I do what I want - You do what you're told

AI Index: ASA 11/001/2007                19 April 2007

 

read the full article here: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa110012007

 

Afghanistan

 

All who are not friends, are enemies:

Taleban abuses against civilians

 

 

1. Introduction

 

 

Afghan civilians have paid a heavy price since hostilities between the Taleban and US-led coalition forces began in October 2001 – and they continue to do so. The international armed conflict(1) formally ended with the conferral of power to the Afghan Transitional Government in June 2002. Since then civilians have been directly targeted for attack by the Taleban and other armed groups. They have also been caught up in the crossfire in the ongoing armed conflict between the Afghan army and foreign forces on the one side, and the Taleban and other armed groups opposed to the Afghan government and presence of foreign troops on the other.(2) Both sides have committed serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law – the ‘laws of war’ – resulting in the deaths or injury of Afghan civilians.(3)

 

The Taleban have been responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths. According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC),(4) around 600 civilians were killed or wounded in the first seven months of 2006. Around 70 per cent of these casualties were linked to Taleban attacks.(5) The Taleban have targeted and killed civilians whom they consider to be "spies" or "collaborators", including Afghan and foreign reconstruction and aid workers, religious leaders, government administrators, women’s rights activists and teachers. The Taleban have attacked civilians and civilian objects, such as school buildings, with little or no effort to distinguish between these and military targets, such as soldiers and combat vehicles.

 

Hundreds of people have been killed or injured, including children, as a result of indiscriminate attacks using car bombs, suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices, such as roadside bombs, aimed at military convoy patrols and bases of the foreign forces. Targets of indiscriminate attacks have also included government administrators, police and private individuals.

 

Many of these killings constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity. As such, there is an obligation on both the Afghan government and the international community at large to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are identified and brought to justice. International humanitarian law clearly identifies certain acts as war crimes irrespective of the causes of a conflict or the grounds on which the contending parties justify their involvement.

 

While Amnesty International has reported elsewhere on its concerns over the past two years relating to abuses by international forces,(6) this report focuses on violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses by the Taleban, covering the period January 2005 to March 2007, including threats, intimidation and attack targeting civilians and indiscriminate attacks, including suicide bombings attacks on schools, abductions and unlawful killings of captives. The report urges all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law by which they are bound and to operate within a human rights framework, and makes detailed recommendations to the Taleban and other armed groups.

 

Amnesty International is independent of any government, political persuasion or religious creed. It neither supported nor opposed the war in Afghanistan in October 2001, and takes no position on the legitimacy of armed struggle against foreign or Afghan armed forces. As in other international or non-international armed conflicts, Amnesty International’s focus has been to report on and campaign against abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law by all those involved in the hostilities.

 

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Who are the Taleban?

 

The make-up of the insurgency in Afghanistan is diverse and complex and it is not always clear who is behind the violence. Many armed groups are said to be operating in Afghanistan, including al-Qa’ida, Jeysh-e-Mohammadi, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and the armed political group, Hezb-e-Eslami. The term "Taleban" has often served as a catch-all tag for armed groups or elements hostile to the central government and foreign forces. As a result, some attacks attributed to the Taleban by the media may have been carried out by al-Qa’ida, or the armed political group Hezb-e-Eslami, headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hezb-e-Eslami and al-Qa’ida each oppose the international intervention. Other elements attributed to the Taleban might include local warlords, criminal gangs involved in the drugs trade or private individuals. Wherever possible, every effort has been made in this report to distinguish between those attacks carried out by the Taleban and other armed elements operating in Afghanistan.

