the military side but also in
contributing more development and civic aid and in working with the Afghan government on justice
and the rule of law. Our efforts in Afghanistan should unite NATO, not divide it.
IRINnews, 28 février 2008
LA PAUVRETé POUSSE LES JEUNES à REJOINDRE LES RANGS DES TALIBAN
AFGHANISTAN: LA PAUVRETé POUSSE LES JEUNES à REJOINDRE LES RANGS DES
TALIBANS
LASHKARGAH, 28 février 2008 (IRIN) - Pour un téléphone portable, offert par deux
sympathisants des Talibans, Abdoul Malik, 17 ans, avait rejoint les rangs des insurgés talibans, dans
le sud du pays. Peu de temps après, sa dépouille était ramenée à sa famille.
« Il a été tué au cours d’une opération militaire, près du district de Moussa Qala [dans la province
de Helmand] », a confié à IRIN son frère aîné, à Lashkargah, capitale de la province de Helmand.
« Bon nombre de jeunes garçons de notre district acceptent de rejoindre les rangs des Talibans
contre de l’argent de poche, un téléphone portable ou pour d’autres motivations financières », a
expliqué Safiullah, un habitant de Sangin, un district de la province de Helmand.
Cette province a été le théâtre de très nombreux actes de violence, commis par les insurgés et, ces
derniers mois, des centaines de personnes sont mortes, victimes d’attentats suicide, d’explosion
d’engins piégés, placés le long des routes, et d’opérations militaires.
Les taux élevés de pauvreté et de chômage en milieu rural expliquent probablement pourquoi des
jeunes gens comme Abdoul Malik vont rejoindre les rangs des Talibans.
Compte tenu de l’insécurité qui prévaut dans les provinces du sud, il n’existe pas de statistiques sur
le chômage. Toutefois, d’après un rapport de la Commission indépendante des droits de l’homme en
Afghanistan sur les droits économiques et sociaux des Afghans, le taux de chômage atteindrait
jusqu’à 60 pour cent dans certaines régions du pays.
Le nombre élevé de pauvres dans les régions rurales s’explique également par le fait que
l’agriculture, qui emploie plus de 60 pour cent des quelque 26,6 millions d’habitants que compte le
pays, n’a bénéficié que de 300 à 400 millions de dollars américains sur les plus de 15 milliards
d’aide au développement versés par la communauté internationale à l’Afghanistan depuis 2002,
selon un rapport d’Oxfam International, publié au mois de janvier.
Rapport du Senlis Council
« Le gouvernement [aghan] n’a pas les moyens de subvenir aux besoins de ses citoyens et, pour une
bonne partie de la population, il n’est pas en mesure de créer des opportunités d’emploi durable. En
conséquence, le sud est une zone de recrutement de plus en plus importante pour les Talibans », a
indiqué le Senlis Council, un centre international d’études politiques, implanté à Londres, dans un
rapport publié en février 2008.
« Partout où le gouvernement n’est pas en mesure d’assurer des services de base, les Talibans
pallient souvent les insuffisances de l’Etat avec des solutions plus radicales. Cela signifie que ce
sont les militants radicaux, et non le gouvernement élu, qui jouissent de la confiance tant recherchée
de la population afghane », selon le rapport Afghanistan – Point de décision 2008.
« L’étude menée par le Senlis Council depuis 2005 montre de manière probante que l’aide destinée
au sud ne parvient pas à la population », pouvait-on lire dans le rapport.
Un énorme sentiment de frustration
Edward Girardet, journaliste spécialiste des problèmes humanitaires et directeur du programme
d’études à Media21 Global Journalism Network, une organisation sise à Genève, a expliqué à IRIN
que juste après la chute du régime des Talibans, les Afghans avaient nourri de grands espoirs quant
à la reconstruction rapide de leur pays et à l’amélioration de leurs conditions de vie.
Mais six ans après, il y a un énorme sentiment de frustration, « en particulier chez les jeunes
Pashtouns qui sont rentrés du Pakistan [où l’influence des Talibans est très forte dans les écoles
coraniques], mais n’ont trouvé aucun emploi », a-t-il affirmé.
Selon M. Girardet, Oxfam et d’autres organisations, les milliards de dollars d’aide versés à ce pays
déchiré par la guerre ont été détournés et/ou mal gérés et n’ont produit que très peu de résultats.
Rapport du FMI
Pour le Fonds monétaire international (FMI), la situation est tout autre. En effet, d’après un rapport
du FMI, le pays a connu un fort taux de croissance économique au cours des six dernières années et
le produit intérieur brut par habitant a augmenté de 53 pour cent, passant de 200 dollars en 2001 à
306 dollars en 2007.
« Le taux de croissance réel se situait entre 26 pour cent en 2002-03 et 14 pour cent en 2005-06 »,
peut-on lire dans le rapport 2008 du FMI relatif aux avancées en matière de réduction de la pauvreté
en Afghanistan, et publié le 20 février.
L’augmentation des dépenses militaires est-elle la solution ?
Pour combattre efficacement les insurgés, certains bailleurs de fonds ont exigé une augmentation
des effectifs des troupes de l’OTAN.
Selon la Force internationale d’assistance à la sécurité (FIAS) placée sous le commandement de
l’OTAN, outre les plus de 10 000 soldats – américains pour la plupart – engagés dans la lutte contre
les insurgés talibans, la FIAS comprend plus de 33 000 soldats.
D’après Oxfam International, dans la lutte contre les insurgés talibans, l’armée américaine dépense
toutes les minutes 65 000 dollars en Afghanistan (35 milliards en 2007).
Les organisations humanitaires et certains experts doutent cependant que l’augmentation des
dépenses militaires soit la solution pour enrayer la montée de la violence en Afghanistan. « Il n’y a
pas de solution militaire en Afghanistan ; donc au lieu d’investir si massivement dans le maintien
des troupes de l’OTAN dans le pays, il faudrait consacrer plus d’argent à la résolution de ce long et
sérieux problème », a déclaré M. Girardet.
Un avis que partage Obaidullah, un habitant de Kajaki, un district de la province de Helmand.
« Tout ce nous voulons, c’est un emploi, gagner de l’argent et subvenir aux besoins de nos familles
».
url : http://www.irinnews.org/fr/ReportFrench.aspx?ReportId=77034
Les garçons perdus de Kandahâr
Bassirat.net
dimanche 9 mars 2008
L’enlèvement d’enfants en Afghanistan n’a pas été abordé depuis un certain temps dans les médias.
Dans un article publié le 16 février dernier par le National Post, le journaliste Brian Hutchinson
revient sur cette question qui témoigne de l’ampleur de la dégradation générale de la situation
sécuritaire.
Ils ont dit qu’ils abattraient le garçon, qu’ils le couperaient en morceaux avant de l’abattre. « Nous
parlons affaires », menaçaient les kidnappeurs lors de conversations téléphoniques laconiques avec
le père de l’enfant.
Quelque part dans les environs, accroupi à l’intérieur d’une petite cage métallique se trouvait
Abdoul Walid Zalal, garçon âgé de neuf ans. Ses ravisseurs jouaient du couteau et pointaient leurs
armes dans sa direction. Ils lui disaient qu’il allait perdre une oreille puis une jambe si son père ne
coopérait pas.
Mince et d’aspect sérieux, Zalal a été enlevé dans une rue de Kandahâr dans la matinée du 27
janvier alors qu’il se rendait à l’école. Quelqu’un l’a tiré dans une Toyota Corolla, le véhicule le
plus courant dans la région. Un vêtement imbibé d’un produit chimique a été placé sur son visage,
le rendant inconscient.
Lorsqu’il s’est réveillé, il s’est rendu compte qu’il était coincé dans une sorte de cellule souterraine.
Deux autres garçons se trouvaient dans les cages situées à côté de la sienne. Il reconnu l’un d’eux
qui fréquentait la même école que lui. Il avait disparu cinq mois plus tôt. Le croyant mort, ses
parents avaient renoncé à le retrouver.
Les ravisseurs demandaient de l’argent. Dans le cas de Zalal, le montant de la rançon était de 200
000 dollars américains.
Les négociations ont commencé immédiatement après l’enlèvement. « J’ai reçu un appel une heure
après le kidnapping de Zalal », raconte son père, Abdoul Habib Malal, verrier. « Les ravisseurs
voulaient que l’argent soit remis à Ghazni ou à Hérât », deux provinces situées au nord de
Kandahâr.
L’enlèvement d’enfants est courant dans cette ville dangereuse et presque sans loi. Toutefois, la
presse s’en fait rarement l’écho. Par contraste, l’enlèvement d’étrangers est rare bien qu’il provoque
un certain tumulte, comme le montre l’enlèvement le mois dernier d’une humanitaire américaine à
Kandahâr. On est sans nouvelle de Cyd Mizell, 49 ans, qui a été enlevée en compagnie de son
chauffeur sur le chemin de son bureau le 26 janvier.
Les enfants afghans sont considérés comme moins importants. Mais une augmentation perceptible
du nombre d’enfants enlevés cette année intervient au moment où les la habitants de Kandahâr
critiquent ouvertement la police et les représentants gouvernementaux qui, selon eux, n’essayent pas
de résoudre les crimes, sans parler de les empêcher.
Certains, à l’image du père de Zalal, soupçonnent des officiers de police de collaborer avec des
ravisseurs. « Je me suis retourné vers la police lorsque mon garçon a été enlevé », affirme M. Malal
« et le chef de la police en personne m’a dit de payer la rançon. « À plusieurs reprises, j’étais assis
avec le chef de la police lorsque les ravisseurs m’ont appelé pour me dire qu’ils allaient couper les
oreilles ou les jambes de l’enfant », dit-il.
M. Malal a senti qu’il n’avait pas d’autre choix que de négocier avec les ravisseurs. Il est parvenu à
réduire le prix de la rançon mais refuse que le prix final, bien inférieur au prix initial, soit rendu
public.
En fin de semaine dernière, après que ses proches eurent déposé un sac rempli d’argent dans un lieu
convenu à Hérât, Zalal a été libéré. « Il a été mis dans une Corolla et après un trajet qui a duré
probablement trente minutes, il a été laissé dans une rue située juste derrière Madad Chowk », un
rond-point du centre de Kandahâr, raconte M. Malal.
M. Malal explique qu’il a accepté l’interview car il veut alerter le public sur les enlèvements
d’enfants à Kandahâr et sur le peu d’efforts entrepris par la police pour arrêter les enlèvements.
Il était accompagné de Zalal lors de l’interview. Le garçon semblait calme et en bonne santé.
Toutefois, M. Malal affirme qu’il est désormais sujet à des crises d’angoisse, particulièrement la
nuit lorsque l’obscurité s’installe. « Il n’est pas retourné à l’école ni même à la mosquée », dit son
père. « Il ne voulait pas sortir aujourd’hui, j’ai dû l’obliger », ajoute-t-il.
Zalal a alors raconté son expérience terrifiante.
Pendant les onze jours qu’a duré sa détention, il a eu pour seule nourriture du pain rassis, de la
margarine et de l’eau. Il a raconté qu’il ne pouvait pas manger le pain. Il a été contraint de se
soulager dans sa cage. On lui a interdit de parler aux deux autres garçons.
Zalal s’est rendu compte qu’ils étaient détenus dans l’une des pièces d’un large complexe
souterrain. « Chaque pièce avait des cages », a-t-il dit. « Il y avait plusieurs niveaux reliés par des
escaliers en bois et une trappe se trouvait au-dessus de nos têtes. Les ravisseurs fermaient la trappe
et garaient un véhicule sur celle-ci ».
Lorsque la trappe était ouverte, il a pu avoir un curieux aperçu de la partie supérieure. Zalal a
déclaré qu’il y avait de nombreux véhicules dans le complexe, dont le dernier modèle de Toyota
Land Cruiser. Elles étaient blanches avec des bandes vertes et le mot POLICE était apposé sur les
portières.
Sa description correspond au signalement des véhicules conduits dans de hauts responsables de la
police de Kandahâr.
Zalal déclare qu’il a vu les visages de cinq hommes et qu’il a occasionnellement entendu la voix
d’une femme. Tous s’exprimaient en pashtou, la langue parlée à Kandahâr. À trois reprises, il a
parlé à son père angoissé via un téléphone portable. À chaque fois, il a pleuré et supplié son père de
payer la rançon.
Il n’a pas été maltraité physiquement, mais Zalal affirme qu’il a été constamment menacé,
particulièrement lorsqu’il pleurait. « Ils disaient qu’ils m’abattraient si je pleurais plus longtemps »,
se souvient-il. « Nous étions tous traités de la même manière », dit-il. Cependant, Zalal a eu plus de
chance que les deux autres. Son père a récolté suffisamment d’argent pour satisfaire les ravisseurs.
L’une des premières choses qu’il a faite après sa libération a été de se rendre avec son père chez les
parents son camarade d’école captif depuis cinq mois. « Je connais le père du garçon », précise
M. Malal. « Son nom est Kasim, il possède une station service en ville. La mère est devenue à
moitié folle. Elle s’est arrachée la moitié des cheveux. Mon fils leur a dit que leur garçon était
encore en vie. La mère est devenue si heureuse ».
Toutefois, la situation du garçon est « compliqué », ajoute-t-il. Ce n’est pas qu’une histoire
d’argent. Les ravisseurs ont indiqué qu’ils ne le libéreraient tant que huit membres de leur
organisation criminelle n’étaient pas libérés de prison, d’après M. Malal. Le garçon est, en d’autres
termes, retenu en otage.
La situation du troisième garçon n’est pas connue.
Le chef de la police de la province de Kandahâr, Sayyid Agha Saqib est peu enclin à parler des
enlèvements d’enfants qui se déroulent dans sa juridiction. En fait, il a récemment déclaré « qu’il
n’y avait aucune affaire d’enlèvement d’enfant en ce moment ».
Pressé, il a concédé que ses officiers de police étaient à la recherche de ravisseurs présumés. « Il est
trop tôt pour rendre publiques des informations » sur des enquêtes en cours, ajoute-t-il.
M. Saqib a finalement reconnu que d’autres garçons originaires de Kandahâr, dont le fils de Kasim,
le propriétaire de la station service, ont été kidnappés. « Nous travaillons également sur ces
affaires », déclare le chef de la police.
Ses hommes « fournissent la sécurité nécessaire aux familles dont les enfants ont été récemment
enlevés », insiste-t-il.
Idioties, a répliqué M. Malal. « La police n’a été d’aucune aide. Je pense même qu’ils ont pu être
impliqués », estime-t-il. Il possède les numéros de téléphone utilisés par les ravisseurs pour
l’appeler. La police de Kandahâr, a-t-il dit, n’a pas daigné regarder les numéros. « Ce n’est pas trop
compliqué. Les policiers peuvent repérer d’où ces appels ont été passés ».
Zalal reste tranquillement assis et écoute son père parler. Il réprime un bâillement. Il juste content
d’être libre et de retour avec ses parents, ses deux frères cadets et ses deux sœurs cadettes. Il dit
qu’il veut retourner à l’école mais qu’il devra attendre. Ses parents ont décidé d’embaucher un
enseignant, leurs enfants sont instruits à la maison. « C’est pour leur sécurité », explique M. Malal.
