Day: July 5, 2021

With one of the world’s youngest and fastest growing populations, Afghanistan is struggling to tap into this immense wealth as dire threats of war force many of its promising youths to flee abroad.

Panicked by advancing Taliban insurgents, huge numbers of educated young Afghans have been flocking to the main passport office in the Karta-e-Chahar neighborhood of the capital Kabul.

“I see no future here [in Afghanistan] for myself or my children,” Syed Erfan, a young government employee and father of two, told Anadolu Agency while waiting for his turn in the huge queue outside the office.

Officials at the Passport Directorate of the Ministry of Interior Affairs said the main office in Kabul has been overwhelmed with applicants since the US announced its exit strategy from Afghanistan back in May.

“Our capacity is of around 4,000 passports a day, but the applications we are receiving are much more than that,” said one of the officials, who wished not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

– Flee or stay?

A glance at the queues at the passport office which stretched well beyond its compound into the nearby streets indicated the rich diversity of the multi-ethnic country, but many of the applicants seemed to be between the prime ages of 20 and 40 years.

Ahmad Shah, another applicant, was there to apply for a passport for his wife, with whom he wished to travel to Turkey.

“I have been raised by a single mother after my father got killed during the rule of the Mujahedeen,” said Ahmad, a human resource manager at a private firm in Kabul, referring to the factions of Islamic parties that were engaged in the civil war in the 1990s.

“We are frightened by the repeat of that sort of situation.”

Young Afghans such as Ahmad and Syed said they are witnessing the slipping away of the many gains of the past couple of decades of relative peace as efforts to reach a political settlement to the bloody war fail to yield results and the war steadily engulfs previously peaceful territories.

There are, however, many others who are of the opinion to stay in the country and fight for their survival and the values they stand for.

“The important thing is that whether we are alive or dead, Afghanistan is our homeland, and we will be here, refraining from migration and emigration. We hope for the prosperity and independence of our country,” tweeted one such patriotic Afghan, Habib Khan.

“I shall make you my motherland [Afghanistan] the contemporary to the world, or will turn myself into black dust at your feet,” he added.

Estimates by the country’s National Statistics and Information Authority suggest that up to 63.7% of Afghans are under 25 years of age, reflecting a steep ‘pyramid’ age structure whereby a large cohort of young people is slowly emerging.

Technically, experts believe that with proper education and job opportunities as well as good health care and empowerment, this young population could contribute to a demographic dividend: a large working-age population with few dependents, collectively bringing prosperity to their society.

But owing to the raging war, crippling poverty and corruption, young Afghans face significant challenges related to health, education, employment and gender inequality.

– ‘Failure to build the state’

Observers believe that the exodus of skilled labor due to the economic and security uncertainty, as well as the pullout of the international community, will be devastating to the security forces’ morale and the civilian government’s capacity to rebuild the country after a possible settlement.

Magdalena Kirchner, country director for the German non-government political foundation Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), told Anadolu Agency the situation also shows that in 20 years of intervention, development efforts and state building, the international community and the Afghan political leadership failed to build a state.

“Or maybe even just an economy that can provide enough certainty and perspectives for Afghan citizens when left to its own devices,” she said.

According to the latest edition of the Long War Journal, the Taliban has taken control of more than 80 districts in the two months since launching its offensive against the Afghan government after President Joe Biden announced the US would withdraw its forces from the country by September.

In many cases, Afghan security forces have turned over district centers, abandoned military bases, surrendered to the Taliban and handed over their weapons, vehicles and other war material without a fight. The Taliban’s multi-year strategy of gaining influence in rural districts to then pressure the population centers is also paying dividends, it said last week.

The Long War Journal’s observation suggests that the Taliban control 168 districts in Afghanistan and the Afghan government has control over 79 districts while 151 more districts remain contested.

As for the population, it said an estimated 10.9 million Afghans are living in areas under government control while 10.3 million are in areas under the Taliban and 11.6 million reside in restive and contested areas.

Source: Anadolu Agency

European diplomatic representatives in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Monday slammed Israel’s settlement policy as “forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of homes” that will “only lead to further violence and human suffering.”

In a joint statement, the EU Representative and EU Heads of Mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah said that on June 29, Israeli authorities demolished a Palestinian shop in Bustan, a neighborhood in Silwan area of occupied East Jerusalem.

“Several buildings in the neighborhood have recently been receiving new demolition orders. Currently 20 houses are at imminent risk of demolition, while in Bustan more than 1,000 Palestinians are facing the threat of having their homes demolished.”