 

The Taleban overwhelmingly comprise Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan. Widespread support for the Taleban movement is also derived from Pashtuns living across the border in Pakistan, largely in the Northwest Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. In these two regions, as well as parts of Baluchistan, the majority people are of Pashtun ethnicity and share the same history, norms and religious beliefs as their Afghan counterparts. Many Pashtuns in both countries do not recognize the porous Pakistan-Afghan border and cross it at will.(9)

 

In 2003 the Taleban’s leader, Mullah Omar, created a 10-member council (Rahbari Shura) of commanders to lead Taleban military operations in Afghanistan. The council has since expanded to 33 members and includes members of the older Taleban leadership, who led campaigns against US military operations in 2001-2002, as well as newer fighters recruited from religious seminaries or madrassas in Pakistan.(10) A small portion of the movement consists of foreign fighters, including Arabs, Chechens and Iranians.(11) Currently, there are believed to be 5,000 "core" fighters and 10,000 "part-timers" in the Taleban’s ranks.(12)

 

Financial support for the Taleban flows in from supporters in the region but is also thought to come from wealthy donors from the Persian Gulf states. Other sources of income are derived from the illegal drugs trade, kidnappings in which ransoms are demanded and the smuggling of goods. The Taleban also receive money and support in strongholds in southern Afghanistan either by coercion, for example, by the demanding of food and shelter, or by Zakat (the religious obligation of Muslims to make an annual charitable donation as defined by the Qur’an).

 

With regard to their international legal obligations, the Taleban’s Constitution makes clear the limits of the Taleban’s acceptance of international law. The Constitution states: "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan supports and upholds….the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other accepted treaties, as long as they do not contravene Islamic doctrine…"(13) The Taleban have repeatedly claimed that their policies are in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture, and thus not open to question. The Taleban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has been reported as saying: "We do not accept something which somebody imposes on us under the name of human rights which is contradictory to the holy Quranic law." "Anybody who talks to us should be within Islam’s framework. The holy Qur’an cannot adjust itself to other people’s requirements. People should adjust themselves to the requirements of the holy Qur’an."

 

 

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3. Attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects

 

 

"there is no difference between the armed people who are fighting against us and civilians who are co-operating with foreigners." Qari Yousef Ahmadi, Taleban spokesperson, 25 October 2006

 

The Taleban consistently fail to distinguish between military targets and civilians or civilian objects thus breaching their obligations under international humanitarian law which strictly forbids the targeting of civilians. Scores of Afghan civilians have been killed by Taleban insurgents in the past two years, apparently because they were branded "spies" or "collaborators". Targets have included election candidates, clerics, government administrators, teachers, health workers, and other civilians working for aid agencies or for the foreign forces.

 

Taleban fatwa orders death to so-called "infidels"

 

A fatwa, or religious edict, reportedly issued by the Taleban in December 2005 and signed by some 100 religious scholars in Afghanistan, orders the death of anyone who supports the US-led intervention.(40) Qari Yousef Ahmadi, Taleban spokesperson, elaborated:

 

"It says in the fatwa that people should have no sympathy for infidels, they should avoid friendship with them and should also avoid giving them any moral or material support. Anyone who supports them morally or materially should be killed."

 

Ahamdi continued: "Government servants are told in the fatwa to quit government service. Anyone who has a father working for the Americans should cut their relations with them and treat them as an enemy because they are favouring the infidels."

 

In the 2005 fatwa, the Ulema, or religious scholars, consider the current situation in Afghanistan. In their view "jihad" (in this context "jihad" means armed struggle) is a legal duty because the foreign forces are viewed by the scholars as an "occupying force".(41)

 

The 2005 fatwa apparently follows a similar fatwa issued by the Taleban in Kabul in September 2001 which reportedly imposes the death penalty for spying.(42)

 

Under Common Article 3 to the four Geneva Conventions, which is binding on the Taleban, it is prohibited to attack "persons taking no active part in the hostilities". Amnesty International is concerned that the sweeping language of the fatwa condones acts which would constitute war crimes.

 

Attacks against non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their staff by armed groups have resulted in humanitarian agencies scaling back their projects or operating in fewer districts, most notably in the south.(43) Immunization and health programmes have been curtailed and Afghanistan has seen a six-fold rise in the number of polio cases in 2006 – all but one of the 26 cases has occurred in the restive southern region.(44) The ability to deliver food aid has also been hindered by Taleban attacks on food convoys coming from Quetta in Pakistan.(45) The interruption of the delivery of essential aid and development to areas where it is most needed is affecting millions of already impoverished Afghans. A sustained reduction in access by humanitarian agencies may lead to large areas of the country remaining acutely under-developed.(46)

 