« Les enfants ont encore peur. Lorsqu’ils entendent voiture sur la route qui borde notre maison, ils
se ruent à l’intérieur ».
http://www.bassirat.net/Les-garcons-perdus-de-Kandahar,450.html
IRINnews, 20 mars 2008
DANS LE HELMAND, LE PAVOT AVANT L'éCOLE
QUAND LES éCOLIERS DE HELMAND FONT L’éCOLE BUISSONNIèRE POUR TRAVAILLER
DANS LES CHAMPS DE PAVOT
LASHKARGAH, 20 mars 2008 (IRIN) - Le 5 mars, Esmatullah, 14 ans, souffrait de douleurs au
dos et aux jambes, après avoir travaillé dans un champ de pavot de la province de Helmand, dans le
sud de l’Afghanistan. Depuis cette date, il ne va plus à l’école.
Le jeune Esmatullah est originaire du district de Marja, à Helmand, où il allait à l’école ; mais en
raison de l’insécurité et des attaques répétées, perpétrées contre les écoles, sa famille l’a envoyé à
Lashkargah, capitale de la province, pour qu’il y poursuive ses études.
Mais lorsqu’il est retourné un week-end dans son village pour rendre visite à sa famille, son oncle
lui a demandé de l’aider à désherber leurs vastes champs de pavot.
Généralement, avant la récolte de pavot du mois de mai et de juin, les paysans de la province de
Helmand désherbent leurs champs de pavot – ce qui permet d’accélérer et de stimuler la pousse des
fleurs de pavot et d’augmenter la production d’opium.
Selon un rapport de l’Office des Nations Unies contre la drogue et le crime (ONUDC), la province
de Helmand a fourni à elle seule environ 40 pour cent des 8 200 tonnes d’opium produites en 2007,
en Afghanistan.
« Je dois travailler et gagner de l’argent pour pouvoir payer la chambre que je loue à Lashkargah et
couvrir mes autres frais pendant ma scolarité », a confié à IRIN le jeune Esmatullah.
Selon un autre élève de 12 ans, originaire de Nad Ali, un district de Helmand, son père, ses frères et
lui-même travaillent comme ouvriers agricoles dans des champs de pavot pour nourrir leurs familles
élargies et payer sa scolarité à Lashkargah.
« Nous ne possédons pas de terre, mais nous gagnons 200 à 250 afghanis [quatre à cinq dollars
américains] par personne pour une journée de travail dans les plantations d’autres propriétaires », a
expliqué Gul.
Des centaines d’élèves absents de l’école
La province de Helmand est particulièrement touchée par les violences perpétrées par les insurgés et
des dizaines d’écoles sont fermées – dans les zones rurales en particulier – en raison des fréquentes
attaques dont font l’objet les établissements scolaires, les maîtres et les élèves.
En conséquence, des centaines d’élèves originaires des zones rurales ont afflué vers les écoles de
Lashkargah, restées ouvertes malgré les nombreux risques de sécurité. Bon nombre de ces élèves
vivent dans des chambres louées à Lashkargah et, pour des raisons financières et de sécurité, ils ne
peuvent pas retourner régulièrement dans leurs villages.
« Je paie 4 000 afghanis [80 dollars] par mois pour une chambre en colocation à Lashkargah », a
expliqué Abdoul Hadi, un élève originaire du district de Marja, ajoutant qu’il devait travailler dans
des champs de pavot pour payer sa scolarité parce que ses parents n’ont pas les moyens de lui venir
en aide.
En ce mois de mars 2008, la plupart des élèves des écoles de Lashkargah seraient absents des cours,
a confirmé le service provincial de l’Education (SE).
« C’est très regrettable […] des centaines d’élèves sont allés travailler dans des champs de pavot
pour gagner de l’argent », a déclaré M. Rahimullah, directeur du SE de la province de Helmand.
Manque d’information et vulnérabilité
Très peu de rapports humanitaires ont été publiés sur le sort des enfants vivant dans les provinces
du sud de l’Afghanistan, touchées par les violences, en particulier dans la province de Helmand.
Pour certains travailleurs humanitaires et journalistes, cela s’explique par le manque de données, de
statistiques et d’informations fiables.
Par ailleurs, pour des raisons de sécurité, aucune organisation non-gouvernementale (ONG)
œuvrant dans le domaine de la protection et du droit des enfants, y compris le Fonds des Nations
Unies pour l’enfance (UNICEF), n’est présente dans la province de Helmand.
Les agences des Nations Unies et les autres organisations humanitaires comptent sur les capacités
limitées des organismes publics de la province pour effectuer des évaluations, distribuer l’aide et
mettre en œuvre des projets de développement.
*******
IRINnews 18 mars 2008
AFGHANISTAN: Students play truant to work in Helmand’s poppy fields
LASHKARGAH, 18 March 2008 (IRIN) - Esmatullah, aged 14, had pains in his back and legs from
working in a poppy field in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, on 5 March. He has been
absent from school since that date.
Esmatullah hails from the province’s Marja District where he attended school, but due to insecurity
and repeated attacks on schools, Esmatullah’s family sent him to Lashkargah, the provincial capital,
to continue his education.
When he returned to his home village for a weekend to visit his family, his uncle told him to help
him clear their vast poppy fields of weeds.
In the run-up to the poppy harvest in May and June farmers in Helmand Province weed the poppy
fields – enabling poppy flowers to grow faster and stronger and produce more opium.
Helmand Province alone produced about 40 percent of Afghanistan’s 8,200 metric tonnes of opium
in 2007, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported.
“I have to work and make money to pay for a rented room in Lashkargah and pay for other
expenses while I am attending school there,” Esmatullah told IRIN.
Another 12-year-old student from Helmand’s Nad Ali District said he, his father and brothers
worked as labourers in poppy fields to feed their extended family and pay for his education in
Lashkargah.
“We do not have our own land, but we earn 200-250 Afghanis [US$4-5] per person for a day’s
work on others’ fields,” Gul said.
Hundreds absent from school
Helmand Province is widely affected by insurgency-related violence and dozens of schools have
remained closed, particularly in rural areas, due to frequent attacks on educational facilities,
teachers and schoolchildren.
As a result, hundreds of students from rural areas have flocked to schools in Lashkargah where
schools have remained open despite widespread security threats. Many of these students live in
rented rooms in Lashkargah, and cannot regularly travel to their homes for both security and
financial reasons.
“I pay 4,000 Afghanis [$80] per month for a shared room in Lashkargah,” said Abdul Hadi, a
student from Marja District, adding that he had to work in poppy fields to pay for his education
expenses because his parents could not help.
Most students had reportedly been absent from schools in Lashkargah in March 2008, the provincial
Department of Education (DoE) confirmed.
“This is very unfortunate… hundreds of students have gone to the poppy fields to earn money,” said
Rahimullah, the director of DoE in Helmand Province.
Underreported, vulnerable
Humanitarian reporting on the plight of children in insurgency-affected provinces in southern
Afghanistan, particularly Helmand Province, is limited owing to the lack of reliable facts, figures
and information, aid workers and media reports say.
Due to security restrictions no non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dealing with children’s
rights and protection, including the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), operate in Helmand Province.
UN agencies and other aid organisations rely on the limited capacity of provincial government
bodies to conduct assessments, deliver aid and implement development projects.
“Lack of access is our major problem,” conceded Shamsullah Tanwer, a researcher on the rights of
children in Helmand and Kandahar provinces with Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights
Commission (AIHRC).
“The issue of children working in poppy fields is a serious problem,” Tanwer told IRIN on the
phone from his office in Kandahar. “It’s the right of every child to go to school… and child labour
is illegal, particularly on illicit poppy fields,” he said.
Children working in poppy fields not only miss out on their education and do an onerous job over
long hours, but are also vulnerable to drug addiction, particularly during harvest season, experts say.
“The challenge is how we can reach, help and support these children,” said Tanwer of the AIHRC.
According to the UNODC, Afghanistan supplies an estimated 93 per cent of the global illicit market
for opiates.
Children work in brick factories to help pay off family debts « RAWA News
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En Afghanistan, les communautés font front à la violence et envoient leurs
enfants à l'école
09-05-2008
Par Roshan Khadivi
KABOUL, Afghanistan, 24 mars 2008 - L'Afghanistan continue de progresser dans le domaine de
l'éducation alors que plus de six millions d'enfants ont participé la semaine dernière à la rentrée
scolaire. Parmi ceux-ci, environ 800 000 vont aujourd'hui à l'école pour la première fois de leur vie.
Dans un Afghanistan déchiré par la guerre, les communautés s'emploient à surmonter la violence
et les autres obstacles susceptibles d'empêcher les enfants d'aller à l'école. Malgré un
environnement souvent difficile, les inscriptions scolaires continuent d'augmenter.
« Je rends hommage aux communautés qui font front à la violence, » a déclaré la Représentante
de l'UNICEF à Kaboul, Catherine Mbengue, au cours d'une cérémonie de rentrée des classes à
l'école Hawa de Puli Khumri, au nord de l'Afghanistan. « Les communautés reconnaissent la
valeur de l'enseignement et ceci est mis en exergue par les millions d'enfants qui retournent à
l'école ou qui commenceront leur scolarité aujourd'hui pour la première fois. »
A l'école Hawa, Catherine Mbengue était accompagnée de la conseillère et chef de section à
l'Ambassade de Suède en Afghanistan, Anne Marie Fallenius. La cérémonie a mis en valeur ce
partenariat et cet engagement de longue date en faveur de l'éducation.
« Nous sommes ravis d'avoir constitué ce partenariat avec l'UNICEF pour soutenir l'éducation en
Afghanistan, » a affirmé Anne Marie Fallenius.
Défis pour l'éducation des filles
Malgré les succès obtenus dans la scolarisation des enfants, l'évolution en matière de disparité
entre les sexes demeure préoccupante. Le taux d'alphabétisation chez les jeunes femmes âgées
de 15 à 24 ans est de seulement 18% par rapport à 51% chez les garçons.
Les taux d'achèvement des études primaires sont également plus élevés chez les garçons. Cela
montre qu'il est nécessaire de s'attaquer aux autres problèmes fondamentaux auxquels sont
confrontés les familles afghanes.
Par exemple, on estime qu'un grand nombre de filles en âge de fréquenter l'école primaire doivent
travailler pour subvenir aux besoins de leur famille. Les mariages précoces sont très courants dans
les régions rurales, ce qui empêche de nombreuses filles d'être scolarisées.
Dans certaines communautés, l'absence d'enseignantes représente un handicap pour l'éducation
des filles. Certaines familles hésitent en effet à mettre leurs filles dans des écoles où les cours ne
sont pas donnés par une femme.
Apporter un soutien aux enseignants et aux élèves
Face à cette situation, l'UNICEF et ses partenaires collaborent avec le Ministère de l'éducation
pour élaborer le Programme de formation des enseignants. Il apporte aux enseignants une
formation technique ainsi qu'une formation aux méthodes prévoyant la participation des enfants
pendant les cours.
Cette année, l'UNICEF et ses partenaires, en coordination avec le Ministère de l'éducation,
prévoient d'encourager et de soutenir la scolarisation de 330 000 autres filles en construisant des
écoles d'un bon rapport coût-efficacité. En outre, plus de 90 000 femmes seront encouragées à
apprendre à lire et à écrire pour la première fois grâce à 3 500 nouveaux centres d'alphabétisation
répartis dans tout l'Afghanistan.
Parmi les autres activités fondamentales figurent la formation de 48 000 enseignants ainsi que la
conception de manuels scolaires et la diffusion des notes de cours fournies par les professeurs.
En encourageant et en soutenant l'éducation au sein de la communauté, on espère que la
génération suivante d'enfants recevra les outils dont elle a besoin pour façonner son avenir.
http://www.afghana.org/1015/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=41
Afghan schools closed by threats
By Pam O'Toole
BBC News / Thursday, 22 May 2008
More than 50 schools have been shut in the southern Afghan province of Ghazni after threats by suspected Taleban
militants, a local politician says.
Provincial assembly member Habib Ruhman said teachers and pupils were staying away from most schools in five of
Ghazni's 19 districts.
He said more than 10,000 students were affected. Ghazni education authorities put the number of schools shut at 16.
The Taleban control swathes of Ghazni and attack schools and kidnap teachers.
Threats to kill
Education has been one of the success stories in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taleban.
Almost seven million children enrolled in school at the beginning of this academic year - up from less than a million
during the days of the Taleban administration, which banned girls from going to school and women from teaching.
But over the past two years, schools have increasingly been in the front line of a war between the Afghan government
and Taleban insurgents and their allies, with violence-ridden provinces in the south and east worst affected.
Militants have attacked or burned many schools - hundreds have been closed and teachers and students have been
killed.
One young student called Najibullah said in his area of Ghazni, the problem dates back to almost the beginning of the
Afghan year, which started in late March.
"Since nearly the beginning of this year, our schools have been shut," he told the BBC. "And teachers get threats from
those opposing the government saying 'don't go to school otherwise you will be beheaded'.
"That's why they can't come to school and the school remains closed And our future is unclear. We ask the government
to reinstate our schooling."
There is a tremendous thirst for knowledge in Afghanistan - some students are prepared to travel long distances to be
educated.
But threats from the Taleban or other insurgent groups and general insecurity in some areas means that fear is taking its
toll.
A few months ago President Karzai said the number of Afghan children missing school because of the Taleban
insurgency had reached 300,000.
Afghan children paying family debts
Al Jazeera / June 2, 2008
Al Jazeera has discovered that thousands of children, some as young as aged four, are being forced
to work in brick factories in Afghanistan.
In the Sokhrod district in the east of the country, which is well known for producing bricks, there
are about 38 factories and about 2,200 children are believed to be working in them.
"I don't want to do this with my life. I want to go to school, but I cannot because I am poor," 10year-old Shafiq Ola told Al Jazeera.
"My family is in debt for $800 and I have to work."
Many of the children were forced into the brick factories after their parents became indebted to the
owners.
"They are bonded labour, I am holding them," Mohamed Gul, the owner of one factory in the area
near Jalalabad, said.
"They don't have any other option they have to, like a slave, work for me. Each family owes me
thousands of aghanis [the Afghan currency]. They have to pay me with their work."
Money to survive
Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from Sokhrod, said that many of the families working at the brick
factories find it difficult to pay off their crippling debts as they earn as little as $6 a day and need
the money to survive.
The government has said that it is encouraging aid agencies and other non-governmental
organisations to help free the indebted families from their bonds.
However, the workers at the brick factory expressed doubts that they would receive any government
assistance.
"If we don't pay them [the factory owners], they won't let us go. They are powerful people, they
have guns and they know powerful people in the government," Qari, a brick-maker, said.
"My life is destroyed, I'm worried about the future of my children."
The children work between eight and 12 hours a day, often in dangerous conditions.
Al Jazeera saw one boy injured during its short visit to a factory when a pile of bricks feel on him.
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) estimates that about 30 per cent of five to 14-year
olds in Afghanistan are involved in some form of labour.
Education suffering
Despite a massive increase in school enrollment after the fall of the Taliban government in 2001,
almost half of the country's youth (15- to 24-year olds) are illiterate, according to Unicef.
This problem could be worsened as children miss out on education to help support their families.
"While we are in debt, we cannot study. I have to work to pay my family's debts and our expenses.