In the neighboring Batan al Hawa, 86 families are in various stages of eviction proceedings spearheaded by an Israeli settler organization, the statement said, adding that on Aug. 2, the Israeli Supreme Court is expected to announce whether it will allow the appeal request by four of the total 28 families at risk of eviction from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where a previous ruling to evict Palestinian families had sparked fresh tensions earlier this year.

“Israeli domestic laws, creating the basis for the claims to evict the families, do not exempt Israel, as the occupying power, from meeting its obligations to administer the occupied territory in a manner that provides for and protects the local population,” the statement added.

“Israel’s settlement policy is illegal under international law,” the statement added. “Unilateral actions taken in that context, such as forced transfers, evictions, demolitions and confiscations of homes will only escalate an already tense environment and lead to further violence and human suffering.”

“The Israeli authorities should immediately cease these activities and provide adequate permits for legal construction and development of Palestinian communities,” the statement read.

The statement reiterated that the EU “remains committed to achieving a two-state solution — based on parameters set out in the Council Conclusions of July 2014 — that meets Israeli and Palestinian security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, ends the occupation that began in 1967, and resolves all permanent status issues in order to end the conflict.”

“It strongly opposes all actions that undermine the viability of the two state solution and urges both sides to demonstrate, through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to a two-state solution in order to rebuild trust and create a path back to meaningful negotiations,” it added.

Palestinians accuse Israel of pursuing a policy of home demolitions in the Silwan neighborhood, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, in a bid to oust Arab residents and replace them with Israeli settlers.

In a recent interview with Anadolu Agency, Jawad Siam, the director of the Wadi Hilweh Center, warned that “around 8,000 people are at risk of direct or indirect deportation from Silwan either through the demolition of their homes or through settlement projects.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

Belarusian authorities have launched a full-scale assault against its people, curtailing their rights, “persecuting human rights defenders, journalists, media workers and lawyers in particular,” the UN special rapporteur on Belarus said Monday.

“The crackdown is such that thousands of Belarusians have been forced or otherwise compelled to leave their homeland and seek safety abroad,” said Anais Marin, delivering a report on Belarus to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

No countries spoke for Belarus during the delivery of the report or comments.

Marin said the forced landing of a civilian plane in Minsk on May 23, “for the apparent sole purpose of arresting a dissident who was on board (Roman Protasevich), signaled that no opponent of the current government is safe anywhere.”

She said her report covers from April 1, 2020 to this March 31, a period marked by a deep political crisis, “following suspicions of embezzlement and fraud that marred the presidential elections of Aug. 9.”

Most opposition candidates were ousted from the process, she said.

– ‘Still behind bars’

“Three are still behind bars; they are among some 530 people Belarusian human rights defenders consider prisoners because of their political opinions or activities. This is 10 times more than during the last post-election crisis in 2011,” said Marin.

She said Belarus had launched a full-scale assault against civil society, curtailing a broad spectrum of rights and freedoms, targeting people from all walks of life.

“As the legal and judicial systems in Belarus protect the perpetrators of grave human rights violations, continuing impunity means that there is no guarantee of non-reoccurrence,” Marin said.

“Hence the international community should keep on demanding the release and rehabilitation of all those still detained on political grounds, and support initiatives aiming at bringing perpetrators of the most serious crimes to account.”

Lotte Knudsen, the EU ambassador to UN in Geneva, said the European Union is gravely concerned about reported numerous cases of torture and other ill-treatment of persons detained or arrested.

She said the actions include “acts of sexual or gender-based violence and about the death of political prisoner Vitold Ashurak in custody.”

“The EU is outraged by violations of children’s rights, including torture and other ill-treatment, politically motivated criminal prosecution of children, and violations of their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and to education,” said Knudsen.

The EU notably decried how the Education Open Doors project, destined for children in pretrial or correctional detention facilities, was abruptly terminated last November.

Simon Manley, the UK ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said the rapporteur’s report’s concerns had been “brought into sharp relief by the Belarusian authorities’ actions.”

He cited the “outrageous forced landing of a civilian airliner and arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich, who has since been forced to appear twice in staged public events.

“These actions directly violate human rights. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Protasevich and all those others held on political grounds.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

The death of Indian human rights activist and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy’s death in custody evoked strong reactions from the EU and UN’s special rapporteurs.

Dublin-based UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said on Twitter that the news of Swamy’s death on charges of terrorism was “devastating,” as she posted a video link of the activist’s work for the indigenous communities. “Jailing HRDs (Human Rights Defenders) is inexcusable,” said Lowlor.

In another tweet on Sunday, she had expressed “deep sadness” that Swamy was in serious condition in the hospital and expressed hope he would be given “every possible specialist treatment.”