The Taleban are prohibited under a customary rule of international humanitarian law from attacking, destroying, removing or rendering objects that are indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.(47)

 

The Taleban have been accused by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of using human shields. Colonel Tom Collins, ISAF spokesperson, reported that on 12 February 2007, "during an action in Kajaki district, Helmand province, Taliban extremists resorted to the use of human shields, specifically, local Afghani children, to escape fire."(48) In a separate incident in October 2006, former NATO chief, General James Jones reported that Taleban fighters had used human shields during military operations in the Panjwai district in Kandahar province in October 2006. Local officials were reported to have said that between 30 to 80 civilians were killed.(49) The Taleban are reported to have further endangered the safety of civilians under their control in Kandahar and Helmand by "transforming houses into bases and checkpoints".(50)

 

A staff member of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) told Amnesty International that: "The moment that the Taleban says that this place is under our control, most of the population flee in the anticipation that there’s going to be fighting there…That’s certainly the case in Musa Qala… the population leaves in the expectation that ISAF or the Afghan National Forces will very shortly launch a military operation to take it back."(51) A legal adviser working for AIHRC echoed the account given by the UNAMA official, saying that when the Taleban seized control of Musa Qala, the local population evacuated the area for "fear of being bombed".(52)

 

International humanitarian law requires that each party to the conflict must, to the extent feasible, avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas.(53)

 

 

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3.1 Attacks on schools and teachers

 

 

"With all that the children of Afghanistan have gone through, to expose them to this kind of terrible violence is appalling." Bernt Aasen, UNICEF representative in Afghanistan, 4 August 2006

 

Despite the five-fold increase in the number of children attending school since the fall of the Taleban in December 2001, seven million children are missing out on a formal education, according to the development agency Oxfam.(65) Currently, around 5 million children, including girls, attend school. In primary education Grades 1-6, there are approximately 1.73 million girls currently attending school, compared to around 3 million boys.(66) However, the unrelentingly violent campaign against schools by armed groups is seriously damaging the government’s ambitious education programme for the country, especially in the south and southeast.

 

Attacks on schools in Afghanistan have been attributed to a number of different groups, including the Taleban and Hezb-e-Eslami. Other attacks have been reportedly attributed to local warlords who target schools in an effort to undermine government intervention in their regions of control. Criminal gangs have also been implicated in school attacks apparently designed to divert attention away from their involvement in illegal activities such as drug-trafficking.(67) A clear and common motive behind these attacks is the intention to undermine the authority of the central government. A common effect of such attacks is that civilians are killed and injured and an already fragile education system is seriously undermined.

 

Violent attacks directed against the country’s education system have increased dramatically during the course of 2006 and have taken the form of missile attacks, bomb attacks and arson. Statistics on attacks on schools reveal the extent of disruption to the country’s education system.

 

· At least 172 violent attacks on schools took place in the first six months of 2006 compared with 60 for the whole of 2005.(68)

· 75 students, teachers and other school staff were killed in attacks between 2005 to 2006.(69)

· Between 2005-2006, 359 schools were closed in the provinces of Kandahar, Paktika, Zabul, Ghazni, Khost, Helmand Uruzgan and Daikundi due to security concerns for children and teachers, denying access to education for around 132,800 children.(70)

· 183 schools were burned in arson attacks across the country between 2005-2006.(71)

· Six children have died as a result of school attacks in 2006.(72)

 

Parents in various regions are now reluctant to send their children to school for fear of attacks. According to a Commissioner of the AIHRC: "Most of the schools have been closed because of the fear of attacks by Taleban and al-Qa’ida forces and, due to the insecurity that the people in the region [feel], parents are refusing to send their kids to schools."(73) A Human Rights Watch report notes that: "Insecurity may reinforce conservative beliefs about girls’ education, for example by exposing girls to real physical risks either at school or en route and by preventing or discouraging female teachers from going to certain areas".(74) The World Bank notes in a report:

 

"[I]t is difficult to separate the issue of cultural barriers to mobility from those of security—how much of the constraint on women’s mobility, and allowing girls to walk to school, is related to the poor security situation—which may in fact improve as political stability comes about? How much of the demand is constrained by the lack of supply of female teachers, which in turn may be related to security as well as differing cultural norms?"(75)