But, one day, I want to be a teacher to teach others," 12-year-old Akhar Khan said.
Safia Siddiqi, an member of the Afghan parliament from the local province, told Al Jazeera that the
government had "strictly forbidden" child labour across the country but that many still had to work
because of the poor circumstances of their families.
"I think this is the responsibility of the government ... to take immediate action regarding the
slavery which is going on in the district," she said.
"The poverty rate is very high in Afghanistan ... we should provide something for the families, for
the mothers, for the parents to feed the children and send them to school."
Teen Describes Madrasah
Effort To Make Him A Suicide Bomber
June 6, 2008
KABUL/PRAGUE -- Ever since he was caught three months ago in Afghanistan's Khost Province
trying to carry out a suicide attack, 14-year-old Shakirullah has been pondering how he went from
childhood in Pakistan to imprisonment in Kabul as an international terrorist.
Just one year ago, Shakirullah was living with his family in his native tribal region of South
Waziristan, in Pakistan. The world Shakirullah knew in his village of Jandul revolved around his
father, Noor Ali Khan, his mother, and three older brothers.
But Shakirullah's childhood in the rugged mountain region near the Afghan border came to a
dramatic end last fall when his family sent him to a religious boarding school -- the nearby Salib
madrasah in South Waziristan -- to receive instruction from conservative Islamist clerics.
The boy says teachers had taught him the Koran for half a year, then gave him an explosives-packed
suicide vest and took him across the border into Afghanistan.
Shakirullah was picked up before he could blow himself up near U.S. troops, a mission that minders
at his Pakistani madrasah assured him would bring him eternal life.
He is now being held at a facility run by Afghanistan's national intelligence service -- a detention
center that keeps the teenager separated from older Taliban fighters, hardened criminals, and
convicted murderers.
'Never Die'
When Afghan officials allowed RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan into the facility to interview
Shakirullah, the boy describes a militant network in Pakistan that "forced" him to become a suicide
bomber. The teen also directly implicates clerics at the madrasah as being part of that network.
"[I was attending] Salib madrasah. About 50 other people were attending," Shakirullah said. "The
teachers were all from Pakistan. I was there for five or six months."
Shakirullah says that his instruction focused entirely on the Koran while he was at the madrasah.
But he says the clerics started urging him to become a suicide bomber after he finished studying the
Koran.
Shakirullah also says several of the teachers at the madrasah told him that he would "never die" if
he sacrificed himself as a suicide bomber in neighboring Afghanistan.
According to Shakirullah, his teachers increased their pressure on him to commit a suicide-bomb
attack after he asked to see his mother and father. He says his teachers told him he was not allowed
to see his parents before the attack, but assured him that he would "come back" to see them
afterward.
Shakirullah identifies a teacher at the madrasah named Azizullah as the person who transported him
across the border into Afghanistan's Khost Province, urging him to blow himself up. He says
Azizullah also provided him with an explosives-laden vest and instructed him to detonate the device
when he got close to a group of U.S. soldiers.
"They told me to go to Afghanistan and carry out a suicide attack and that I would come back,"
Shakirullah says. "[Azizullah] didn't allow me to inform my family. I was forced to come [to
Afghanistan]. When I finished [studying] the Koran, they told me, 'Now you carry out a suicide
attack and you will come back to visit your parents.' Then I was brought to Afghanistan."
Close Call
Authorities in Kabul say troops from the Afghan National Army first noticed the teenager as he was
walking alone toward a security checkpoint in Khost Province.
Observing that the boy was acting confused and was wearing a suspiciously oversized vest, the
Afghan soldiers stopped Shakirullah from detonating the explosives. Instead, they took him into
custody for questioning.
Shakirullah says his Afghan jailers have treated him well and that he has not been abused or
tortured during the many interrogation sessions he has undergone.
He says that in the three months since his arrest, he has had plenty of time to think about how his
teachers at the madrasah took advantage of his impressionable age.
Shakirullah now says the madrasah teachers lied to him -- giving him "bad advice and trying to kill
me along with other Muslims."
As for the future, Shakirullah says he is happy just to be alive and safe. But he says he wants to
continue his studies to better understand how he was led astray by the madrasah teachers. The boy
also says that he misses his mother and wants desperately to see her again.
Reported by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Rezwan Murad in Kabul and Jan
Alekozai in Prague; written by Ron Synovitz in Prague
Fatima, 11, Afghanistan: "We left school to help feed our family"
CHAGHCHARAN, 9 June 2008 (IRIN) - Eleven-year-old Fatima and her nine-year-old brother,
Ahmad, left school in Ghor Province, central-southern Afghanistan, to help feed their family. From
dawn till dusk they scavenge for metal, bone and plastics from which they can earn about US$1 a
day. Fatima told IRIN of the hardships she and her brother face:
"Early in the morning it's difficult to wake up because I feel pain in my legs and back. Ahmed has
similar complaints.
"Throughout the day we walk from place to place in search of metal, plastic bottles and bones.
Sometimes we also find good food thrown out with the rubbish. we often eat it. Ahmad once got
sick because he had eaten something dirty, so now we don't eat everything but only things which
are OK.
"We sell metal for 20 Afghani [40 US cents] per kilo, and bones and plastic bottles for 10 Afghani
[20 cents] per kilo. We make about 40-50 Afghani on a good day.
"Our work is very hard and I feel pain all over my body. Nobody helps us. If we don't work hard,
we will die of hunger. So we have to work and earn a piece of bread for our family. We don't have
the money to visit a doctor and buy medicine.
"We didn't do this work last year. We went to school where they gave us `ghee' [buttermilk] and
wheat [the UN World Food Programme runs several food-for-education projects across
Afghanistan]. Even when they stopped the aid we continued to go to school. But as winter started
and schools shut, we could not find enough to eat.
"We would love to go back to school and study again, but we can't. I hope the government will help
us and give us food so that we can go to school again."
asp/ad/ar/cb[END]
© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org
arrestation d'un gang qui enlevait et violait des enfants
Agence France-Presse jeudi 12 juin 2008
Kaboul
Un groupe de criminels qui enlevaient des enfants et les violaient pour vendre des vidéos
à caractère pédophile a été démantelé à Kaboul, a-t-on appris jeudi auprès des services
secrets.
Le groupe, composé de quatre personnes, avait enlevé cinq enfants âgés de moins de 12 ans sur le
chemin de leur domicile, selon un porte-parole de la Direction nationale de la sécurité (NDS).
«Ils enlevaient des enfants, les violaient et enregistraient les images des viols pour le compte de
réseaux avec lesquels ils étaient en contact», a affirmé Sayed Ansari au cours d'une conférence de
presse.
Les quatre hommes ont été arrêtés le 1er juin. Ils ont avoué leurs crimes, selon le porte-parole.
Par ailleurs dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi, le chef d'un autre groupe criminel spécialisé dans
l'enlèvement crapuleux a été tué et deux personnes ont été arrêtées au cours d'une opération de
sauvetage d'un otage, a indiqué Sayed Ansari.
Dimanche, le chef d'un autre groupe de ravisseurs a été arrêté avec deux complices, toujours à
Kaboul, selon lui.
Les enlèvements suivis de demandes de rançons se sont multipliés ces derniers mois, surtout dans
la capitale et dans la ville d'Herat, dans l'ouest du pays.
UN TERRORISTE AFGHAN DE 14 ANS
THE 14-YEAR-OLD AFGHAN SUICIDE BOMBER
The Independent, 10 juin 2008
As three soldiers are blown up, teenager caught on a lethal mission reveals how he was groomed to kill British troops
by Kim Sengupta in Kabul
The surroundings were grim and forbidding, a notorious jail run by Afghanistan's feared security service for those taken prisoner in the
bloody war with the Taliban.
Among the inmates: Shakirullah Yasin Ali; a small, frail boy, just 14 years old, arrested as he prepared to carry out a suicide bombing
against British and American targets. "If I had succeeded, I would be dead now, I realise that," he said in a soft, nervous voice.
"But those who were instructing me said that if I believed in serving God it was my duty to fight against the foreigners. They said God
would protect me when the time came."
It was a suicide bomber like Shakirullah who, on Sunday, claimed the lives of three more British soldiers in Helmand, bringing the total
number of UK FATAlities in Afghanistan to 100.
The Independent spoke to Shakirullah, a Pakistani Pashtun, one of the youngest ever suicide bombing suspects, after he was captured
in a raid at the town of Khost in Afghanistan.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the prison run by Afghan intelligence, the NDS, Shakirullah said: "I do not know what is going to
happen to me. All we were told was the British and the Americans were in Afghanistan and they were killing Muslims.
"All I know is what the mullahs told me and kept telling me, that the British and the Americans were against God," he said with his head
bowed down, his hands twisting a handkerchief.
Shakirullah, one of four children of Noor Ali Khan, a farmer, lived at the village of Tandola in the Pakistani region of South Waziristan.
He said his education was at a Madrassa run by two imams, Mullah Saleb and Mullah Azizullah. About 50 students between 13 and 22
attended the school, where the syllabus consisted of learning the Koran by heart, interspersed with political lectures.
About two months ago, he finished a first course in Koranic studies. He was then approached by the two mullahs who told him that the
time had come for him to serve God in Afghanistan.
"At first, I did not know what I was supposed to be doing, then Mullah Saleb said I would be striking a blow against the foreigners, the
British and the Americans, and get justice for all the people being killed. I was told I must leave at once and they would talk to my family
on my behalf. I wanted to see my mother and father but I was told that was not possible for security reasons. That upset me but I
thought I will be seeing them again as soon as I got back. They said my family would get well paid for what I was doing."
On the way to Afghanistan Shakirullah said he was told by a mullah that his mission would involve driving a car bomb. "I said I did not
know how to drive but they said they would teach me, they said I would not have to drive far. Mullah Saleb said it was too late to stop.
He kept saying that to be a good Muslim I must fulfil my duty. I was missing my family but I did not know how to go back to my village
and I did not know anyone in the area I could run to. There was nothing I could do except pray I would be all right and my family would
be all right."
Shakirullah says he was driven across the border and taken to a house in the city of Khost. "There were a few more people there and
the leader was a man they called the Doctor, he and Mullah Saleb took me for driving lessons and took me to sermons in the evening.
The Doctor brought the explosives in two bags for the car and he was the one who made the bomb. I was told I would soon be ready to
carry out my mission."
However, the car being prepared for the bombing, a Toyota Corolla, had stalled a few times while Shakirullah was being taught to drive
and, on one occasion, he and the Doctor had been closely questioned by the police.
Forty-eight hours later, the house where they were staying was raided by Afghan and Nato forces. "I had been told by the mullah that I
was ready to go, the time was right. But then they came during the night, the soldiers, and smashed down the doors. There were
Afghans and foreigners. A gun was stuck to my face and I thought I was going to be killed. They dragged us all out and took us to a
prison."
Shakirullah's attack may have been prevented but not that of the bomber who took the lives of Privates Nathan Cuthbertson, 19,
Charles David Murray, 19, and Daniel Gamble, 22. They had been going to speak to local people when a bomber detonated an
explosive vest strapped to his chest.
Last night, their families paid tribute to their loved ones. Pte Murray's family said: "David was the best son, brother, grandson, nephew,
cousin and friend any of us could hope for. Although his time with us was short, he lived every second to the full and taught us the
meaning of life."
The parents of Pte Gamble said: "Dan died doing the job he was so proud to do, with the regiment he was proud to be part of. He was
special because he had trained in the Afghan Pashtu language. He was special to his family and friends – a true hero in every sense."
Pte Cuthbertson's company commander, Major Russell Lewis, said he was "a talented, motivated individual. He always had a smile on
his face and relished the challenges faced by the professional soldier. "
url : http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=fr&u=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/as
Little support for victims of child sexual abuse
KABUL, 16 June 2008 (IRIN) - Ten-year-old Sweeta still remembers the most painful moments of
her life when a bulky 35-year-old man raped her in his office in the town of Sheberghan, Jowzjan
Province, in northern Afghanistan.
At around 10am on 31 January 2008 a vehicle with the markings and number plate of the Afghan
National Army (ANA) stopped near a water-point where Sweeta was filling her buckets, according
to the Afghanistan Human Right Organisation (AHRO).
"The three men in the car grabbed her and drove to an army barracks where the commander raped
her in his office," said Lal Gul Lal, chairman of AHRO, who has provided legal support to the
victim's family.
The child was semi-conscious when the rapist dropped her home with some gifts, lying to her elder
sister that she was hit by a car and was experiencing abdominal bleeding.
"She [Sweeta] was threatened that if she told anyone about the incident they would kill her parents,"
Lal told IRIN in Kabul.
But it soon became clear that the girl had been raped, and this was later confirmed by local doctors.
For a whole week after the incident Sweeta's father knocked on various government doors, trying to
obtain justice, but only received verbal sympathy.
The situation changed when he approached AHRO and local and national media got wind of the
story. Despite strong opposition from some influential figures, the rapist was arrested and brought
to court in Kabul.
"Many cases are unreported"
Sweeta's is not an isolated case: Some children are exploited for sexual purposes but their misery is
rarely talked about in public.
"Many cases are unreported," said Hangama Anwary, a commissioner for the rights of children with
the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).
At least 31 cases of child sexual abuse were registered by the AIHRC in 2007. So far this year only
four cases have been reported, though it is estimated by the AIHRC and other human rights
organisations, that there are hundreds of cases every year.
"Some parents think by reporting sex offences against their children they will only bring dishonour
on their families," Anwary said.
On 19 September 2007 seven young men gang-raped and tortured a 13-year-old girl in the northern
province of Balkh, according to the two rights watchdogs, the AHRO and the AIHRC.
"A government official released all the accused rapists two days after they were apprehended,
saying there was a lack of evidence," said Lal of AHRO.
"The offenders are still at large and the victim is roaming around various government departments
with her petition for justice," he added.
According to Lal, many of those involved in sex offences are able to escape justice due to the weak
rule of law and corruption among judges and government officials, and/or have the support of
powerful militia leaders.
Link with human trafficking
However, some measures to tackle sexual offences against children have been taken: On 6 June a
court in Takhar Province reportedly sentenced to death a man accused of raping and strangling to
death a seven-year-old girl.
In early May, judges in Kandahar Province gave the death penalty to a man who reportedly raped
and buried a six-year-old girl.
"Afghanistan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked
for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude," found the 2007
Trafficking in Persons Report of the US Department of State.
The report said Afghan children were trafficked internally and to regional countries for
"commercial sexual exploitation, forced marriage to settle debts or disputes, forced begging, debt
bondage [and] service as child soldiers".
The AIHRC also said there were strong linkages between human trafficking and child sexual abuse.
However, a major obstacle in tackling child trafficking is the lack of specific legal and judicial
tools.
"Human trafficking has not been defined in our legal system so far," the AIHRC's Hangama
Anawary told IRIN. "We also do not have legal clarity on issues related to child sexual abuse."
Rights watchdogs have repeatedly called on the Afghan government to immediately enact a
comprehensive anti-trafficking law and increase law enforcement efforts against human trafficking,
particularly the trafficking of children.
No victim support
Although the man who raped Sweeta in Sheberghan has been sentenced to 15 years by a court in
Kabul, her post-trauma suffering has not diminished - neither the government nor the rapist have
paid any financial compensation to ease the victim family's difficulties, and Sweeta has not received
any rehabilitative and/or mental support to help her return to a normal life.