Last November, Lawlor and Fernand de Varennes, the UN special rapporteur on Minority Issues, and Elina Steinerte, vice-chair of the working group on arbitrary detention, had written to the Indian government raising serious concern on Swamy’s arrest, which they deemed “escalation of harassment the human rights defender has been subjected to since 2018.” They had sought additional response from the government within 60 days which they never received.

In January this year at a virtual event marking 100 days of Swamy’s incarceration, Lawlor had criticized India’s stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), accusing the country of not properly protecting human rights defenders.

EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore also took to Twitter to voice his condolences. “I am very saddened to hear that Fr #StanSwamy has passed away. A defender of indigenous peoples’ rights. He was held in detention for the past 9 months. The EU had been raising his case repeatedly with authorities,” he said.

After reports of Swamy’s deteriorating health emerged, at least 21 members of European Parliament had written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his immediate release on humanitarian grounds. The European Jesuit Mission had also drawn the attention of the European lawmakers, calling it to intercede with the Indian authorities at the highest level for Swamy’s immediate release and safeguarding his human rights.

Swamy died in custody on Monday while awaiting a bail hearing on medical grounds, medical staff told the Bombay High Court.

He had been arrested in northeastern India last October under the UAPA for his alleged links to Maoists rebels and in connection to caste-based violence in 2018 known as the Bhima Koregaon case. Swamy denied the allegations.

He was the oldest person to be charged under the strict law and was then taken to Mumbai where a special court remanded him to judicial custody.

On May 28, the Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government to transfer Swamy from Taloja Central Jail to the Holy Family Hospital for treatment after he filed an application seeking bail on medical grounds.

The court has now directed authorities to conduct his postmortem examination and submit an autopsy report.

In addition to suffering from Parkinson’s disease, while undergoing treatment in the hospital, Swamy had also tested positive for COVID-19.

Source: Anadolu Agency

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority announced on Monday that Interpol has issued red notices for two wealthy Indian brothers and their wives, wanted in the country for several counts of graft.

According to a statement issued by the head of the National Prosecuting Authority’s investigating directorate, Hermione Cronje, security forces are seeking Atul Gupta and his wife Chetali, along with Rajesh “Tony” Gupta and his wife, and four others.

The two Guptas, and their third brother Ajay, were close with former President Jacob Zuma and other South African politicians, who are accused of influencing them to get lucrative state contracts some of which they did not complete.

It is believed that the Gupta brothers and their associates siphoned millions of rands from South Africa, thanks to their friendship with Zuma and other politicians. Both the Guptas and Zuma deny any wrongdoing.

South African prosecutors now seek the arrest of the Gupta family and their extradition to South Africa to faces charges in the country.

The Gupta’s fled South Africa for Dubai in early 2018, when Zuma resigned as president following pressure from his ruling African National Congress Party over allegations of corruption.

Several South African politicians and heads of government enterprises who have testified at a judicial commission probing corruption during the Zuma administration have mentioned the Guptas as having influenced them to secure contracts or threatened to get them fired by Zuma if they did not comply.

Prior to their departure from South Africa three years ago, their business interests included mining, media, technology, and other sectors worth billions of dollars.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Monday his nation had better dramatically reduce the number of overseas missions.

His remarks came during the 4th special session of parliament and Q&A with parliamentarians on numerous issues including the economy, security particularly a truce declared unilaterally by the Ethiopian government in the northernmost region of Tigray, and last month’s general election.

“At least,” the Prime Minister told the parliamentarians, “Ethiopia would need to close 30 of its embassies.”

Abiy said Ethiopia would no longer sustain all its foreign missions purely for economic reasons. “The ambassadors of embassies to close may follow up from Addis Ababa.”

Ethiopia, according to him, is facing debilitating inflation that needs to be addressed, and an insurgency backed by foreign powers and the international media.

The East African country currently has 43 embassies and 49 consulates.

– Tigray truce

Contrary to some claims that the Ethiopian army was forced out of Mekele to have declared unilateral ceasefire, the prime minister told the parliamentarians that in fact pulling troops out of Mekele had been taking place for months before the declaration of truce.

“It was not announced because it was a military secret by then,” he said, adding that the international media was far from fair in reporting what transpired in Tigray since the government launched a “law enforcement operation” there.

“We pulled troops out in four rounds, and the withdrawal from Mekele was only the 4th round,” he said.

On Nov. 3, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front attacked the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defense Forces stationed across Tigray including the regional capital Mekele. The next day, the Ethiopian government launched the operation.

Source: Anadolu Agency