 

Like all civilians, students, teachers, and other school personnel must not be targeted for attack as long as they are not taking a direct part in hostilities in which case they would lose their protection as civilians. The deliberate killing of civilians, including teachers and students, is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Targeting civilian objects such as school buildings is likewise prohibited. School buildings are considered civilian objects unless they are, without doubt, being used for military purposes. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court "(i)ntentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to…education" is considered a war crime in both international and non-international armed conflicts.(76)

 

Furthermore, acts or threats of violence which aim to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited under international humanitarian law.(77) The Taleban have issued threats in the form of "night letters" (shab nameh) – notes or posters pinned during the night to trees, mosques or the walls of school buildings warning of attacks against teachers or students.(78) In the southern province of Helmand, suspected Taleban insurgents distributed threatening night letters in several districts warning school staff to stop working. One such letter read: "If you want to be safe in the world and in the hereafter, then don’t go to the centres set up by the infidels." The letter continues: "Teachers salaries are financed by non-believers. Unless you stop getting wages from them, you will be counted among the American puppets."(79)

 

The concerted nature of these attacks and the threats to schools and teachers constitute a deliberate assault on the education system. The climate of fear generated by these attacks is undermining the right to education of thousands of children, particularly girls. Afghanistan is a party to several international human rights conventions that recognize the right to education, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the body charged with monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, notes that provisions essential for the fulfilment of rights of children affected by armed conflict include, among other things, "access to food, healthcare and education".(80)

 

Furthermore, article 4(3) of Additional Protocol II to the four Geneva Conventions provides that: "Children shall be provided with the care and aid they require, and in particular (a) they shall receive an education, including religious and moral education, in keeping with the wishes of their parents, or in the absence of parents, of those responsible for their care". Although Afghanistan is not a party to Additional Protocol II, this particular article provides an international standard for protecting education that the Taleban should adhere to.

 

The following cases are examples of teachers, students and schools reportedly targeted by the Taleban and other armed groups.

· On the night of 3 January 2005, Abdul Habib, the headmaster of Sheykh Matthy Baba School in Zabul province, was beheaded in his home in front of his children. The school was a mixed school teaching both boys and girls. The Provincial Education Director was reported to have said that insurgents sometimes displayed intimidating posters in the region demanding an end to girls’ education and threatening to kill teachers.(81)

· On 18 October 2005, suspected Taleban insurgents shot dead headmaster Abdul Wali at his home in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province. He was killed shortly after the murder of two senior government education officials in Paktika province.(82)

 

· On 14 December 2005, two suspected Taleban fighters reportedly dragged a teacher known as Laghmani from a classroom of students in Zarghon village in Nad Ali district, Helmand, and shot him at the school gates after he ignored letters (shab nameh) warning him to stop teaching girls.(83)

 

· On 27 March 2006, suspected Taleban militants reportedly set fire to a girls’ middle school during the night in the Tanar area of Khas Konar District in Konar Province.(84)

 

· Late night on 3 September 2006, suspected Taleban insurgents reportedly arrived in Qarabaghi village, Ghazni Province. They threatened the residents not to send their daughters to the local school otherwise they would set fire to it.(85)

 

· On 9 December 2006, suspected Taleban insurgents broke into a house in Kunar province killing two sisters who were teachers, along with their mother, grandmother and a male relative. The Provincial Education Director reportedly said that the Taleban followed through a death threat that warned the sisters to stop teaching otherwise they would be killed.(86)

 

In a BBC Newsnight report,(87) a Taleban spokesperson, Dr Mohammad Hanif, denied that the Taleban were targeting schools. He stated that: "The Mojahedin of the Islamic Emirate don’t burn schools, they’re against burning schools. To destroy a school building or a hospital causes damage to the people. The Mojahedin do not do anything that can cause damage to people… Generally these schools are being burned by the soldiers of Karzai’s puppet government to discredit the Mojahedin. I say again: the Mojahedin do not burn schools."