"The government does not run a formal victim support fund to assist victims like Sweeta," Lal Gul
Lal said.
Afghanistan's legal system envisions individual compensatory mechanisms in which only offenders
- not the government - must pay financial compensation to victims.
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© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org
L'UNICEF dénonce les conditions de détention des enfants en
Afghanistan
26 juin 2008 – Les enfants détenus en Afghanistan continuent d'être victimes de mauvais traitements et du
manque d'accès à des services de soins et à l'éducation, signale une nouvelle étude du Fonds des nations Unies
pour l'enfance (UN ICEF) et de la Commission indépendante des droits de l'homme en Afghanistan.
« Une approche punitive de la justice juvénile semble toujours prédominer en Afghanistan », signale ainsi un
communiqué diffusé par UNICEF.
L'étude, qui sera publiée demain, demande la pleine mise en œuvre du Code juvénile adopté par le
gouvernement afghan en mars 2005. Ce texte contient des principes de base de justice juvénile tels qu'énoncés
par la Convention relative aux droits de l'enfant.
« L'UNICEF demande fermement la mise en œuvre de mesures visant à prévenir et à réduire les détentions et
les emprisonnements d'enfants, ainsi que la création de programmes de préventions impliquant les
communautés et les enfants à risque », a signalé Catherine Mbengue, la représentante de l'UNICEF en
Afghanistan.
Afghanistan: les enfants, victimes
oubliées du conflit
03.07.08 | 12h09
Les enfants sont les victimes oubliées du conflit en Afghanistan, a estimé jeudi une responsable
des Nations Unies, qui a notamment dénoncé l'utilisation des enfants par des groupes armés,
et la mort d'enfants dans des opérations militaires ou des attentats.
La représentante spéciale des Nations unies pour les enfants dans les conflits armés, Radhika
Coomaraswamy, s'est rendue en Afghanistan pour une visite de cinq jours.
"Je suis venue pour mettre en place un système pour recueillir et contrôler les informations sur
la situation des enfants en Afghanistan, dans le cadre d'un rapport complet qui sera présenté
en octobre au Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies", a-t-elle expliqué au cours d'une
conférence de presse.
"Les enfants sont les victimes oubliées du conflit", a-t-elle estimé. "Je ne pense pas que dans
un autre pays au monde, les enfants souffrent davantage qu'en Afghanistan, non seulement en
raisons des terribles violences de la guerre, mais aussi à cause de la terrible pauvreté et des
travaux auxquels ils sont contraints", a affirmé Radhika Coomaraswamy.
La représentante des Nations Unies a dénoncé les violences contre les enfants, qu'elles
viennent des groupes d'insurgés ou des forces de sécurité afghanes et internationales.
"Nous avons rencontré des enfants victimes des attentats des talibans et d'autres mutilés dans
les bombardements et les raids nocturnes des forces étrangères. Nous avons demandé aux
forces internationales de revoir leurs consignes et procédures pour minimiser les dommages
collatéraux", a-t-elle souligné.
Mme Coomaraswamy a aussi fait état d'une utilisation accrue d'enfants au sein des groupes
d'insurgés, y compris pour commettre des attentats suicides, mais aussi au sein des forces de
police.
"Nous demandons à toutes les parties, et particulièrement aux éléments antigouvernementaux, de prendre des mesures pour empêcher les enfants d'être utilisés sur le
champ de bataille", a poursuivi la représentante.
Elle a également fait part de son inquiétude face aux attaques visant les écoles, qu'elle a
chiffrées à 228 en 2007, ayant fait 75 morts, et à 83 en 2008.
"Nous avons aussi eu connaissance d'accusations contre des officiers de l'armée impliqués
dans des violences sexuelles contre des jeunes garçons. Ces pratiques doivent être éradiquées",
a-t-elle également demandé.
Arrestation d'une femme et d'un enfant, kamikazes
présumés, en Afghanistan
AFP 18.07.08 | 07h57
Une femme et un garçon de 13 ans portant tous les deux une veste bourrée d'explosifs ont été arrêtés jeudi soir alors
qu'ils tentaient de s'introduire au domicile d'un gouverneur, dans le centre de l'Afghanistan, a-t-on appris vendredi de
source officielle. Ils ont tous deux été arrêtés derrière la résidence du gouverneur de la province de Ghazni, dans la ville
du même nom, a déclaré à l'AFP le porte-parole du gouverneur, Ismail Jahangir. "Ils portaient tous les deux des explosifs
et ils tentaient de s'introduire dans le domicile du gouverneur pour le viser ainsi que d'autres personnalités", a-t-il ajouté.
La femme et l'enfant étaient incapables de s'exprimer dans les langues officielles de l'Afghanistan, le dari (persan) et le
pachtoune, et ne parlaient que l'ourdou, la langue du Pakistan, et l'arabe, selon lui. Le chef adjoint de la police de Ghazni,
Abdul Ghani, a affirmé à la presse que la femme avait avoué être originaire de Multan, au Pakistan, et s'être rendue à
Ghazni pour commettre un attentat suicide avec trois autres personnes qui n'ont pas encore été arrêtées. Il n'avait aucune
information sur les liens entre la femme et l'enfant. L'année dernière, un garçon de 14 ans originaire des zones tribales
pakistanaises avait été arrêté à Ghazni alors qu'il devait assassiner le gouverneur. Il avait été gracié par le président
Hamid Karzaï et renvoyé chez ses parents.
Attacks on schools threaten
development in Afghanistan
Source: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
KABUL, Afghanistan, 3 July 2008 – In spite of impressive progress made in the past seven years,
the security situation in Afghanistan continues to threaten the gains made by the country's women
and children.
Girls' enrollment in school is up, as is female participation in government and in the private sector.
Around the country, health indicators are slowly rising.
However, according to UNICEF's Director of the Office of Emergency Programmes, Louis-Georges
Arsenault, nearly half the country is still inaccessible to most humanitarian aid because the security
situation is too dangerous.
'Very refreshing to see'
This week, Mr. Arsenault visited the country for the first time in seven years. He was UNICEF's
representative there from 1998-2001.
'During the Taliban era, there was no girls' education available throughout the country and also no
women's employment whatsoever. So what I have seen now coming back seven years later is very
refreshing to see,' he said.
'This being said, there's a long way to go in terms of gender issues, gender-based violence because
the fabric of the society does not change overnight.'
Addressing problems
On the borders of the country, as a war between the Taliban and the Afghan government continues,
civilians are threatened.
'In 2007, there were a total of 228 schools which were attacked, resulting in 75 deaths and 111
injured,' Mr. Arsenault said. 'And this year alone, as of June 2008 there've been 83 further attacks
resulting in ten deaths and four injured and this is a very alarming trend.'
UNICEF has begun addressing this problem by getting local communities more involved in the
development process from the start.
'Days of tranquility'
Abiding insecurity has also made it impossible to provide health care and services to all those who
need it. Afghanistan is one of four countries in the world still plagued by polio; without the ability
of health groups to move freely throughout the country, proper medicine and inoculations are
impossible.
UNICEF and other aid groups have been negotiating with the government and the Taliban for 'days
of tranquility' during which humanitarian groups can take advantage of the cease-fire to provide
countrywide inoculations and reach those most affected by violence. Negotiations are ongoing.
AFGHANISTAN: Les enfants afghans en danger – Haut
responsable des Nations Unies
KABOUL, 4 juillet 2008 (IRIN) - Les enfants ne
souffrent nulle part ailleurs autant qu’en Afghanistan,
selon un haut responsable des Nations Unies.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, Représentante spéciale du
Secrétaire général des Nations Unies pour les enfants
et les conflits armés, a déclaré à la presse, à Kaboul, le
3 juillet, que pendant son séjour de six jours en
Afghanistan, elle avait découvert qu’il fallait «
beaucoup de temps à un enfant afghan pour sourire ».
Le conflit afghan tue, mutile et touche de plus en plus
d’enfants, a-t-elle indiqué.
Photo: Sayed Sarwar Amani/IRIN
Un jeune Afghan en uniforme de police
dans la province de Kandahar, en
novembre 2007.
Mme Coomaraswamy n’a pas communiqué de
statistiques précises, mais elle a expliqué que le
nombre d’enfants exploités à des fins militaires par les
forces hostiles au gouvernement avait augmenté ces
derniers mois. Des enfants sont également utilisés
comme kamikazes dans les attentats-suicides menés
par les Talibans, a-t-elle ajouté.
« C’est une situation terrible […] nous exhortons
toutes les parties prenantes au conflit, avant tout les
forces hostiles au gouvernement, à prendre les
mesures nécessaires pour empêcher l’exploitation des enfants dans le cadre du conflit ».
Des enfants sont également enrôlés dans la police nationale afghane et dans les rangs des
milices progouvernementales, où ils deviennent vulnérables aux sévices sexuels, selon Mme
Coomaraswamy. « C’est illégal et cela devrait être éradiqué ».
« Des cibles faciles »
Selon les Nations Unies, des enfants sont
détenus par toutes les parties
belligérantes, mais nul ne sait exactement
combien d’enfants se trouvent
actuellement dans des centres de
détention (même dans ceux des forces
américaines et du gouvernement).
D’après le Fonds des Nations Unies pour
l'enfance (UNICEF), les enfants sont
souvent encore plus en danger que les
personnes directement impliquées dans le
conflit.
« Les enfants sont des cibles faciles […]
Ils sont particulièrement vulnérables à
deux techniques utilisées par les insurgés
en Irak, puis en Afghanistan : les
attentats-suicides et les engins explosifs
improvisés, également appelés bombes
des bords de route », selon l’édition 2007
du rapport Child Alert de l’UNICEF.
Photo: Hazrat Bahar/IRIN
Un enfant tué au cours de frappes aériennes menées par les
forces internationales dans la province de Khost, dans le
sud-est de l’Afghanistan, en juin 2008. Le conflit tue et
mutile de plus en plus d’enfants en Afghanistan
Des enfants afghans ont également été tués, blessés, déplacés et traumatisés par « l’usage
intensif des forces aériennes » par les forces internationales, toujours selon le rapport.
Attentats dans les écoles
Plus de six millions d’élèves sont désormais inscrits dans les écoles, dont près de 40 pour cent
sont des filles, d’après le ministère de l’Education. Toutefois, de plus en plus d’attentats sont
commis dans les écoles par des individus armés, associés aux insurgés talibans et à d’autres
éléments hostiles au gouvernement, et ce phénomène menace sérieusement les progrès
réalisés dans le secteur de l’éducation.
Au cours des 18 derniers mois, 311 attentats confirmés ont eu lieu dans des écoles, qui ont
fait 84 morts et 115 blessés (parmi les écoliers, les enseignants et autres employés des
établissements scolaires). Dans les régions où règne l’insécurité, des centaines d’écoles ont dû
fermer, a rapporté l’UNICEF.
L’insécurité, les attitudes conservatrices et la pauvreté ont privé d’éducation plus de deux
millions d’enfants en âge d’être scolarisés, principalement dans les provinces instables du sud
et du sud-est du pays, selon les organisations humanitaires.
Un nouveau groupe de travail
Les responsables des Nations Unies à
Kaboul ont indiqué qu’un rapport global
sur le sort des enfants afghans touchés
par le conflit serait soumis au Conseil de
sécurité des Nations Unies en octobre
2008.
Mme Coomaraswamy a indiqué quant à
elle que le but de sa visite en
Afghanistan était de créer un groupe de
travail chargé de gérer un Mécanisme de
suivi et de notification (MRM) pour
rendre compte au Conseil de sécurité de
la situation quant aux « six graves
violations » concernant les enfants et les
Photo: Akmal Dawi/IRIN
conflits armés : « le meurtre ou les
Radhika Coomaraswamy (centre), Représentante spéciale
mutilations d’enfants ; le recrutement ou
du Secrétaire général des Nations Unies pour les enfants et
l’utilisation d’enfants comme soldats ; les
les conflits armés, au cours d’une conférence de presse, le 3
viols et autres sévices sexuels graves
juillet, à Kaboul
infligés aux enfants ; les enlèvements
d’enfants ; les attentats dans les écoles
ou les hôpitaux ; le déni d’accès humanitaire aux enfants ».
Le groupe de travail responsable du MRM sera dirigé par les Nations Unies, mais il fera
également intervenir les organisations non-gouvernementales (ONG) et le gouvernement, a
indiqué Mme Coomaraswamy.
Plus de la moitié des quelque 26,6 millions de personnes que compte l’Afghanistan (soit
environ 13,9 millions de personnes) ont moins de 18 ans, et près de six millions d’Afghans
sont des enfants de moins de cinq ans, selon l’UNICEF.
L’Afghanistan affiche le deuxième taux de mortalité le plus élevé du monde chez les
nourrissons, après la Sierra Leone, avec 165 décès pour 1 000 naissances vivantes, a rapporté
l’UNICEF en juin.
Dans le cadre d’une étude réalisée à partir d’entretiens avec 2 250 enfants, plus de 42 pour
cent d’entre eux ont également déclaré ne pas avoir accès aux services de santé les plus
essentiels, a révélé un rapport publié en avril par la Commission indépendante afghane de
défense des droits humains (CIADDH).
ad/at/cb/nh/vj
http://www.irinnews.org/fr/ReportFrench.aspx?ReportID=79091
In Parwan, schoolchildren are forced to toil on farms
Muhammad Hassan Khaliqi - Pajhwok Aug 1, 2008 - 11:07
CHARIKAR (PAN): Almost 50 percent of the 8,000 students from 35 schools in Sheikh Ali district of the
central Parwan province are subjected to rigorous tasks for a good part of the academic year. The practice
has prompted parents to stop sending their children to school.
During school hours, teachers and Education Department officials force pupils into sowing wheat, watering
fields, ploughing land, planting and digging out potatoes, collecting beans and other forms of toil. Located
100 kilometers from the provincial capital Charikar, Sheikh Ali district has 35 schools, where around 190
teachers are supposedly imparting education to 8,000 students 2,600 of them girls.
A grower from Sadiq area of the district, Ali Ahmad once sent two of his sons - Ghulam Sakhi and Dad-eKhuda - to school so they could receive a proper education and lead a better life. He did not want his sons to
grow into illiterate tillers. However, the six-graders dropped out of school as their father prevented them
going to school. Now they are tending sheep.
Asked to justify his decision, Ahmad reasoned: "We send our sons to school to learn. One day, their teacher
is absent and the other day they are made to work on (teachers) farms. Why shouldnt our children work for
us?"
Ghulam Sakhi, one of Ahmads sons, has resultantly dropped pen for a stick -grazing around 200 sheep for
eight hours a day in nearby Kotak and Diwalak mountains. The 14-years-old has thus become a perfect
shepherd who effortlessly drives his cattle into the paddock on return home in the afternoon.
Counted among talented students of his class, Sakhi did love to study. Once his father found out that his son
worked in fields rather than school, Sakhi and his brother were withdrawn instantly. But pushing students to
labour in fields is no new issue in the district, where the unlawful exercise stretches back to the early 1980s.
Reminded of the brazen misdemeanor, education officials moved to stop this malfeasance, but could not
succeed.
