Afghans suffer miserable conditions in slums

Half a million Afghans displaced by fighting are struggling to survive in makeshift shelters let down by their government and international donors that look the other way,  a report from Amnesty International said on Wednesday. ‘Fleeing war, finding misery: The plight of the internally displaced in Afghanistan’ highlights how an escalation in fighting has left half a million Afghans internally displaced, with around 400 more joining them every day. According to the human rights watchdog’s report, at least 28 children have died in the harsh winter conditions in the camps around Kabul. The Afghan government estimates more than 40 people have frozen to death in camps across the country.  “Thousands of people are finding themselves living in freezing, cramped conditions and on the brink of starvation, while the Afghan government is not only looking the other way but even preventing help from reaching them,” Amnesty International quoted its Afghanistan researcher Horia Mosadiq as saying. According to Amnesty’s account, UN agencies and humanitarian organisations cannot deliver effective aid to the displaced communities in Afghanistan, as they are prevented from assisting in ways that implies the permanence of settlements. “Local officials restrict aid efforts because they want to pretend that these people are going to go away. This is a largely hidden but horrific humanitarian and human rights crisis,” Amnesty reported Horia Mosadi as saying. Amnesty International said that most slum residents told the organisation that they had fled their homes to escape conflict. Fighting has spread to parts of the country previously considered peaceful. Civilian deaths have increased every year since 2007 and in 2011, more than 3,000 Afghan civilians died as a result of the conflict, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).  Amnesty International declared it has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate war crimes by the Taleban and all other parties to the conflict in Afghanistan.