 

Hanif’s denial contradicts the Taleban rulebook which confirms a Taleban policy of burning schools, targeting teachers and of restricting the right to education. Rule 26 declares: "If a school fails to heed a warning to close, it must be burned." It also confirms the Taleban’s opposition to the country’s current education system under rule 24: "It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels." The rule continues that "True Muslims should apply to study with a religiously trained teacher and study in a Mosque or similar institution. Textbooks must come from the period of the Jihad or from the Taleban regime." All Afghans with aspirations to educate their daughters and sons within the current state system risk being considered collaborators.

 

In the same BBC Newsnight report Taleban fighter Haji Mullah Wahidullah’s views were consistent with the rulebook and contradicted Dr Hanif: "We are against those schools that teach western culture, secularism and obscenity, while our religious schools are being bombed and our Qur’an is torn apart. We do burn those schools. We are not against education; we have brains. But while they burn our religious schools and our Qur’an, we want to stop those schools that teach girls to wear a kind of uniform that reveals their bodies."

 

During a telephone interview with Amnesty International, Taleban spokesperson Qari Yousef Ahmadi maintained that the Taleban were "closing" those schools whose "books have been printed in the USA" and whose "curriculum was developed by foreigners". He asserted that the Taleban were "against the school curriculum; not school buildings." (88)

 

In January 2007, Abdul Hai Mutmayn, another Taleban spokesperson, announced that the movement would open schools in 10 districts under its control during March-May 2007 at a cost of US$1 million. No mention was made by Mutmayn of the Taleban’s violent campaign against state education. Lessons, he said, would be based on the same curriculum followed when the Taleban were in control of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.(89) The plan would establish boys’ schools "first" and girls’ schools "later".(90) This development is of particular concern, given the Taleban’s record on education when they were in power. During that time, women and girls were excluded from all areas of educational life, girls’ schools were closed across the country and female teachers were banned from working. Severe restrictions were imposed on the country’s curriculum with the emphasis on narrow religious instruction at the expense of other subjects. The Taleban’s hostility to girls’ education is still prevalent today and inherent in their current plan. The pledge to build girls’ schools echoes a similar promise made by the Taleban during their rule, which was never kept.

 

3.2 Attacks on women

 

 

The Taleban’s oppressive treatment of women while they held power from 1996 to 2001 has been well documented.(91) Under their hardline rule, women were discriminated against in all walks of life, including the denial of education, employment, freedom of movement and political participation and representation. They were excluded from public life and prohibited from studying, working or leaving the house without being chaperoned by a mahram, a male blood relative. The severe restrictions on their freedom of movement virtually confined women to the home.(92) The effects of these restrictions were particularly hard on widows and other women-headed households. Many forms of gender-based violence were also perpetrated by the Taleban state including stoning to death for "adultery".(93) During this period Amnesty International repeatedly expressed concern over these policies.(94)

 

In the ongoing armed conflict, women continue to face attacks, threats and harassment by the Taleban and other armed groups. During the past two years women aid and health workers, election candidates, teachers, women’s rights activists and other human rights defenders have been subjected to threats and attacks, in some cases resulting in death. Women have also been injured or killed in indiscriminate attacks like suicide bombings. As noted above, the country’s education system has come under relentless assault from the Taleban and other groups, with girls’ schools and their teachers subject to attack.

 

Attacks on women human rights defenders

On 25 September 2006, The Voice of Jihad; Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also known as Al-Emarah, a website widely associated with the Taleban, posted an announcement that Safiye Amajan, Director of Women’s Affairs department in Kandahar province, "was shot and killed by the Islamic Emirate Mojahedin for spying for the United States of America in the name of women’s rights against the Mojahedin."(95) A Taleban commander, Mullah Hayat Khan, was reported as saying that Safiye Amajan had been "executed" because she worked for the government. "We have told people again and again that anyone working for the government, and that includes women, will be killed."(96)

 

When questioned about the killing of Safiye Amajan, Taleban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi denied that the Taleban were responsible for her death despite the statement issued on the day of her killing on the Al-Emarah website.(97)

 

Safiye Amajan’s death brought to greater attention the dangers that women’s rights activists and human rights defenders face daily in the ongoing armed conflict in Afghanistan. Amajan’s killing added to the climate of fear and insecurity for many women activists whose activities often engender hostility as they are perceived as defying cultural, religious or social norms about the role of women in Afghan society.(98)