The district education officer has warned schools against using students as labourers. "All schools of Sheik
Ali district are notified to prevent teachers and other officials assigning schoolchildren with personal tasks. A
headmaster or principal committing such an act will be held accountable."
With no school head subjected to accountability hitherto, educationists cite the lack of an effective system of
checks and balances in the provincial education department as the main reason for the unprofessional
conduct.
Although Director Abdul Zahoor Hakimi disagreed with the expert opinion, he did acknowledge his failure
to monitor the 35 schools under his supervision. He saw remote location of the district and inadequate media
coverage of student exploitation as major factors perpetuating the problem.
On the other hand, some teachers have their own weird logic for requiring students to do their personal
chores. For instance, Muhammad Ali (teaching Physics and Chemistry at the Imam-e-Jafar Sadiq High
School) confessed to giving children strenuous tasks. He insisted the hard labour benefitted the students. But
how, he could not explain. "A teacher cant do in several days what students can in a single day" was the
spurious argument he dished out. "If a teacher works on his farm, he cannot go to school and his absence
from class will obviously deprive students of learning lessons," he went on.
Pupils are generally informed of such assignments a day in advance, with schoolteachers and headmasters
ordering them to bring tools like spade, sickle and handsaw. In certain cases, they are also told to bring
animals including donkeys. The next morning, the teacher takes the students to his farmland.
Muhammad Hassan, a 12th class student from Dahan-e-Nirkh area, recalled how he joined 10 other
classmates in working as labourers for Principal Muhammad Shah Murtazavi. He revealed they scooped with
their own tools dung as fertilizer over five acres of land owned by the headmaster.
"We worked painstakingly from 8.00am until the afternoon, collecting waste from toilets and pouring it on
the farms. That day, we were branded as waste-collecting students," Hassan said of the derisive public
reaction to their involvement in farm labour.
A local farmer in his sixties said his neighbour Abdul Ahad was a teacher at the Hazrat-i-Ali Middle School
in Dara-e-Nirkh. Ahad brought groups of students for doing demanding jobs, charged Habibullah from the
Bani Siwak village. "If I were a teacher like Ahad, I would have been able to employ pupils for sowing
wheat and digging out potatoes," he exclaimed.
Deeply worried over the sorry state of affairs, several parents said the situation had not been remedied
despite repeated complaints lodged with school administrations. Khadim Hussain claimed his son, a seventh
class student at the Hazrat-i-Ali Middle School, was often sent to work on teachers farms. "My son can't
write his name, because his teachers themselves dont know anything and frequently remain away from
classes."
Students defying the unlawful orders are meted out harsh punishments. Twelve-years-old Abiduddin, a
student of the Newi High School, grumbled he was ordered to sow wheat on a teachers farms two years back.
He played hooky due to the sizzling heat and his inexperience. "I did not go to school for several days,
knowing well the principal would award me ruthless punishment.
Twelve-grader Muhammad Ibrahim - enrolled in the same school - is unsure of his ability to pursue higher
studies. He is not prepared to qualify the entry test. During the entire academic session, he was taught only
30 pages of a 190-page geometry book.
Newi High School Principal Muhammad Shah Murtazavi admitted the plight of students. But he hastened to
assert his determination to stop teachers using pupils for personal chores. This scribe also saw a school
employee plough the principals fields with his own oxen. The employee was apparently scared on seeing the
reporter and requested not to be named. He said the principal had 15 acres of land but no sharecropper,
because most of the farming was done by students. "For all practical purposes, Im a servant of the principal."
Murtazavi also came clean on the lingering issue, saying he had a lot of administrative work and, therefore,
asked the employee to till his fields. The servant had special ploughing skills, he concluded
http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=59645
Taliban militants cut off Afghan teacher's ears as 'punishment': official
AFP
15/09/2008
Taliban militants dragged a school teacher out of a mosque in Afghanistan and cut off his ears as a
"punishment" for working for the government, an education official said.
The rebels took another dozen people, most of them elderly men, out of the mosque in the southern
province of Zabul and beat them up on similar charges, provincial education chief Mohammad Nabi
Khushal said Sunday.
The men had burst into the mosque while dozens of worshippers were in a late night prayer session
Saturday and singled out primary school teacher Bismillah Khan, Khushal said, blaming Taliban
rebels.
"They took him out of the mosque and cut off his ears. They said, 'Anyone working for the
government will be punished like this'," he said.
The teacher, who worked at a refurbished school re-opened five months ago, was on Sunday
admitted to a US military-run medical facility in the area for treatment, he said.
A villager who refused to be identified confirmed the incident to AFP by telephone. The rebels had
introduced themselves as members of Taliban militant group, he said.
But a spokesman for the extremist militia, Yousuf Ahmadi, said Taliban were not involved.
"Whoever they were, they were not our mujahideen (holy fighters)," Ahmadi said.
The rebel group has killed dozens of Afghans employed by the government or its international
military or development partners as part of a campaign to undermine support for President Hamid
Karzai's Western-backed government.
Education is one of the successes of post-Taliban Afghanistan with about 6.2 million children
enrolled in school, up from one million in 2001, when the extremist Taliban regime was removed in
a US-led invasion.
It is also one of the main targets of a Taliban insurgency. Attacks left 220 pupils and teachers dead
in 2007, the education ministry says. — AFP Taliban militants dragged a school teacher out of a
mosque in Afghanistan and cut off his ears as a "punishment" for working for the government, an
education official said.
The rebels took another dozen people, most of them elderly men, out of the mosque in the southern
province of Zabul and beat them up on similar charges, provincial education chief Mohammad Nabi
Khushal said Sunday.
The men had burst into the mosque while dozens of worshippers were in a late night prayer session
Saturday and singled out primary school teacher Bismillah Khan, Khushal said, blaming Taliban
rebels.
"They took him out of the mosque and cut off his ears. They said, 'Anyone working for the
government will be punished like this'," he said.
The teacher, who worked at a refurbished school re-opened five months ago, was on Sunday
admitted to a US military-run medical facility in the area for treatment, he said.
A villager who refused to be identified confirmed the incident to AFP by telephone. The rebels had
introduced themselves as members of Taliban militant group, he said.
But a spokesman for the extremist militia, Yousuf Ahmadi, said Taliban were not involved.
"Whoever they were, they were not our mujahideen (holy fighters)," Ahmadi said.
The rebel group has killed dozens of Afghans employed by the government or its international
military or development partners as part of a campaign to undermine support for President Hamid
Karzai's Western-backed government.
Education is one of the successes of post-Taliban Afghanistan with about 6.2 million children
enrolled in school, up from one million in 2001, when the extremist Taliban regime was removed in
a US-led invasion.
It is also one of the main targets of a Taliban insurgency. Attacks left 220 pupils and teachers dead
in 2007, the education ministry says. — AFP
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http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=20081001VEm2Wn7mqE
AFP, 30 septembre 2008
MULTIPLICATION DES ENLèVEMENTS CRAPULEUX DE RICHES OU DE LEURS
ENFANTS
KIDNAPPERS TARGET THE RICH, INFLUENTIAL IN AFGHANISTAN
Those perceived as influential and wealthy - and their children - are most often preyed upon, especially in
the main business hubs of Kabul and the western city of Herat, and on major highways
by Sharif Khoram
MOHAMMED Hashim Wahaaj, a large Afghan doctor with a bushy beard, thought he was going to die.
“Bring a sword to cut off his head,” he recalls one of his abductors as saying. “They made me lie down in
a position when you are cutting the head of a cow or lamb. I thought: in a few minutes, they will cut off
my head,” the 44-year-old doctor told AFP. “They called my family and said, ‘Ok, you cannot arrange the
money. You will get the dead body of your brother.’”
The gang, which shot Wahaaj in the arm when they snatched him from his car in Kabul, also made his
family listen to his cries over the telephone when they beat him with sticks and cables. During more than
20 days of torture they came down from their original ransom of five million dollars and Wahaaj - the
wealthy owner of one of Afghanistan’s best diagnostic centres - was finally freed, for a sum he will not
disclose.
He says his abductors were not from the Taliban insurgency. These were just criminals profiting from a
climate of lawlessness and impunity in which government officials at the most senior levels are getting
away with crime and corruption, the softly spoken doctor said.
Naqibullah, a businessman, says his kidnappers had claimed links with the Taliban. But really, they were
“just thieves,” the 42-year-old told AFP. He was captured heading back to Kabul from one of the
provinces and kept in chains, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with death for almost two weeks, he said.
“Lots of money was taken by them as ransom,” he told AFP, refusing to say how much.
It is an increasingly precarious situation for Afghans, who had hoped the ouster of the Taliban regime
seven years ago would herald peace and security for a country destroyed by decades of war. Those
perceived as influential and wealthy - and their children - are most often preyed upon, especially in the
main business hubs of Kabul and the western city of Herat, and on major highways.
The interior ministry in Kabul was unable, after several requests, to tell AFP how many people have been
kidnapped nationwide. But stories in the media and on the grapevine suggest there are several every
month in Kabul alone. In Herat province, there were 22 cases in the past six months, says criminal
investigation police chief for the area, Ali Khan Husseinzada.
They included the abductions of two Iranian businessmen freed last week after 40 days for an undisclosed
ransom. “Most of the victims are either business people, rich people or their sons or relatives,”
Husseinzada said. The threat is also felt by the less wealthy who may nevertheless have the trappings of
money such as a new home, albeit built on loans, or a job with an international company.
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“I am afraid for my cousins because they are very rich. No one with cash is safe here,” says Ahmad Khan,
a 35-year-old Kabuli. It is this fear that makes his cousins, who run a nail-making factory and also import
car parts, use their shabby car to get to work and leave the new one at home, he says, to avoid drawing
attention to themselves.
Other people don’t let their children play outside or go to school alone; many surround themselves with
bodyguards; professionals carry guns; some have fled with their families to Pakistan, Dubai and India.
Authorities say they are dealing with the problem. In about 75 percent of cases, kidnappers are being
arrested, says interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary.
The intelligence department regularly announces it has arrested kidnappers, sometimes parading them for
the media. It freed 14 captured Afghans in the past few months and arrested 43 suspected kidnappers, it
said. But Afghans believe it is the authorities who are a large part of the problem, with accounts from
survivors that their abductors were in police uniform or linked with senior officials.
“There is no justice in Afghanistan,” said the doctor Wahaaj. “The government is corrupt, there is no
punishment for high officials doing crime. “There is poverty and the (international aid) money for the
people is not going to the proper places,” he said, offering an explanation for the surge in kidnappings.
After his ordeal he barely leaves his 50-bed private clinic, where he also lives, and has already taken his
seven children to Pakistan. Now he is planning to sell the clinic and join his family. “I am a doctor,” he
said. “I should carry a pen or a stethoscope, but now I am carrying a pistol, I have guards... I feel I am a
prisoner.”
*******
Reuters 8 septembre 2008
Les Afghans, premières victimes des enlèvements
Sayed Mustafa se souvient de ce jour ou il a reçu un coup de téléphone de sa famille lui signalant que son
fils de dix ans n'était pas rentré de l'école.
Désespérément, il avait passé une nuit entière à sillonner les rues et hôpitaux de Kaboul. En vain.
Puis il avait reçu un coup de téléphone. "N'essayez pas d'informer la police ou nous tuerons votre fils.
Ecoutez-nous bien, le prix de la rançon pour votre fils est de 200.000 dollars. Donnez nous l'argent et
nous le libérerons."
"Je n'y croyais pas jusqu'à ce que j'entende mon fils pleurer et crier 'ou es-tu papa?'", raconte Mustafa, un
homme d'affaires qui importe du pétrole à Kaboul.
Comme lui, ils sont des dizaines d'Afghans à avoir enduré ces derniers mois le drame de l'enlèvement d'un
proche dans un pays ou la sécurité se dégrade et ou la pauvreté motive le crime.
Contrairement aux étrangers, souvent la cible des taliban qui entendent mettre les armées ou les ONG
sous pression, les Afghans sont le plus souvent victimes de gangs crapuleux à la recherche de fortes
rançons.
La plupart des victimes sont issues de familles appartenant à la classe aisée et la vague d'enlèvements qui
secoue le pays dissuade nombre d'investisseurs de s'aventurer sur le marché afghan.
Mustafa poursuit: "Pendant deux jours, je n'ai pas reçu d'autre coup de téléphone. Puis, le troisième jour,
ils m'ont appelé et m'ont demandé si l'argent était prêt."
"J'ai voulu négocier pour faire baisser le prix", ajoute-t-il, au bord des larmes. "Je ne savais pas que cela
allait coûter la vie à mon fils. Ils l'ont tué parce que j'ai hésité à payer."
DES RAVISSEURS DÉGUISÉS EN SOLDATS OU POLICIERS
"La situation en matière de sécurité s'aggrave de jour en jour. Il n'y a pas de travail, pas de bons salaires. Il
est évident que les enlèvements vont augmenter", redoute Jawed Rashidi, médecin à Kaboul.
D'après le département d'enquête criminelle afghan (CID), quelque 130 personnes auraient été enlevées
ces cinq derniers mois mais la réalité est, semble-t-il, bien supérieure. Le CID fait aussi état de cinq
otages tués par leurs ravisseurs.
Sur ces 130 enlèvements, 13 seulement concernent des étrangers, qui sont soit des travailleurs
humanitaires occidentaux soit des ingénieurs ou hommes d'affaires originaires de Turquie, Iran, Inde ou
Népal.
"Les enlèvements sont motivés par des raisons politiques ou économiques", explique Mirza Mohammad
Yaarmand, chef du CID. "Les ravisseurs se déguisent parfois en vigiles de l'Onu, des ministères, en
soldats étrangers ou en policiers."
Les hommes d'affaires afghans, dont la plupart sont rentrés pour investir dans leur pays après la chute des
taliban en 2001, sont particulièrement exposés.
"RICHE DU JOUR AU LENDEMAIN"
Le manque de sécurité les incite de plus en plus souvent aujourd'hui à faire le chemin inverse et à se
réinstaller à l'étranger. Sayed Mustafa prévoit ainsi d'installer sa famille en Iran ou au Pakistan.
"C'est une tendance très dangereuse qui s'accroît pour les Afghans et les étrangers", décrypte l'analyste
Adbullah Hashimzai. "Le manque d'emplois, l'extrême pauvreté, la corruption et l'incapacité d'agir de la
police ajoutent au problème."
La situation est à ce point inquiétante que les hommes d'affaires afghans ont envoyé une délégation à la
rencontre du président Hamid Karzaï en juin pour lui demander la création d'un tribunal spécial chargé de
juger les ravisseurs.
Des médecins ont aussi fait grève cette année à Herat, dans l'ouest du pays, pour protester contre une
vague d'enlèvements ayant visé des professionnels de la santé.
"Les enfants des gens riches, des hommes d'affaires, de familles revenues de l'étranger ou travaillant à
l'étranger sont kidnappés", écrit le quotidien Hewad. "L'enlèvement est devenu une profession à part
entière en Afghanistan à cause de la faiblesse de l'Etat de droit."
A l'instar de Giasuddin Usmani, un étudiant dont le cousin a été enlevé avant d'être libéré, la population
afghane fustige l'inaction de la justice.
