[hr-education] Afghanistan: Bombs and threats shut down schools

[***Moderator's note: List members may be interested in a new report by
Human Rights Watch on the education system in Afghanistan. The full
report: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/afghanistan0706/index.htm ***]

 
Insurgency, Weak International Response Hit Girls’ Education

(London, July 11, 2006) -- Escalating attacks by the Taliban and other
armed groups on teachers, students and schools in Afghanistan are shutting
down schools and depriving another generation of an education, Human
Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Schools for girls have
been hit particularly hard, threatening to undo advances in education
since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001.

In the 142-page report, “Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in
Afghanistan,” Human Rights Watch documented 204 incidents of attacks on
teachers, students and schools since January 2005. This number, which
underestimates the severity of the crisis due to the difficulty of
gathering data in Afghanistan, reflects a sharp increase in attacks as the
security situation in many parts of the country has deteriorated. There
appear to have been more attacks on the education system in the first half
of 2006 than in all of 2005. Southern and southeastern Afghanistan face
the most serious threat, but schools in other areas have also been
attacked.
 
“Schools are being shut down by bombs and threats, denying another
generation of Afghan girls an education and the chance for a better life,”
said Zama Coursen-Neff, co-author of the report. “Attacks on schools by
the Taliban and other groups that are intended to terrorize the civilian
population are war crimes and jeopardize Afghanistan’s future.”
 
Human Rights Watch found entire districts in Afghanistan where attacks had
closed all schools and driven out the teachers and non-governmental
organizations providing education. Insecurity, societal resistance in some
quarters to equal access to education for girls, and a lack of resources
mean that, despite advances in recent years, the majority of girls in the
country remain out of school. Nearly one-third of districts have no girls’
schools.
 
The assault on education in Afghanistan is part of a dramatic resurgence
over the past year of armed opposition to the central government and its
international supporters. In addition to targeting educational facilities,
the Taliban and other armed groups have used tactics previously rare in
Afghanistan, such as suicide bombings against civilians and attacks on aid
workers. Threatening messages – known as “night letters” – targeting
teachers, students and government employees now appear with far greater
frequency than before.
 
The Taliban and allied groups, such as warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s
Hezb-e Islami, were responsible for many, but not all, of the attacks on
schools and teachers that Human Rights Watch investigated. In other
instances, local warlords have carried out such attacks to strengthen
their local control. Afghanistan’s rapidly growing criminal networks, many
involved in the production and trade of narcotics, also target schools
because in many areas they are the only symbol of government authority.
 
“The Taliban, local warlords and criminal groups now share the goal of
weakening the central government, creating a perfect storm of violence
that threatens Afghanistan’s recovery and reconstruction,” said Sam
Zarifi, co-author of the report. “These groups are exploiting the
international forces’ failures on security in order to alienate Afghans
from a central government that can’t protect them.”
 
Afghanistan has received a fraction of the funding and peacekeeping
support given to recent post-conflict situations such as the Balkans and
East Timor, Human Rights Watch said. Troops from NATO, operating under the
mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), have only
recently begun moving into southern Afghanistan, where insecurity and
armed insurgency pose the greatest threat. They replace U.S. troops whose
mandate was directed at military operations against the Taliban, and not
aimed at providing security for the local populace.
 
“For four years, the international community has shortchanged Afghanistan
on security, and the Taliban and other armed groups are filling the
vacuum,” said Zarifi, Asia research director at Human Rights Watch. “But
the situation isn’t hopeless yet. The U.S. and NATO must show that they
can and will make life safer and better for ordinary Afghans.”
 
Human Rights Watch called on armed opposition groups, including the
Taliban and Hezb-e Islami, to immediately halt all attacks on civilians
and civilian objects, in particular teachers, students and schools. The
organization also urged the Afghan government, NATO and the U.S.-led
coalition forces to implement a security policy firmly tethered to the
development needs of the Afghan people. The Afghan government, with
international support, needs a strategy to monitor, prevent and respond to
attacks on education. At a minimum, it should keep track of attacks,
identify and protect schools most at risk, and strengthen Afghanistan’s
feeble police force so that it can investigate, arrest and prosecute those
responsible.
 
“A key measurement of the international community’s success in Afghanistan
must be the safety of ordinary Afghans,” said Coursen-Neff, senior
researcher in the children’s rights division of Human Rights Watch.
“Access to education is a critical benchmark. If it’s too dangerous to
send children to school, there is no real security and no real
development.”
 
Selected Testimonies from “Lessons in Terror”: 
 
“In the first three years there were a lot of girl students –
everyone wanted to send their daughters to school. For example, in
Argandob district [a conservative area], girls were ready; women
teachers were ready. But when two or three schools were burned, then
nobody wanted to send their girls to school after that.” 
– Female representative on Kandahar’s provincial council, December
11, 2005. 
 
“The Taliban ‘went to each class, took out their long knives...
locked the children in two rooms, [where they] were severely beaten
with sticks and asked, ‘will you come to school now?’’ The teachers
said that they were taken out of school. The Taliban asked them
individually, ‘Why are you working for Bush and Karzai?’ They said,
‘We are educating our children with books – we know nothing about
Bush or Karzai, we are just educating our children.’ After that, they
were cruelly beaten and let go.” 
– Education official from Maruf district, Kandahar province,
describing how the Taliban shut down his school in June 2004,
speaking to Human Rights Watch on December 9, 2005. All schools in
the district closed down that year. 
 
“I saw these two men... One of them fired a full magazine in
Laghmani’s chest... I was afraid for my life and hid around a corner.
I did not know who the victim was. After the killers fled, I went to
the gate and saw Laghmani lying dead... It was awful.... We have been
receiving night letters, but no one thought they would really kill a
teacher!” 
– Eyewitness speaking to Human Rights Watch on December 21, 2005,
describing how on December 14, 2005, two men on a motorbike shot and
killed a teacher at the gate of the school where he taught, in
Zarghon village in Nad Ali district, Helmand province. 
 
“I was a first grade teacher at [name withheld] Primary School for
girls . . . Last November [2004], I was walking with girls towards
school, and on our way I found a letter... It was a clear threat to
me and all students going to that school. It said [in Pashto]: ‘To
all girl students and school teachers who are teaching in girls’
schools! We warn you to stop going to school, as it is a center made
by Americans. Anyone who wants to go to school will be blown up. To
avoid such a death, we warn you not to go to school.’ 
 
“After reading this letter, I along with my family decided not to go
to school because those who are warning us are quite powerful and
strong. We are ordinary people and we can not challenge them. Also, I
asked the girls from my village not to go back to school... All the
girls from my village would really like to attend that school... but
the problem is security – what will happen if they really plant bombs
on our way? That’s the reason. 
– Former teacher, Laghman province, June 7, 2005. 
 
“I said, ‘Please don’t include Helmand province in your target areas,
because we will have to hire staff two times: we will send staff and
they will be killed.’ This is not a joke. We cannot take charge of
working there. This is the main place where the Taliban operates.” 
– Staff member of an Afghan NGO that has weathered serious security
problems explaining why he urged the coordinator of a joint NGO
program not to expand the program to Helmand, speaking with Human
Rights Watch on December 15, 2006. 
 
“While culture is an issue, security is more important because even
those people who want to break tradition are not able to.” 
– Member of a women’s group in Kandahar city, December 8, 2005.

 

 

 
======== Global Human Rights Education listserv =======
Send mail intended for the list to <      >.
Archives of the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education/
**You are welcome to reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this
item, but please retain the original and listserv source.