 

Safiye Amajan’s counterpart in the neighbouring province of Helmand, Fauzia Olumi, was attacked by armed men on a visit to the governor’s office in April 2006.(99) She heads a women’s centre that runs classes for women in tailoring, maths, computers, English and beauty treatments. Her accountant, who was doubling as her driver at the time, was killed in the attack. As yet, neither the Taleban nor any other armed group, have claimed responsibility for the attack. Fauzia Olumi has also received death threats, which were renewed following the killing of Safiye Amajan: "I receive phone calls at one or two in the morning and I do not know who these people are." She reports that in Girishk in Helmand, women frequently face threats and intimidation. Activities for women have virtually ceased in this district, while Lashkar Gar, the capital of Helmand, remains the only centre in the province where women’s activities continue. Insurgent attacks have impacted severely on women, causing "psychological damage", she notes. "Executions, killings and assassinations have destroyed women," she adds.

 

Safiye Amajan’s colleague in the eastern province of Nuristan told Amnesty International that she had faced threats to her security. These have been made by mobile phone, "night letters" and by messages delivered by hand to her place of work.

 

The provincial heads of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in the provinces of Nimrouz, Farah, Zabul, Khost, Uruzgan, Paktia, Logar and Paktika provinces have all reportedly faced death threats from unidentified men. Taken together, these provinces cover the entire south of Afghanistan, as well as parts of the centre and east of the country.

 

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7. Recommendations

 

Amnesty International emphasizes to all parties to the conflict that all persons taking no active part in hostilities, without exception, must at all times be treated humanely with respect for their rights, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Geneva Conventions and international human rights standards.

 

To the Taleban and other armed groups

 

Amnesty International calls on armed groups in Afghanistan to immediately cease:

 

· attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects; attacks that do not attempt to distinguish between military objectives and civilians or civilian objects; all disproportionate attacks.

 

· in particular, attacks on teachers, students, education officials and school buildings, all attacks against members of local and international humanitarian organizations and agencies, and ensure unhindered and safe access for humanitarian agencies to all areas.

 

· locating military objectives among civilian concentrations and take all other necessary measures to protect the civilian population from the dangers arising from military operations.

 

· killing civilians, as a result of quasi-judicial procedures; and holding all such procedures.

 

· all abductions and hostage-taking.

 

· all torture and other ill-treatment.

 

· all harassment, and threats of death or abduction against civilians.

 

Amnesty International calls on armed groups in Afghanistan to:

 

· publicly condemn all attacks against civilians, and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks; abduction, hostage-taking, unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment and issue instructions to members strictly prohibiting such acts in all circumstances.

 

· give immediate and clear instructions from the highest levels of leadership that all of their combatants are bound by all provisions of applicable international humanitarian law.

 

· remove any members suspected of abuses from positions and situations where they might continue to perpetrate abuses.

 

To the government of Afghanistan and foreign forces

Amnesty International calls upon the government of Afghanistan, ISAF forces and US forces operating independently of ISAF to:

 

· observe fully all relevant provisions of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in their operations against Taleban and other armed groups. All personnel must be informed in clear terms that violations of international law will not be tolerated.

· cease immediately any acts violating international law and those responsible, including commanders who have ordered or have failed to prevent violations, be brought to justice in proceedings which meet international standards of fairness.

 

To the government of Afghanistan

Amnesty International urges the government of Afghanistan to:

 

· ensure that perpetrators of human rights abuses, war crimes and crimes against humanity are brought to justice, in accordance with its obligations under international law. International law prohibits amnesties, or similar measures for crimes under international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. Such measures prevent the emergence of the truth, a final judicial determination of guilt or innocence, and full reparation for the victims.

 

· ensure that victims are provided with other forms of redress, including reparations. The government should explore all options for providing redress, including truth commissions or similar mechanisms.

 

· make every effort to keep a record of all civilian casualties in the ongoing armed conflict in Afghanistan.

 

To the government of Pakistan

Amnesty International calls upon the government of Pakistan to:

 

· unequivocally condemn all abuses by the Taleban and other armed groups and use its influence to urge such groups to stop abuses.