"On n'a pas assisté au moindre procès de ravisseurs sous le gouvernement (du président Hamid) Karzaï. Je
préférais l'époque des taliban parce que les criminels étaient sévèrement punis et les gens ne pensaient
même pas à commettre des crimes."
"Aujourd'hui, l'enlèvement est devenu un moyen facile de gagner sa vie. Il ne faut pas travailler dur. Visez
une famille riche et vous deviendrez riche du jour au lendemain."
http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/depeches/i infojour/reuters.asp?id=78576
url : http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\01\story_1-10-2008_pg4_18
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=20081109jb8meq2crf
IRINnews, 09 novembre 2008
ROHULLAH, UN AFGHAN DE 13 ANS : « COMMENT J'AI FAILLI DEVENIR TERRORISTE »
ROHULLAH, AFGHANISTAN, "I WAS TRAINED TO CARRY OUT A SUICIDE ATTACK, BUT I
FAILED"
KHOST - Rohullah, 13, ran away from home in Gardez city in southeastern Afghanistan to Miramshah in
neighbouring Pakistan. Unwittingly he was drawn into a suicide-bombers’ cell, and trained to use
explosive vests to kill Afghan and US forces. Arrested soon after re-entering Afghanistan, he is now in
prison in Khost Province. From his cell Rohullah told IRIN his story:
"I had serious disputes with my parents on many issues and as time went by I felt I could not tolerate that,
so I escaped and went to Miramshah. I bumped into an old man there whom I had seen in our village. He
took me to his home and I stayed there for two nights.
"After that the old man introduced me to a middle-aged man [Shawkat] and asked him to take me to a
Madrasah [an Islamic school with free board and lodging].
"Shawkat took me to a house where about 26 other boys - some younger and some older than me - were
housed. Shawkat and other men were teaching us about Jihad, Islam and holy wars, and at night they were
showing us films about the cruelty of foreign infidels to Muslims, the bombing of women and children,
and the struggle by the Taliban.
"For six days I did not know why they were showing and telling us all those things. Then one afternoon
Shawkat congratulated me and said that I had been selected for martyrdom. He also told me that after the
martyrdom I would enter Heaven and would be remembered as a hero.
"Shawkat and two other men trained me how to use explosive vests. They also told me that I would earn
more blessings from God if I detonated my vest in a crowded area and killed as many infidels as possible.
"The arrangement was: I should go to Khost [province] and do the suicide attack. Three weeks later I
travelled to Khost and met an intermediary who was supposed to give me a suicide vest. I could not carry
a vest with me because of the security checkpoints.
"But on my first night in Khost I was arrested [by Afghan intelligence forces]. I know I did wrong and I
regret it. I miss my parents and my brothers and sisters. I wish I had never escaped from home."
***
TRADUCTION
Khost - Rohullah, âgé de 13 ans, s'est enfui de son domicile situé dans la ville de Gardez, dans le sud-est
de l'Afghanistan. Il s'est rendu à Miramshah [Nord-Waziristan] au Pakistan voisin. C'est ainsi que, sans le
vouloir, il a été entraîné vers une implication dans les attentats-suicides à la bombe, et formé à utiliser des
ceintures d'explosifs destinées à tuer des Afghans et des soldats américains. Arrêté peu après son retour en
Afghanistan, il est maintenant en prison dans la province de Khost. De sa cellule, Rohullah raconte son
histoire à IRIN :
« J'ai souffert de graves différends avec mes parents sur de nombreuses questions et, peu à peu, je ne les
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=20081109jb8meq2crf (1 of 2)13/12/2008 12:01:23
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=20081109jb8meq2crf
ai plus supportés, à ce point que je me suis sauvé à Miramshah. Là, j'ai rencontré un vieil homme que je
n'avais pas connu dans notre village. Il m'a accueilli à son domicile où je suis resté pendant deux nuits.
» Ce vieil homme m'a présenté à un autre homme d'âge moyen [Shawkat].Il lui a demandé de me prendre
dans une médersa [une école libre islamique, où les élèves sont hébergés et nourris].
» Shawkat m'a pris dans une maison où il y avait environ 26 autres garçons - certains jeunes et certains
plus âgés que moi. Shawkat et d'autres hommes nous instruisaient sur le djihad, l'islam, les guerres
saintes. La nuit, ils nous montraient des films sur la cruauté des étrangers infidèles à l'égard des
musulmans, sur des bombardements de femmes et d'enfants, et sur les luttes menées par les taliban.
» Pendant six jours, je n'ai pas compris pourquoi ils nous montraient et nous disaient ce genre de choses.
Puis, un après-midi, Shawkat m'a félicité et m'a dit que j'avais été sélectionné pour le martyre. Il m'a
également assuré que, après le martyre, j'irais au ciel et qu'on se souviendrait de moi comme d'un héros.
» Shawkat et deux autres hommes m'ont appris comment utiliser les ceintures explosives. Ils m'ont
également expliqué que je serais d'autant plus béni de Dieu que je ferais exploser ma ceinture dans un
endroit où serait tué le plus grand nombre possible d'infidèles.
» Le plan était le suivant : je devais aller dans le Khost [la province d'Afghanistan] et y commettre un
attentat suicide. Trois semaines plus tard, je me suis donc rendu dans le Khost. J'ai rencontré un
intermédiaire qui était censé me donner une ceinture explosive. Je ne pouvais pas la porter sur moi à cause
des postes de contrôle.
» J'ai été arrêté [par les forces afghanes de renseignement] dès ma première nuit à Khost . Je sais que j'ai
eu tort et je le regrette. Mes parents et mes frères et sœurs me manquent. Je voudrais ne m'être jamais
enfui de chez moi ».
url : http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=80996
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Afghanistan at the crossroads: Street kids turn from beggars to beauticians
12 Nov 2008 16:02:52 GMT
Source: UNHCR
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet
sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
KABUL, Afghanistan, November 12 (UNHCR) – Every day, Afghan children ply the streets of Kabul selling anything
from newspapers to chewing gum, phone cards and plastic bags. Some station themselves at busy junctions and weave
through traffic waving a can of smoking coal to ward off the evil eye. Others simply beg from passing strangers.
There are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 street children in the Afghan capital alone. Among them are those who could
not afford an education as refugees in Iran or Pakistan, and are unable to go to school as returnees in Afghanistan
because they have to work from dawn to dusk to support their families.
A UNHCR-funded project is working to bring change. Since 2001, the Social Volunteers Foundation (SVF) has been
keeping returnee children off the streets. It teaches them to read and write, gives them room to play, and imparts
vocational skills such as tailoring, beauty parlour and flower making.
"They start in Class 2 and move up one level every six months," says Freshta Abdullah, a programme officer for SVF.
"On average, they stay with us for two years, so they finish Class 4 and we transfer them to Class 5 in a government
school. Public school is free, so everyone from a prince to a beggar can get an education."
Khatera, 14, returned from Attock in Pakistan's Punjab province last year. "We were weaving carpets in Pakistan and
had no time for school," she says, while working on a sewing machine in her tailoring course. "Until recently, I only
knew how to weave. But now I can write my own name."
Lessons are based on the Afghan curriculum under an arrangement with the Ministry of Education. In addition, there
are also classes and discussions on the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child, early marriage and sexual and
gender-based violence. Time has also been set aside for recreational activities – gymnastics, table tennis and other
sports.
For many of the children, the highlight of their six-day week here is vocational training. The most popular course is the
beauty parlour, where girls aged 12 to 17 learn how to apply make-up, pluck eyebrows, style and colour hair, and do
manicures and pedicures.
"Make-up is needed for every occasion – engagements, weddings and other celebrations," says SVF's Abdullah. "A
professional can get 10,000 Afghanis (US$200) per wedding by providing head-to-toe services."
Besides the potentially lucrative pay, the hands-on course is just plain fun. It offers a rare chance for this group of
underprivileged girls to fuss over each other. They work with quiet efficiency, brushing, buffing and twirling gawky
teenagers into beautiful women.
Aqila, 13, is busy with the curlers. Her parents have 11 children, and they struggled to get by as refugees in Pakistan's
commercial capital of Karachi. "We decided to come back two years ago when things improved in Afghanistan," she
recalls. "My family is weaving carpets now but the money is not predictable. When I graduate, I want to set up my own
beauty parlour."
Next door, another group is wielding brushes, this time on canvas. The teacher himself graduated from here and has
divided the drawing course into two levels – sketching and oil painting – so that he can give each student the
appropriate attention. They touch on the basics of drawing, such as light and shadows, portraits and silhouettes. The
most popular works often depict Afghan scenery or culture.
Raza, 15, was always interested in art but didn't get to pursue it as he dropped out of school in Iran in Class 2. While in
Iran, he made shoes for a living while his father was a butcher. "We decided to come back in February because we
faced many problems – I couldn't go to school and my father lost his job," he says.
Life has not improved since. His father and brother are both jobless and living in debt. His younger siblings are
struggling to continue school. Raza found out about SVF's art course from a friend, and has decided to become an artist
specializing in nature paintings.
Downstairs, the flower-making course teaches designs for wedding cards, gift wrapping and flower bouquets. A dozen
flower posters sell for 250-300 Afghanis and are in demand year round – for weddings, engagements and Haj
homecoming.
All courses at SVF are free. Each student is given school supplies, stationery and a monthly transport grant. Graduates
receive certificates from the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled. Given the value of literacy and
skills training in job-scarce Kabul, there should be a waiting list to get into the programme. But some students have
dropped out instead.
"The dropout rate is highest among the recent returnees," explains SVF Director Ali Rahim Ghaznawi. "If the family
cannot find work in Kabul, they move to another area or province. It's too far for the children to continue coming here."
The Foundation itself faces constant challenges. A lack of funding has forced it to cancel courses in English language,
computer and musical instruments. "Our music graduates are fully booked for weddings," says Dr Ghaznawi proudly.
But if the funding situation continues and more courses are cut, there could be little left to celebrate for the street
children of Kabul.
Education and livelihood are among the many issues to be addressed at an international conference on return and
reintegration on November 19. Jointly organized by the Afghan government and UNHCR, the conference seeks to
channel resources towards national development programmes that include returnees, ensuring more sustainable returns
in future.
By Vivian Tan
In Kabul, Afghanistan
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/ab1ad5f192eb34fd1303d34fb3a7c2a7.htm
Quinze écolières aspergées de vitriol
dans la ville de Kandahar
NEW DELHI CORRESPONDANT
LE MONDE | 15 novembre 2008
Quinze adolescentes afghanes ont été aspergées d'acide tandis qu'elles se rendaient, mercredi
12 novembre, en début de matinée, à leur école de Kandahar, carrefour du pays pachtoun
dans le sud de l'Afghanistan et ancienne " capitale " du mouvement taliban. Trois sont dans
un état grave et les autres sont blessées à des degrés divers.
Les agresseurs, non identifiés, circulaient à moto. Les victimes portaient la burqa - la longue
robe bleue qui couvre les femmes de la tête au pied - et les assaillants les auraient forcées à se
dévoiler avant de leur projeter l'acide au visage à l'aide d'un pistolet à eau, selon l'agence de
presse Reuters.
" Nous avons appelé au secours, des gens sont venus et les hommes ont fui ", a raconté à
l'Agence France-Presse Atefa, 16 ans, de son lit d'hôpital. " Je ne sais pas pourquoi ils ont
attaqué. La ville n'est pas sûre mais on ne peut pas rester enfermé chez soi. Il faut qu'on
reçoive une éducation ", a-t-elle ajouté alors que sa soeur, Shamsia, 18 ans, défigurée, hurlait
de douleur à ses côtés.
Des enseignants du lycée de filles Mirwais-Nika, où étaient scolarisées les adolescentes, se sont
rendus à l'hôpital de Kandahar pour exprimer leur consternation. A Kaboul, le président
afghan, Hamid Karzaï, a condamné l'agression, l'imputant aux " ennemis de la paix et de la
prospérité ".
LETRES DE MENACE
L'attaque n'a pas été revendiquée mais tous les soupçons se dirigent vers les talibans, qui
avaient interdit d'éducation des filles quand ils étaient au pouvoir en Afghanistan (1996-2001).
Depuis qu'ils orchestrent la rébellion contre le régime de M. Karzaï soutenu par les
Occidentaux, ils ont multiplié les actes d'intimidations et les violences contre les
établissements scolarisant des jeunes filles. Lettres de menace, destructions d'écoles et
assassinats d'enseignants ont miné les efforts du gouvernement et de la communauté
internationale pour rétablir les femmes dans leurs droits à l'éducation.
Le handicap est lourd. Le taux d'illettrisme est de 86 % pour les femmes contre 57 % pour les
hommes. En 2004, le taux de scolarisation des filles était de 34 % dans l'enseignement
primaire mais de seulement 9 % dans l'enseignement secondaire.
La situation est devenue d'autant plus précaire pour les femmes dans le sud et l'est afghan que
ces régions sont le bastion de l'insurrection des talibans. A Kandahar, la célèbre policière
Malalai Kakar, chef du département des crimes contre les femmes, avait été assassinée le 28
septembre. Toujours à Kandahar, le chef adjoint des services de renseignement afghans était à
son tour tué le 4 novembre.
Mercredi, quelques heures après l'agression des écolières, un attentat au camion-citerne piégé
a fait six morts et une quarantaine de blessés à proximité de bâtiments officiels du
gouvernement provincial de Kandahar. Une attaque revendiquée par les talibans.
Ahmed Wali Karzaï, le très controversé frère du président Karzaï - nombre de critiques
l'accusent d'être lié au trafic de drogue -, était sur les lieux au moment de l'explosion en sa
qualité de président du conseil provincial de Kandahar, mais il n'a pas été blessé.
Frédéric Bobin
Afghanistan at the crossroads: Young
Afghans return to a homeland they never knew
By Vivian Tan
in Kabul, Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan, November 14 (UNHCR) – Twenty-year-old Khan dreams of becoming the
next winner of Afghan Star, Afghanistan's answer to the popular talent show, American Idol. "My
shoes are from Japan, my pants are from England. My hat is made in Russia, but my heart is pure
Afghan," he sings in Dari, pointing in jest to his traditional shalwar kameez outfit and sandals.
Khan is a born performer. But as a refugee in Iran, he was too busy playing sole breadwinner to his
family to develop his talents. "We lived peacefully and had a wonderful life in Tehran," he
concedes. "But it was not our home."
Like him, many Afghans who were born in exile in the last 30 years have returned to Afghanistan
since 2002. Most were obliged to return with their families and many of them are finding it hard to
adjust to rural life after growing accustomed to the better living conditions and services in Iran and
Pakistan.
"This is a big surprise. I thought it would be better. I didn't expect to face such problems or to end
up in such a place," says Wali, 18, who returned from Pakistan's Jalozai refugee village in May and
now lives under a tent in Sholgara district of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan. "There is
nothing here – no shelter, not enough water, no trees for firewood, no electricity and no work."
He's not the only one to suffer from culture shock. In Balkh-i-Bastan of Balkh province, 16-year-old
Fatima walks home from school with a burqa draped on her arm. "What to do? This is
Afghanistan," she shrugs. Comparisons with Iran, where she spent most of her life, are inevitable:
"The hygiene in Iran was perfect. When we first returned here, we had no house and no toilets. We
had many diseases then."
Malika, 12, puts it simply: "I miss Pakistan. We had a house and water from a tap in Jalozai camp.
