Why Hurt Long-Suffering Afghans Further? Daily Brief

Millions of dollars in lost income, spiking prices, and a broken banking system have deprived much of Afghanistan’s population of access to food, water, shelter, and health care. With almost 24 million people having been pushed into acute hunger and millions facing starvation, the country, the World Food Program (WFP) reported earlier his week, is fast becoming the "world's largest humanitarian crisis". Households in which women are the main earners have been hit the hardest since many are no longer allowed to work. The situation has been exacerbated by decisions by governments and international banking institutions not to deal directly with the Central Bank of Afghanistan, following the Taliban takeover in August. While donor governments are understandably concerned about actions that would bolster or appear to legitimate Taliban authorities, humanitarian aid is critical to prevent widespread famine. Withholding international support and maintaining blanket sanctions will only hurt the long-suffering Afghan people further. 

A 14-year old Kurdish boy has died of exposure in a forest in Belarus near the Polish border. The boy is at least the 10th person who has died of hypothermia while trapped between the two countries. Thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan have become stranded in limbo along the frontier as Polish border guards deny refugees the opportunity to seek asylum and Belarus border guards refuse to allow people to return to the Belarus capital Minsk. The EU, which has accused Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko of provoking the crisis in retaliation for criticism of his brutal crackdown on the opposition, is threatening sanctions while engaging in high-gear diplomatic efforts to stop the humanitarian crisis from turning into a military one. While the EU is calling for immediate and unhindered access to those holding out in deep forest along the border at below zero temperatures to deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance, Poland has declared the area off-limits to media and aid workers and is amassing more troops along its barbed-wired border.

The trial in Greece of two humanitarian activists who provided life-saving aid to migrants and asylum seekers seems designed to deter future rescue efforts. Sarah Mardini and Sean Binder are among 24 defendants on trial for alleged affiliations with Emergency Response Center International (ERCI), a nonprofit search-and-rescue group that operated on Lesbos and in Greek waters from 2016 to 2018. An analysis of the case against the two activists by Human Rights Watch concluded that the charges perversely misrepresent the group’s search-and-rescue operations as a smuggling crime ring. The prosecution and investigation has been described in a European Parliament report as “currently the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.” Greek and European officials should denounce these abusive prosecutions that put lives at risk by shutting down life-saving work, and champion humanitarians instead.  

Following the military coup in Myanmar in February, the Myanmar military junta has launched attacks on non-state armed groups and the civilian population in Karenni State—also known as Kayah State— forcibly displacing more than 100,000 civilians, a new report by Fortify Rights finds.  The junta killed, tortured, and arbitrarily arrested civilians, while also using forced labor and blocking lifesaving humanitarian aid, the report says. In particularly egregious acts, Myanmar army soldiers destroyed and burned stockpiles of rice meant for displaced civilians, and set fire to an ambulance and a private car belonging to aid workers. The escalating attacks on civilians, the report concludes, highlight the urgent need for a multifaceted approach to address the humanitarian needs of the civilian population and hold the Myanmar military accountable for past and present atrocities. 

Leaders from some 20 states will be meeting in France tomorrow, November 12, for a summit on Libya’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. While these elections are badly needed to get Libya past its violent transition, after the 2011 uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule, it seems highly questionable that they will be free and fair. The human rights conditions in the country remain precarious with restrictive laws undermining freedom of speech and association, and armed groups threatening, physically attacking, and arbitrarily detaining journalists, political activists, and human rights defenders, with impunity. Only if those meeting in Paris manage to ensure a free, accessible electoral process and accountability for serious abuses will Libyans have a chance for a much-needed reset. 

The lack of access to health care for transgender people in Egypt has given rise to an underground medical business that is dangerous and expensive, with unsupervised treatment in unlicensed centers, without avenues for accountability. What should be a life-affirming surgery instead has become a life-threatening procedure. Yet, many transgender people in Egypt who want surgery are left with no choice but to take this risk. Some, like Ezz Eldin, did not survive doing so. Eldin, a 26-year-old transgender man, bled to death after he was prematurely discharged following a gender-affirmation surgery in an underground clinic. He could have received the care he needed had the Egyptian authorities carried out urgent reforms to create a legal gender recognition system as well as ensured access to gender affirming healthcare for transgender people, thus leading the way for positive change in the region. 

And lastly: The annual Landmine Monitor 2021 report, which Human Rights Watch just released, recorded at least 7,073 casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war during 2020. Where the age of victims was recorded, half of those killed or maimed were children, most born years, sometimes decades, after the mines were laid. The report, which will be presented at the Mine Ban Treaty’s Nineteenth Meeting of States Parties in the Hague, Netherlands, this coming Monday, reviews evidence of new use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines. Antipersonnel landmines are designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person and cannot discriminate between a civilian or a soldier. They kill and maim long after conflicts end. So far, a total of 164 countries have joined the Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits antipersonnel mines and requires mine clearance, destruction of stockpiles, and victim assistance.