 

· prevent its territory being used by anyone to provide military or other assistance to the Taleban and other armed groups in Afghanistan that could contribute to abuses.

 

· bring to justice, in accordance with international standards for fair trials, anyone suspected of involvement in abuses against civilians who may be found in their jurisdiction and co-operate with the Afghan authorities in their efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators.

 

 

To religious and community leaders in Afghanistan and abroad, and leaders of the diaspora community

Amnesty International urges religious, community and diaspora leaders to:

Newly Discovered Plant Species Makes Green Day Greener
Thursday April 19, 2007 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Green Day

In 1989, three Californian lads started a band and named it Green Day to pay tribute to a favourite plant of teenagers everywhere. The world of botany has finally returned the favour, as a Swiss plant biologist has named a new species of tropical plant after the pop-punk band.

The plant, Macrocarpaea dies-viridis (or the "Green Day moon-gentian"), was discovered by Dr. Jason R. Grant and his students during a trip to Ecuador in February 2006. The team, said Grant in a message to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), spent the trip "listening to Green Day music while driving, and in the evenings." Grant has discovered a number of plants within the Macrocarpaea genus, including one dubbed the "Apparating moon-gentian" after a spell in the Harry Potter books.

The news should please Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt, who've entered a partnership with the NRDC to promote environmental conservation.

Green Day contributed a cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" to an Amnesty International benefit compilation titled Instant Karma: The Campaign To Save Darfur, which is due on June 12. They also plan to shoot a video for the track.

—Natalia Manzocco

Bille Joe and family in New Orleans (Day 1)

Billie Joe and family are currently in New Orleans volunteering their time to Habitat for Humanity. Each day they are going to send in an update with pictures of how their day went. Check back each day for updates!

Day 1 - New Orleans

Adrienne : Its early. Really early. We are still on California time. So its 4:30am. Today is our first day of building. Everyone is fired up and excited to start ! We are heading to a safety training/welcome before we begin our day with Habitat for Humanity. New Orleans is an unforgettable city. The people are warm and welcoming and the hospitality is unparalled.

We just had our safety meeting and its raining. We are going to drive to our site with our construction leader (Ben). The home we are working on has been in construction for 9 weeks with 2 weeks left!

Janna: I spent a few minutes chatting with a neighbor who is also a Habitat homeowner.. She was so open and friendly, with a beautiful smile and awesome New Orleans accent. As we stood on her porch, she told me that her house only lost 2 panels in the hurricane and had only a couple of inches of flooding, a testament to how well built these houses are! I'm hoping the house we're helping to build is as strong!

Billie Joe: Today we worked at the upper 9th ward. I hung soffit over the front porch. I had to do some upside down hammering technique but we managed to get the job done. We felt a great sense of accomplishment when we finished. Before I nailed the last piece of soffit , I reached inside and wrote my name with a pencil and dated it.. Ben is a great construction leader. Jason was a great partner.. It was amazing to see everyone getting their hands dirty in good conscience, working together for the greater good.

Jason: New Orleans has long been one of my favorite cities on the planet. It's really good to be back, and in some way, to try and help rebuild the city. I have no prior skills in construction and am not considered "handy" whatsoever. But today I learned enough to help put in the soffit over the front porch. Didn't know what it was until today in fact. A new word, a new skill. Looking forward to tomorrow!

(Day 1 photos by George Long.)

From:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=2457388&blogID=252551121

I’m back stronger! Maybe not strong at all…. maybe I’m just back!!

But I’m here and that’s the point!

Do you missed me? Because I missed you, in a strange way.

No really! I had good time, just sitting on a sofà soing nothing, listening to music and...studing (I can’t help with that...I have to...). In some special moments of hyperactivity I went out walking beside the sea, but it was too hot and too crowded for me.

There I had no tv, no radio, no pc, nothing...just me, my music, Max the emodog and Pellicione (the cat who thinks to be a dog).

Now thinks seems to go on better, or it’s just me more relaxed....

Well...I’m here....talk to me!!

 

 

 

Days Of The Phoenix by AFI

 

I remember when I was told a story of
crushed velvet, candle wax, and dried up flowers.
The figure on the bed,
all dressed up in roses, calling...
beckoning to sleep...offering a dream.