My father worked in the brick factory and I was in Class 3 in school."
Her family is now living in the same Sholgara tent village as Wali. She works all day in a corn field
and receives some food in return. "Here, there is nothing but dust. I want to study but classes are in
Dari, not the Pashto language. I have to bring water from far away. My father finds daily work in
Sholgara. But winter is coming and we are not ready."
Living conditions aside, education standards also differ vastly. "Here, Class 12 is enough to be a
teacher. They didn't even graduate from the relevant teacher training school," says Fatima, the
returnee from Iran. "I feel like I'm going to school for nothing. I can't learn what I expect. Also,
there's a shortage of textbooks and stationery."
Aspiring singer Khan, who lives in the Beneworsik government land allocation scheme in Parwan
province near Kabul, also complains: "There is no proper school, no regular building or education
system like in Kabul . . . There are also no long-term jobs."
The lack of livelihood opportunities has severely affected Afghanistan's capacity to absorb more
returnees sustainably, an issue to be discussed at an international conference on return and
reintegration organized by the Afghan government and the UN refugee agency in Kabul on
November 19.
Some returnees are well educated and have high expectations of work. Most are unskilled dailywage labourers who live too far from major towns and cities to find regular employment. Ablebodied men have had to leave their families to find work in the cities or even in neighbouring
countries.
Sholgara resident Wali says many men from his local community have left for the nearest city of
Mazar-e-Sharif and to Pakistan to find work. But he plans to stay: "It takes money to go back to
Pakistan. I have no means to go."
In Balkh-i-Bastan, several UNHCR shelters are padlocked and sitting empty – 10 to 15 of Fatima's
neighbouring families have returned to Iran in search of jobs. Her own family has also considered
leaving.
"I refuse to go," she says. "If we go back without a visa, we would have to live like a mouse hunted
by the cat. Even if there were no such problems, going to Iran would be a short-term solution, not a
permanent one. We won't always be welcomed in Iran. This is our homeland after all."
The 18-year-old is determined to stay and attend university so that she can become a psychologist
or doctor one day.
Khan, too, is hopeful he can make a future for himself in Afghanistan. Working as a mason at
Beneworsik, he has managed to buy three adjacent plots for his family and invested in a fourth. He
will soon get married and plans to expand his properties to include an orchard and playground.
"If I make enough money, I plan to go back to Iran next year with a passport and visa. Not to work,
but to be a tourist for one month," he says confidently.
They may have stars in their eyes, but the dreams of young returnees like Khan, Fatima, Wali and
Malika are also grounded in harsh realities. "It's good to come from a stranger's land to our own
land," Malika's 80-year-old grandmother assures her. "We used to work for Pakistan's people. Now
we're working for ourselves. We may have one or two years of hardship and starvation. But life will
get better."
http://www.aopnews.com/yest.html
Returning "home" to Afghanistan, young refugees confront
complex issues
Many young Afghans face distinct challenges while returning to a "homeland" they have never actually experienced. Not
addressing these issues may threaten the eventual success of their resettlement, suggests a newly released Afghanistan
Research and Evaluation Unit paper.
Many of the millions of refugees who fled during the decades of conflict in Afghanistan relocated to Pakistan and Iran. A
sizeable number of these are young Afghans who have spent most, if not all, of their lives in these neighbouring
countries and are the focus of From Disappointment to Hope: Transforming Experiences of Young Afghans Returning
"Home" from Pakistan and Iran. While some of these second-generation refugees may be drawn to Afghanistanby a
desire to return to their "homeland," gaps exist in the understanding of their social and emotional experiences such as
struggles with identity, rejection and discrimination. These issues, either alone or when combined with difficulties in
meeting material needs, have important implications for Afghanistan's ongoing refugee repatriation and reintegration
efforts.
The paper includes policy recommendations focused on potentially shifting factors toward voluntary return and positive
reintegration experiences.
From Disappointment to Hope: Transforming Experiences of Young Afghans Returning "Home" from Pakistan and Iranis
available for download at www.areu.org.af. Printed copies, as well as Dari and Pashto translations, will soon be available
free of charge from AREU's office.
About AREU
The Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit is an independent research organisation headquartered in Kabul.
AREU's mission is to conduct high-quality research that informs and influences policy and practice. AREU also actively
promotes a culture of research and learning by strengthening analytical capacity in Afghanistan and facilitating reflection
and debate. Fundamental to AREU's vision is that its work should improve Afghan lives.
For more information, please contact:
AREU
Flower Street (corner of Street 2), Shahr-i-Naw, Kabul
phone: +93 (0) 799 608 548 email: [email protected] website: www.areu.org.af
Child abuse rises in north - rights group
Written by Quqnoos.com
Thursday, 20 November 2008 10:52
Violence against children increases in north, senior rights worker says
CHILD abuse has tripled in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, the head of the human rights
commission in the north, Said Muhammad Sami, said.
He said the sexual abuse of, and violence against, children had increased threefold in four of
the north’s provinces.
He added that many families suffering from extreme poverty force their children to sell goods
on the streets and in the bazaars, actions he said violated children’s rights.
These comments come after Afghanistan signed an agreement on the rights of children
that forces states to take responsibility for the physical, mental, moral and social safety of
their nation’s children.
http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2076&Itemid=48
The workloads of Afghan children
By Pam O'Toole
BBC News
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Although millions of Afghan children have gone back to school since the fall of the Taleban, full
time education remains a distant dream for many.
Continuing poverty means many children, including some as young as six, are forced to work to
help their families.
Afghanistan has signed and ratified the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child which states
that children should be protected from dangerous work.
As countries around the world mark Universal Children's Day on Thursday, the BBC's Afghan
service spoke to some young workers in the capital of Helmand province, Lashkar Gah.
'I'm poor'
Twelve-year-old Izatullah was pushing a cart containing heavy sacks of flour.
"I take this load to another shopkeeper. They will give me 10 or 20 Afghanis (21 pence or 42pence).
I am poor, I don't have bread. My father is an old man. I earn our living," he said.
Sohrab, who is only nine, works in a carpenter's shop.
"We make doors and sell them. Before I was in school. But now I've been told not to go any more
because there is a lot of work here in the shop," he said.
Another child worker, Naik Mohammed, said his family came to Lashkar Gah after being displaced
by fighting in another part of Helmand.
But, he says, he is luckier as he only works in the morning and attends school in the afternoon.
His father, Khawaja Mohammed, is distressed that he has to send his son to work at all.
"Our house was destroyed. We lost our land and our property. Accommodation here costs between
5,000 to 10,000 Afghanis ($105 - $210). One sack of flour is 3,000 Afghanis ($63).
"We have no other option but to ask the children to work. You saw my child yourself. He is not
strong enough to work. You can see his condition. But we don't have any other option."
Tens of billions of dollars in aid have flowed into Afghanistan since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.
But many ordinary Afghans still struggle to make a living; and for now, many parents have little
choice but to continue to send their children to work.
UN: Taliban step up child recruitment
Written by Quqnoos.com
Monday, 24 November 2008 10:57
Armed groups' abuse of Afghan children on rise, warns United Nations
CHILDREN are increasingly being recruited as suicide bombers and used for sex by
Afghanistan’s various armed groups, the United Nations has said in a new report.
The report condemned all sides of the conflict, including government forces and foreign troops,
for carrying out a number of violations against children during the increasingly violent conflict
in the country.
"The Taliban is persisting in using children as suicide bombers, while international and Afghan
forces have inadvertently killed dozens of children as they attempt to beat back the
insurgency," the report said, detailing examples of a 12-year-old suicide bomber in Kandahar.
The UN also criticised the government’s failure to monitor the recruitment of under-age
soldiers into the national army, despite a 2003 programme to demobilise 7,444 under-age
government soldiers.
The report also found Afghanistan is different from other post-conflict countries because more
boys are being abducted for "sexual services" than girls.
One case involved two police officers arrested for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy, but
who were later released after bribing the authorities.
"I encourage the Government of Afghanistan to implement more fully laws and programmes to
prevent and punish sexual violence and to support victims, monitor grave sexual violations
against boys as well as girls and work with my team in Afghanistan to study ways and means
of combating harmful practices," the UN’s secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said in the report.
http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2103&Itemid=48
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=20081125qRsbprFRp2
AP, 24 novembre 2008
UN RAPPORT DES NATIONS UNIES SUR L'INTENSIFICATION DU RECRUTEMENT
D'ENFANTS PAR LES TALIBAN
UN: AFGHAN CHILDREN BEING RECRUITED AS FIGHTERS
by EDITH M. LEDERER
UNITED NATIONS – Afghanistan's security forces and insurgent groups are both recruiting children to
serve as fighters and the Taliban also is using young people as suicide bombers, U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
He urged all factions to immediately stop exploiting children.
In his first report to the Security Council on the Afghan war's impact on children, Ban said other problems
include sexual abuse of children, especially boys, and a "worrisome increase" in the number of child
victims caused by militant attacks on civilian targets.
He also cited an "ever increasing number of children inadvertently killed during engagements by
international and Afghan forces." He urged U.S., NATO and Afghan troops to implement rules of
engagement that include special measures protecting children.
Ban said monitoring abuses of children in Afghanistan has been difficult because of increasing violence
and the difficulty of obtaining and checking victim and eyewitness accounts. He said much of the
available data is not broken down by age and sex.
"The report focuses on grave violations perpetrated against children in Afghanistan and identifies parties
to the conflict, both state and non-state actors, who commit grave abuses against children," Ban said. "In
particular, the report highlights the fact that children have been recruited and utilized (as fighters) by state
and non-state armed groups ... ."
He said children have been used as soldiers by all factions during 30 years of wars in Afghanistan.
Even though the Afghan government demobilized 7,444 underage soldiers in 2003, there has not been any
monitoring of children vulnerable to recruitment, Ban said.
"Allegations of recruitment of children by armed groups have been received from all regions, particularly
from the south, southeast and east" — areas with the most fighting, he said.
A U.N. study of suicide attacks documented cases of children allegedly used as suicide bombers by the
Taliban, he said. "Most of these children were between 15 and 16 years of age and were tricked, promised
money or forced to become suicide bombers."
On the government side, Ban said, there are reports of children seen serving in the Afghan National
Auxiliary Police and there are documented cases of young people recruited by the Afghan National
Police.
Ban called on Afghan security forces to adopt procedures to verify the age of recruits "and take
appropriate measures to improve the protection of children."
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"Grave abuses" of children aren't limited to the battlefield, Ban added.
"Violence against children, specifically of a sexual nature, occurs particularly during times of instability,"
he said. "The practice of `bacha-baazi' (boy-play) consists of boys kept cloistered and used for sexual and
harmful social entertainment by warlords and other armed group leaders."
He called on the Afghan government to enact laws to punish sexual violence, implement programs to
support the victims of such abuse and work with U.N. officials to study ways to quell "harmful practices,
including that of bacha-baazi."
*******
Centre d'actualités de l'ONU, 21 novembre 2008
Afghanistan : Ban appelle les Taliban à cesser d'exploiter et d'enrôler des enfants
21 novembre 2008 – Le Secrétaire général de l'ONU, Ban Ki-moon, s'inquiète des graves violations des
droits de l'enfant par les parties au conflit en Afghanistan, dans un rapport rendu public vendredi
["Rapport du Secrétaire général sur les enfants et les conflits armés en Afghanistan", S/2008/695 du 10
novembre 2008], et appelle les Taliban et d'autres groupes armés antigouvernementaux à cesser
d'exploiter et d'enrôler des enfants.
Le rapport remis au Conseil de sécurité et qui porte sur la période allant du 1er juillet 2007 au 15 août
2008 signale que des enfants ont été enrôlés et exploités par des groupes armés étatiques et non étatiques
et que des groupes armés non étatiques tels que les Taliban continuent d'entraîner des enfants dont ils se
servent notamment pour des attentats-suicides.
Il lève aussi le voile sur la détention, par les autorités afghanes et par les forces militaires internationales,
d'enfants accusés d'association avec des groupes armés, et ce, en violation du droit afghan et des pratiques
optimales acceptées au plan international. Le rapport décrit également la situation préoccupante que
créent les attaques menées par des groupes armés non étatiques contre des écoles et des villages et dont
les enfants sont de plus en plus souvent victimes, et atteste que de plus en plus d'enfants sont tués par
mégarde lors d'opérations menées par les forces internationales et afghanes.
Dans ses recommandations, le Secrétaire général « engage tous les éléments antigouvernementaux parties
au conflit à cesser immédiatement de se servir d'enfants, de les exploiter et de les enrôler. » « Je
recommande également que les Forces nationales de sécurité afghanes mettent au point des procédures
permettant de vérifier l'âge des candidats au recrutement, et de prendre les mesures appropriées pour
améliorer la protection des enfants », ajoute-t-il.
M. Ban encourage également le gouvernement afghan à redoubler d'efforts pour traduire en justice tous
les auteurs des crimes commis contre des enfants et à ratifier la Convention no 182 de l'Organisation
internationale du travail (OIT). « Je lance un appel aux autorités afghanes pour qu'elles adoptent des
textes de lois en vue de criminaliser le recrutement d'enfants dans le cadre de conflits armés et pour
qu'elles envisagent d'adopter les lois requises pour donner effet au Statut de Rome de la Cour pénale
internationale », écrit-il.
Le Secrétaire général engage aussi instamment les Taliban et les autres éléments antigouvernementaux « à
mettre immédiatement un terme à leurs attaques contre la population civile, en particulier contre les
enfants, ainsi que contre des objectifs civils. » Il exhorte « les forces militaires internationales et les
Forces nationales de sécurité afghanes à améliorer leurs instructions permanentes et leurs règles
d'engagement et de comportement pour y inclure en particulier des dispositions expresses de protection
des enfants. »
Ban Ki-moon invite le gouvernement afghan à mettre en œuvre plus intégralement des lois et programmes
visant à prévenir et à sanctionner la violence sexuelle ainsi qu'à aider les victimes, à surveiller les actes de
violence sexuelle graves perpétrés à l'encontre de garçons comme de filles, et à se concerter avec son
équipe en Afghanistan pour trouver le moyen de mettre un terme à des pratiques attentatoires telles que le
« bacha baazi », avec l'appui des chefs religieux afghans et de la société civile.
http://www.un.org/apps/newsFr/storyF.asp?NewsID D=17841&Cr=Afghanistan&Cr1=enfants
url : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081124/ap_on_re_us/un_un_afghanistan_children
http://actu.exiles10.org/page/DOC_IMPRIMER?article=20081130YW9ns9jWDm
IRINnews, 27 novembre 2008
MALNUTRITION POUR 1,6 MILLION D'ENFANTS ET DES CENTAINES DE MILLIERS DE
FEMMES
AFGHANISTAN: FOOD INSECURITY MAY CAUSE DEATHS THIS WINTER - GOVERNMENT
KABUL, 27 November 2008 (IRIN) - More than 1.6 million under-five children and hundreds of
thousands of vulnerable women are exposed to acute malnutrition and some could die this winter due to
food insecurity and lack of medical care, the government has warned.
"Around 1.6 million children under five and 625,000 child-bearing-age women are at risk of dying this
winter due to malnutrition," the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said in a statement (in English) on 25
November.
