31-12-2005 ICRC detention visits: ex-detainees share their experiences
Visits by ICRC delegates to those deprived of their freedom during armed conflict have been made to people all over the world since the height of the First World War. Here, former detainees express their thoughts and feelings about the ICRC's role in letters, interviews, speeches and other written testimonies.
Afghanistan - From prisoner to prison director
Few people can have as firm a grasp of the scope of the ICRC's activities in the field of detention as Abdul Halim Rahimi, a former Afghan detainee who now runs Kunduz Central Prison.
"Medicine and winter clothing are examples of assistance which make an important difference for the detainees."
Arrested in 1988, Rahimi spent two years as a detainee at Pul-i-Charkhi prison in Kabul and got to know the ICRC when the organisation came to register him.
Now, as manager of Kunduz Central Prison, he is happy to grant the ICRC full access and believes its delegates make a valuable contribution to the efficient management of his facility.
"If there is something wrong, they will tell me. I wish the best possible conditions for the detainees and that way I can improve them."
In addition to Kunduz Central Prison, the ICRC in 2003 visited almost 2,700 detainees in 88 places of detention under the responsibility of the Afghan authorities or US forces. It also facilitated the exchange of more than 10,000 Red Cross messages between detainees and their familes.
Read the full article about Abdul Halim Rahimi first published in the ICRC's Afghan newsletter
The difference they made
Detention authorities throughout the world do not always welcome delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as warmly as the director in Kunduz Central Prison does. Abdul Halim Rahimi - a former detainee himself - knows from his own experience what difference a visit from the Red Cross can mean to many prisoners and is thankful that the organisation visits the people detained in his prison. At the age of 28, he was detained in the Pul-i-Charkhi prison in Kabul in 1988 where he spent two years.
When the ICRC came to register him it was his first meeting with the organisation he had heard about ever since he went to school. "The ICRC brought us some very basic items such as soap, shampoo and clothing to improve conditions a little bit. I was lucky to be visited by my family, but I knew lots of other detainees who only managed to stay in contact with their relatives through Red Cross messages," says Abdul Halim Rahimi.
His experience from when he was detained in the late 1980's is part of the reason that he warmly welcomes the ICRC in the central prison of Kunduz today. "I have been a detainee myself and I know what it is like to be deprived of your freedom," he says. Being on the other side of the table, Mr. Rahimi today believes that every detainee - no matter what the reason for his or her detention is - should be treated humanely. He struggles to provide the basic needs with very little funding. Some prisoners receive assistance and visits from their families - others don't.
"Medicine and winter clothing are examples of assistance which make an important difference for the detainees. With the funding I get at the moment I haven't got the budget for all the basic needs," explains Abdul Halim Rahimi.
In Kunduz Central Prison, the ICRC has access to register and see all detainees, to interview them individually and carry out repeated visits. Mr. Rahimi says that he does not in any way find the presence of the delegates as interfering with his job - on the contrary.
"I am very pleased to let the ICRC see every single detainee. If there is something wrong, they will tell me. I wish the best possible conditions for the detainees and that way I can improve them," says Abdul Halim Rahimi.