The words were as mystical as purring animals
The circle of rage...the ghosts on the stage appeared.
The time was so tangible I'll never let it go.
Ghost stories handed down, reached secret tunnels below.

No one could see me.

I fell into yesterday.
Our dreams seemed not far away.
I want to, I want to, I want to stay
I fell into fantasy.

The words were as mystical as purring animals.
The circle of rage...the ghosts on the stage appeared.
The time was so tangible, I'll never let it go.
Ghost stories handed down, reached secret tunnels of below.

No one could see me.

I fell into yesterday.
Our dreams seemed not far away.
I want to, I want to, I want to stay.
I fell into fantasy.


The girl on the wall always waited for me, and she was always smiling.
The teenage death boys, the teenage death girls...
and everyone was dancing.
Nothing could touch us then,
no one could change us then, and everyone was dancing.
Nothing could hurt us then, no one could see us then,
and everyone was dancing.
Everyone was dancing.

No one could see me.

Yes, I got it! For real!

This time I’m really going mad. I have this strange attitude to fuck all the things around me and all the things that I’m going to do in the future. This is the same thing that makes me sleep instead of doing exams, the same thing that let me give up before trying to ask something important, this is the same thing that makes go backwards instead of forwards.

And as if it wasn’t enough people around me acts like this is the only thing they are waiting for is me to give up. First of all my father, oh yeah, my daddy! Since he came back from hospital started this fuckin’ pressure on me about me being not studing or going to university (I don’t have lessons these month...so why the hell I have to go to university?!). So this could be fine if only he can stop of telling me I’m going nowhere, I’m not going to take a grade or anything. I can’t take him talking shits like that while she never showed me of him taking care about my career.

And I don’t wanna people telling me that shit because is how I’m feeling right now, don’t need others to tell me that. I know I jumped exams while I was going to pass it so easily you can never know. But I got this panic attaks, I can’t help it!

And I’m really think like I’m gonna pop, I spent this last days all screaming against my father, screaming against myself. Oh and I spent a lot of time emproving me writing cruciform, and is not god to spend a lot of time doing it! You have to believe it!

I feel really bad this time, I can’t stay here for my sanity,  I need to leave.

So my statement is to go away for a while. Just realaxing me from everything, miles (or maybe kilometres) away from home. When I’ll be back I’m sure my father will be relaxed to and we can start ignoring each other again!!

 

So fuckin’ yeah! I’m goin’ to take my grade! I’m fuckin’ going to do it! And before that I’ll have my excavation in Sardinia and in Pakistan!!

 

(oh and I don’t give a shit about you taking your grade! First of all you’re a year older than me, and maybe smarter than me! I’m just enjoing my life more than you do!!)

 

 

 

 

Bab’s Uvula Who?

 

I've got a knack for fucking everything up
My temper flies and I get myself all wound up
My fuse is short and my blood pressure is high
I lose control and I get myself all wound up
Tension mounts and I fly off the wall
I self destruct and I get myself all wound up
Petulance and irritation sets in
I throw a tantrum and I get myself all wound up

I lose myself and I'm all wound up
Petulance and I'm all wound up
I lose control and I'm all wound up
I lose myself and I'm all wound up

Chip on my shoulder and a leech on my back
Stuck in a rut and I get myself all wound up
Killed my composure and it will never come back
Loss of control and I get myelf all wound up
Blown out of proportion again
My temper snaps and I get myself all wound up
Spontaneous combustion panic attack
I slipped a gear and I get myself all wound up

I lose myself and I'm all wound up
Petulance and I'm all wound up
I lose control and I'm all wound up
I lose myself and I'm all wound up

I've got a knack for fucking everything up
My temper flies and I get myself all wound up
My fuse is short and my blood pressure is high
I lose control and I get myself all wound up
Tension mounts and I fly off the wall
I self destruct and I get myself all wound up
Petulance and irritation sets in
I throw a tantrum and I get myself all wound up

I lose myself and I'm all wound up
Petulance and I'm all wound up
I lose control and I'm all wound up
I lose myself and I'm all wound up