[CivilSoc] Tajikistan Greed and Corruption Block Humanitarian Aid

Wed, 21 Nov 2001 14:46:07 -0800 (PST)

From: Physicians for Human Rights <[email protected]>
Reply-To: Physicians for Human Rights <[email protected]>
BULLETIN #4
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2001
Contact: Barbara Ayotte, Director of Communications
(617) 695-0041 ext. 210/(617) 549-0152 mobile
[email protected]/www.phrusa.org
MEDICAL GROUP CALLS ON TAJIKISTAN TO EXPEDITE AID AND HUMANITARIAN
PERSONNEL ACROSS BORDER TO AFGHANISTAN; CORRUPT POLICIES AFFECTING
OPERATIONS
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today called on the government of
Tajikistan to immediately lift restrictive requirements for
humanitarian assistance providers and non-governmental organizations
(NGO) attempting to enter Afghanistan, by both air and land
transport, to deliver aid. The policies have seriously derailed
personnel, food and supplies from reaching the Afghan people across
the border, in these, the beginning weeks of winter. The Tajikistan
border crossings are the most direct access to areas in Northeast
Afghanistan. The group also found accusations of corruption on all
levels of Tajikistan's border control agencies, particularly with
processing of visas, voiced almost unanimously by aid groups
interviewed.
On November 3, according to sources collected by PHR representatives
in Dushanbe who were familiar with cross-border operations, all
non-Tajikistani and Russian helicopters and airplanes, Northern
Alliance aircraft included, were indefinitely grounded by the
government of Tajikistan for unspecified reasons. There has been no
information in the following weeks to suggest that the grounding
order had been rescinded. These flights are, in some cases, the only
infrastructure available for rapidly moving aid workers, UN staff,
and essential equipment in and out of locations within northeast
Afghanistan. PHR believes severing this critical lifeline to
Afghanistan inflicts further suffering on Afghan civilians in
desperate need of the expertise provided by NGO staff, especially
health professionals.
"The behavior of the government of Tajikistan in this situation is
outrageous and should stop immediately. The Security Council of the
United Nations, the governments of Russia and the United States
should use all diplomatic and political channels necessary to ensure
humanitarian aid providers and NGOs the access they need to do their
jobs," stated Leonard Rubenstein, Executive Director of Physicians
for Human Rights.
"Obstruction and profiteering off the suffering of a nation is an
affront to the human rights of the Afghan people, as well as an
attack on the groups risking their lives to feed, clothe, and heal
those in need."
While in Dushanbe earlier this month, PHR researchers spoke to aid
workers and journalists securing visas to Tajikistan, who were told
that shorter duration visas, transit visas and multiple entry visas,
the most appropriate visas for these individuals, would take ten
days, and in some cases, two weeks to process. This situation forced
many of them to purchase longer duration, more expensive visas that
were available almost immediately.
PHR team members also found that some NGOs approved by the Northern
Alliance to operate in Afghanistan had been forced to pay to register
in Tajikistan-though they had no capacity or plans to provide
services there. Some NGOs had been turned away on their initial
attempts to receive overland and air permits from the Minister of
Foreign Affairs because their letters of introduction lacked stamps,
which many American organizations do not have, or other non-essential
information that could be quickly provided by showing passports and
other documentation. As of last week, the visa problems remained.
PHR spoke in Dushanbe to Dr. Eleni Theocharous, MD, PhD, who is an
Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Democritos University,
Greece, a member of the Parliament of Cyprus, and a representative of
Cyprus to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE). She had been attempting to gain access to Afghanistan as part
of a Doctor's of the World and Internationaler Hilfsfonde eV surgical
team that planned to operate on wounded civilians in Khowja Bahouddin
and Fayzabad, Afghanistan. After waiting four days, paying over
$7,500, and in possession of a diplomatic passport, she was still
unable to reach those in Afghanistan in need of medical attention.
"I have operated during armed conflicts in Haiti, Albania, Bosnia,
Kosovo, Gaza and the West Bank, Northern Iraq, and Nagorno-Karabagh,
and though access to these places was sometimes difficult, I never
encountered the barriers to health professionals trying to volunteer
their services that I encountered in Tajikistan," Dr. Theocharous
told PHR. "Despite my best efforts, I am returning home exasperated
and exhausted without having treated a single Afghan child." Dr.
Theocharous left Tajikistan for Cyprus the next day.
For those who are not journalists, permits needed to cross the border
are hard to acquire, and even then, access is only expedited through
hiring for $200 a local driver registered officially with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Non-registered drivers must have
their permit number, name, and license submitted to the MFA, a
process that takes an undefined period of time. International
humanitarian aid organizations, whose names are withheld, told PHR
confidentially that they have encountered chronic difficulties
obtaining entry visas and overland permits for their staffs and
convoys that bring food, fuel and shelter into Afghanistan.
Physicians for Human Rights calls on the government of Tajikistan to
immediately remove all impediments and obstacles facing humanitarian
aid groups attempting to enter Afghanistan from their country.
Tajikistan's neighbors, especially Uzbekistan, also recently shown to
be obstructing the flow of aid to Afghanistan, must do so as well.
Physicians for Human Rights mobilizes the health professions and
enlists the general public to protect and promote the human rights of
all people. PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its role as a
founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
________________________________________________________________________
Previous PHR Bulletins
Bulletin 1: http://www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/field_102301.html
All parties to the Conflict Must Remove Obstacles in Aid Delivery to
Internally-Stranded Persons in Afghanistan/ PHR Issues Survey of
Afghan Women and Men Re: Rights
Bulletin 2: http://www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/field_103001.html
Women and Representatives from All Political and Ethnic Groups Must
Form Transition Government in Afghanistan; Women's Human Rights Must
Be Supported
Bulletin 3:
http://www.phrusa.org/research/afghanistan/field_110201.html
Moratorium on Use of Cluster Bombs and Antipersonnel Landmines in
Afghanistan; US Must Disclose Munitions Information to UN
Read PHR's New Report:
www.phrusa.org/campaigns/afghanistan/Afghan_report.html
Women's Health and Human Rights in Afghanistan: A Population-Based
Assessment