These figures are significantly higher than the 550,000 under-five children and pregnant and lactating
women considered "most vulnerable" in a joint emergency appeal by the government and aid agencies in
July.
The government said the food crisis had been exacerbated by drought, high food prices and loss of
livestock across the country.
"We fear that a humanitarian crisis will be imminent and villagers in those districts might lose a big
number of their livestock in the coming winter," the statement said.
Food insecurity is also making vulnerable people - mostly children and pregnant women - more prone to
diseases, the MoPH said.
Unprecedented food aid
Various aid agencies and government bodies reckon 5-10 million of the estimated 26.6 million population
do not have access to adequate food and nutrition.
In response, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has increased food distributions to unprecedented
levels, and currently feeds over eight million people in the country.
WFP said it had allocated 36,000 tonnes of food aid for the winter period. The aid supplements WFP’s
routine food programme and is in addition to food included under the emergency appeal. Some 950,000
people in 23 provinces will benefit from it this winter.
"So far we have delivered 78 percent [of the 36,000 tonnes] in all 23 provinces [out of 34 country-wide]
and within the next two weeks or so we expect to be [at] over 90 percent, and will be very close to having
completed our target," said Anthony Banbury, WFP's regional director for Asia.
Several other aid organisations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, have also delivered
food aid to needy people.
Attacks on aid convoys
The expansion of food distribution activities has been accompanied by an unprecedented increase in
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armed attacks on humanitarian aid convoys.
"The security challenges we face are in three areas: food coming into the country, particularly through the
Peshawar route [Pakistan]; food on major routes in Afghanistan; and then distribution to districts. In all
three it [security] is worse than in the past," said Banbury.
At least 26 attacks on WFP food aid trucks have been recorded so far this year, mainly in the insecure
south and southwest. Food to feed tens of thousands of hungry people had been looted and/or wasted in
the attacks, WFP said.
Dozens of local and foreign aid workers have also been killed and abducted in various security incidents
over the past 11 months.
url : http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81692
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AFGHANISTAN: Drought, poverty lead children to abandon school
CHEMTAL, 2 December 2008 (IRIN) - Eight-year-old Ahmad Shafi and his younger brother spend
many hours a day fetching drinking water for their family in the drought-stricken Chemtal District
of Balkh Province, northern Afghanistan. They have been unable to attend school as a result.
"We start around eight in the morning and finish by midday," Ahmad told IRIN, adding that their
job was "difficult" and "long".
Ahmad's uncle, Abdul Samad - with whom his family has been living since his father died two
years ago - sells vegetables at a local bazaar, and sometimes helps Ahmad and his brother when
more than the usual volume of water is needed.
"I have to work and provide food or collect water. women cannot go far to collect water, so the
boys have to do this job," he said
Drought, poverty and lack of food have adversely affected the life of many children in Chemtal and
elsewhere, forcing some to work instead of going to school.
It is hard to estimate the number of children who have abandoned school to collect water and/or
help feed their families, but local officials have reported a considerable drop in school attendance.
"The number of students has gradually declined.10-20 percent of the several hundred students have
abandoned school because of drought," said Enayatullah Sharaaf, head of Chemtal's education
department.
"The quality of attendance has also been affected because students do not have enough time and
energy to do homework," he said.
Mohammad Zahir Penhan, director of Balkh's education department, said most schools could be
closed down in 2009 if the situation does not improve.
"Our children often go hungry"
Life in Chemtal is hard. Both agriculture and animal husbandry - prime sources of income - have
been badly affected by drought.
"We hardly find any food to eat. Our children often go hungry," said a resident of Chemtal District,
explaining that all his four children had lost weight and regularly fell ill.
"Their faces have become pale and they always complain about pain," he said.
Across the country thousands of livestock have perished over the past two years, and over 80
percent of rain-fed agricultural output had been lost this year owing to drought, the Ministry of
Agriculture has said. [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81322 ]
Broken promises?
In June hundreds of drought-affected households from Alburz and Chemtal districts abandoned
their homes and camped near Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital of Balkh Province.
The government encouraged the displaced families to return to their original areas where they were
promised that drinking water and food aid would be delivered.
Months later, people said the government had yet to fulfil its promises. "We have received no aid,"
said Abdul Naeem, a resident of Alburz District.
"If the government had trucked in water to us, we would not have had to trek for hours to collect a
few buckets of water," said an elderly man, Mohammad Rasol.
Government officials in Mazar-i-Sharif said drinking water had been trucked in to people in
Chemtal and Alburz districts for a while, but the process had stopped temporarily due to technical
and financial problems.
AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for more action to protect children
KABUL, 3 December 2008 (IRIN) - The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on all warring
parties in Afghanistan to consider children as "zones of peace" to help protect them against the
ravages of war.
UNICEF says children are among the most vulnerable groups in the conflict; they do not have the
capacity to influence the decisions of warring parties and should not be affected by the conflict.
"Parties to the conflict have to take proactive measures to safeguard children from being affected
by the ongoing armed conflict, and we will engage them to support and oversee the design of
appropriate measures that will prevent further violations," Kristine Peduto, UNICEF child
protection specialist, told IRIN in Kabul on 2 December.
Over the past few years "grave violations" have been perpetrated against children by "parties to the
conflict, both state and non-state actors", according to the UN.
"Children have been killed, maimed, sexually abused, arbitrarily detained, recruited as foot
soldiers, used as suicide attackers and deprived of development and education," UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council in November.
[http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2008.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/EGUA-7LLT4Lfull_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf ]
The UN report on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan illustrates a number of conflictrelated issues which have increasingly tormented Afghan children.
Failure to protect children
From July 2007 to July 2008 the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded 1,722
civilian deaths in the conflict.
Whilst children have been killed in deliberate and unintentional attacks, the exact number of child
casualties in the conflict is unknown.
At least 52 schoolchildren were killed in a suicide attack followed by an indiscriminate shootout in
the northern province of Baghlan on 6 November 2007, UNICEF said. About 60 children were
killed when foreign forces bombed a village in Herat Province, western Afghanistan, on 21 August
2008, UNAMA said in a statement.
Dozens of children have also been killed by landmines and in armed attacks on schools.
Aid workers in Afghanistan say little attention has been given to the plight of wounded and
displaced children.
"Despite past efforts, we have failed to prevent children from being killed and injured as a
consequence of military activities. We have failed to prevent them from being deprived of access to
education, health and humanitarian assistance. We have failed to prevent them from being recruited,
used and sexually abused by security forces and armed groups," UNICEF's Peduto said.
Child soldiers
Over the past 30 years, children have been used by almost all warring parties for military purposes
and as soldiers, aid agencies have said.
UNICEF said it had helped in the disarmament and demobilisation of 7,444 under-age soldiers in
the past few years.
However, children are still being recruited by Taliban insurgents and even by the Afghan security
forces.
"There has been no monitoring of children vulnerable to further recruitment or re-recruitment,"
said Ban Ki-moon's report.
UN plea
Ban has called on all warring parties in the country to "immediately stop the use, exploitation and
recruitment of children" in armed hostilities and ensure humanitarian access to children.
He has also requested the Afghan government and other actors to develop intervention mechanisms
to prevent violence against children and respond to their needs.
"The UN is calling on the government of Afghanistan to intensify its efforts to prosecute all
perpetrators of crimes committed against children, and calling for legislation to criminalise the
recruitment of children in armed conflict," Peduto said.
ad/ar/cb[END]
Kandahar schools empty after acid attack on girls
Arrest of alleged Taleban militants for attack on schoolgirls fails to reassure nervous and
angry population.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
By Mohammad Ilyas Dayee in Kandahar (ARR No. 307, 12-Dec-08)
The Mirwais Meena girls'school used to be a bustling place with over 1300 students. But now the
halls and grounds are nearly empty, the swings hang motionless on the recreation field.
On a late November morning, there were only a dozen or so girls and three female teachers to be
seen. The rest, traumatised by a vicious attack on November 12 that left several girls disfigured and
two blinded, have chosen to stay at home.
A middle-aged teacher, her burqa draped over her arm, was making her way slowly out of the
building. The click of her high heels echoed in the halls, and she wore a very sad expression. She
said her name was Najila.
"That Wednesday was a very, very bad day," she said. "Some girls fainted; they were so afraid that
the next day it would be their turn. We had never heard of anything like this before. I want to ask
those who did this, 'Why?' Girls should be able to go to school and study. I do not know when this
country will ever be okay."
The attack came as the girls and their teachers were leaving the school, according to eyewitnesses.
Men on motorbikes, wielding what appeared to be water pistols, squirted acid on several groups of
girls and their teachers. Many were wearing burqas, but they were targeted just the same. School
officials say that most of the girls were related, and they all came from the same village.
Atifah was one of the group that was attacked. She escaped with injuries to her hands, but her
cousins were not so lucky.
"There was a man with a black pistol in his hand, and he was glaring at me," she recalled. "Then he
pointed the pistol at me and squirted acid at me. It got on my hands, but my cousins had acid
thrown on their burqas. One of my cousins is in very bad shape now. She got acid in her eyes. They
have now sent her to India for treatment."
The attacks shocked the country, and the world. Footage of the injured girls was shown on CNN,
the BBC, and other international media, in addition to topping the news in Afghanistan.
But despite the government's well-publicised late-November arrest of ten men who have been
accused of involvement in the incident, feelings are running high in Kandahar.
The principal of the school, Mahmoud Qaderi, told IWPR that his student body had been severely
traumatised by the attack.
"First of all, I have to say that this was one of the saddest things I have experienced in my life," he
said. "Our students and teachers were saying 'there is no security, there is no police.' They were
very upset, because they no longer feel like they can come to school. We used to have 1300 pupils
here. Nowadays we get only around 30. Three female teachers showed up. This is nothing."
Fatima, whose daughter had acid thrown on her face, has pushed her to go back.
"I will never let my daughter refuse to go to school," she said, standing with the girl on the school
grounds. "The government has to find a way to provide transportation for the students, particularly
for the girls. Look at Pakistan and Iran. They send their girls to school, but we cannot. I will never
block the way for my daughter to go to school. Those who did this thing should know that is not
human. My daughter even wore hijab, but they threw acid on her face."
Mothers like Fatima are rare. Many parents are keeping their children at home, say sources close to
the department of education.
Mohammad Anwar Khan, who heads Kandahar's department of education, would not speak with
journalists. But one official spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The number of children in school all over Kandahar has dropped dramatically," he said.
"Attendance is down about 30 per cent. If the people responsible are not arrested and hanged, I do
not think that girls will go back."
On November 25, the governor of Kandahar, Rahmatullah Raufi, announced that ten men had been
arrested in connection with the attack. "Several of them" had confessed, he added.
Mohammad Daoud Daoud, deputy interior minister, told the media in Kandahar that the men had
been paid the equivalent of 2,000 US dollars for each girl they attacked. He said that, once the
investigation was completed, the men would be punished to the full extent of the law.
While the world press and much of the Afghan media has rushed to put the blame squarely on the
Taleban, the insurgents deny responsibility. Their objections to girls' schooling have been welldocumented, but such attacks, say Taleban officials, are to be condemned.
Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, spokesperson for the Taleban in the south, told IWPR that his group was not
involved in the outrage.
"This criminal act was not done by the Taleban," he said. "We condemn this. I say it again – we
have not done this thing, and those who were arrested are not our people. This government will say
anything, and they punish people who are not even guilty."
Abdul Ahmad Mohmmadyar, a member of Ruhi cultural society in Kandahar, is sceptical of the
government's claims that they have the perpetrators behind bars.
"I think that the authorities are just trying to pull the wool over our eyes," he told IWPR. "I am sure
that they have arrested some people. But how do we know they are the real criminals? They have
not shown us these men. Those who are responsible should be hanged right in the main intersection
of Kandahar."
Education and security officials are now coming under pressure to take measures to protect the
students. Many parents and girls are adamant that the province should provide buses to take them to
the school, to avoid the dangers of the road.
"Our students come from very far away," said Mirwaid Meena's principal, Qaderi. "If there was a
transportation system, 80 per cent of the problem would be solved. I have asked about this many
times, from the government. But nobody has done anything about it."
Atifah is also eager to get back to school, along with her classmates. She agrees with her principal
that transportation is the answer.
"I think a good way to get all those girls back to school is to give them buses," she said.
But until the problem is solved, the residents of Kandahar remain angry. They are looking for
someone to blame, and for many the main culprit is the weak central government.
"I and my family are very upset," said Zahra, whose daughter was a pupil at Mirwais Meena. "If
girls cannot go to school, I am worried that my daughter and others will remain illiterate. The
government and [President Hamed] Karzai should take serious steps. Karzai will ask us for votes in
the next elections? While a girl cannot go to school? How would we vote for him?"
Afghanistan's presidential elections are scheduled for next year, with Karzai facing stiff opposition.
Qaderi just wants his school back the way it was.
"Our school was a good school," he said. "But these things happen. This is Afghanistan, after all. I
think it will take time to raise people's morale. And then, God willing, we will have our students
back."
Mohammad Ilyas Dayee is an IWPR-trained reporter in Helmand Province.
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=348498&apc_state=henh
Afghan parents keep children home
By Martin Vennard
BBC News / Friday, 12 December 2008
Fears of worsening security and a recent acid attack on schoolgirls have led many parents in one
Afghan province to keep their children at home.
There has been a significant decline recently in the number of pupils, especially girls, attending
school in the central province of Ghazni.
The provincial council says 15,000 pupils have stopped going to school so far this year.
Fifty schools have closed because of the security situation.
Specific threats
The Taleban denied it was responsible for last month's acid attack on schoolgirls in Kandahar
province, but parents fear something similar could happen to their daughters.
Many of them have stopped sending their children to school.
One girl said she felt threatened: "We're particularly worried about the security situation, especially
in Ghazni.
"About a month ago there was a rumour going round that girls shouldn't go to school. There was
even a warning that girls would be beaten if they went to Jan Mali-ka school."
Another girl said the authorities had to do more to protect them: "I ask the government to take care
of security and then we'll be able to go to school in peace."
Ismael Jahangeer, a spokesman for the governor of Ghazni, said security was a problem in several
districts and that there had been specific threats against schools.
But he said the governor was taking measures to improve the situation.
"Regarding the security of schools, especially girls' schools, the governor of Ghazni has told the
security chief there should be guards in schools."
Under the former Taleban government girls were banned from attending school. After it was
overthrown, many girls returned to the classroom.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7779908.stm
http://www.aopnews.com/
Un kamikaze de 13 ans à Helmand
STATEMENT BY THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR
AFGHANISTAN, KAI EIDE
I strongly condemn the attack where a young boy was allegedly used as a suicide bomber against
British forces in Sangin, Helmand. My thoughts are with the families and friends of those killed and
wounded.
The killing of three marines by a 13-year old boy again demonstrates the Taliban's total disrespect
for human rights.
Such unscrupulous use of children cannot be justified under any circumstances. Forcing or
coercing children directly into such action is wholly unacceptable by anyone's standards.
The Taliban and all others who use children in warfare must cease doing so.
The rights of children in Afghanistan must be fully protected.
Kabul, 13 December 2008
Spokesperson's Office
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
Kabul, Afghanistan
www.unama-afg.org

Quelques éléments sur la situation des enfants et adolescents en

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