Afghanistan: ICRC activities, January – June 2008

The ICRC began helping Afghan people in 1979 from Pakistan, providing medical and surgical assistance to the war-wounded in Peshawar and Quetta. The organization has been working in Afghanistan itself since 1987. Today, with 83 delegates and 1,179 national staff, it is one of the ICRC's biggest operations. The main ICRC delegation is located in Kabul with other offices situated in Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, Gulbahar, Faizabad and Bamyan.

 People deprived of their freedom; restoring family links  

The ICRC regularly visits people held by the Afghan authorities or by international forces (US and NATO), in connection with the armed conflict, and assesses their detention conditions and treatment, and whether fundamental judicial guarantees are being respected. It also helps families restore and maintain contact with each other.

 In January-June 2008, ICRC staff :  

• made 118 visits to 55 places of detention holding a total of 10,300 people;

• followed up the cases of 2,261 people who had been arrested in connection with the conflict or the security situation - 675 of whom were visited for the first time and their details registered;

• helped 109 released detainees travel home;

• collected more than 8,629 Red Cross messages and distributed over 8,022 with the help of the Afghan Red Crescent Society. The vast majority of these were exchanged between detainees and their f amilies;

• set up a video-teleconference call programme, which allowed detainees in the US detention facility in Bagram to see and speak to their families for the first time. Some 1,050 video calls were made during this period.

 Ensuring respect for the provisions of international humanitarian law  

In accordance with its international mandate, the ICRC monitors whether weapon bearers are respecting the provisions of international humanitarian law. The organization therefore enters into confidential dialogue with all parties to the conflict: Afghan national security forces, international forces and armed opposition groups.

Alleged abuses against people not participating in the hostilities are discussed with the relevant authorities in an effort to prevent recurrences and minimize the impact of war on the population. The ICRC has often acted as a neutral and independent intermediary in prison riots and has also helped to arrange the collection of bodies from the battlefield, allowing families to complete their mourning.

 Health care  

Jalalabad Public Health Hospital 1, Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar and Sheberghan Hospital in Jawzjan all benefit from ICRC support and training. The surgical units of these hospitals have therefore been able to continue treating victims of the conflict and responding to other emergencies.

Work is also underway on implementation of the ICRC’s joint project with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to ensure the provision of essential hospital services at Mirwais Hospital. Between January and June 2008, these three hospitals treated a total of 24,011 inpatients and 120,790 outpatients and performed 9,729 o perations.

The ICRC also provided hospitals in Kabul and elsewhere (Afghan National Army 400-beds hospital, Aliabad, Istiqlal, Infectious Diseases Hospital, Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital, Geology Centre, Maiwand, Herat hospitals as well as the Central Blood Bank and Radiology Department of the MoPH) with medical supplies as required. Nine Afghan Red Crescent clinics in the east and south of the country received supplies and financial support. These clinics offer general consultations and vaccinations for women and children.

All combatants wounded in war have the right to medical assistance. The ICRC accordingly supplies emergency medical and surgical equipment for administering first aid in remote areas of the country where there are no medical facilities. From January to June, 419 emergency consignments for first-aid and pre-hospital care were sent to war wounded in remote areas of the country, where other health structures are unavailable.

 Rehabilitation for the disabled  

The ICRC has been providing orthopaedic and rehabilitation services and helping disabled people reintegrate into the community since 1988. This has benefited not only landmine victims but also many people suffering other kinds of motor impairment. About 84,080 patients (33,301 amputees) have been assisted to date.

The ICRC runs six orthopaedic centres - in Kabul, Mazar, Herat, Gulbahar, Faizabad and Jalalabad. They offer a home-care service for patients with spinal cord injuries, which provides them and their families with medical, economic and social support. Between January and June 2008, the centres:

• registered 3,008 new patients and produced 7,218 prostheses and orthoses;

• delivered 86,628 physiotherapy sessions;

• granted micro credit loans to 271 patients to start their own bu siness ventures, while 121 were trained for various jobs;

• assisted 1,189 patients with spinal cord injuries. In Kabul alone, 2,139 home-care visits were carried out.

 Water and habitat  

As part of its work in this domain, the ICRC repairs urban and rural water networks, carries out hospital renovation and sanitation work and covers hygiene promotion and environmental health training. Between January and June 2008, the organization:

• completed one urban water supply projects in Jalalabad and three in Mazar benefiting 20,000 individuals;

• continued to work on three water-supply projects in Herat, Kandahar and Maimana and four smaller projects in Bamyan which will benefit 33,000   people;

• continued to ensure basic access to water and sanitary facilities for over 2,700 detainees in the Kabul, Kapisa, Jalalabad, Farah, Samanghan, Mazar, Sheberghan, Ser-i-Pul and Baghlan provinces;

• made 587 public presentations on hygiene to 8,386 people in hammams, schools and mosques, and gave information and practical advice to 3,219 households (17,200 individuals);

• continued to maintain the general infrastructure of Mirwais hospital in Kandahar and the surgical wards of Jalalabad Public Health Hospital 1.

 Emergency assistance  

The ICRC provides emergency assistance to people displaced by the armed conflict who do not have adequate shelter and to those who have been severely affected by natural disasters. Emergency relief is distributed in cooperation with the Afghan Red Crescent Society. Between January and June 2008, this consisted of 5,022 food kits (rice, beans, ghee, salt, sugar and tea) and 3,802 non-food kits (t arpaulins, blankets, jerry cans, kitchen sets and soap).

These were distributed to 3,639 families (25,595 individuals) displaced by the conflict, in the Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces, in southern Afghanistan and in parts of eastern and central Afghanistan, and to 1,916   families (13,412 individuals) affected by heavy snow falls and harsh temperatures all over the country but particularly in the west.

 Promotion of international humanitarian law  

The ICRC's mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and prevent suffering by promoting compliance with international humanitarian law. Between January and June 2008, ICRC staff held 97 dissemination sessions for a total of 2,651 people. These included provincial authority representatives, Afghan Red Crescent Society staff and volunteers, community elders, members of religious circles, journalists and university students.

The ICRC also held 44 sessions for 1,538 officers, sergeants and soldiers of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police, and 38 meetings with Afghan military authorities, international mentors and legal advisors who train the national army.

 Cooperation with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and mine risk education  

The ICRC gives the Afghan Red Crescent Society technical and financial support to boost its capacity to deliver programmes and services. From January to June 2008, the ICRC :

• supported 371 trainees and their 181 teachers in the ICRC’s vocational training programme;

• supported 4 training sessions for 24 ARCS dissemination staff;

• supported 114 training sessions for 2,679 Community Base Fi rst Aid volunteers;

• supplied more than 35,811 first aid kits to 14,508 ARCS Community Base First Aid (CBFA) volunteers, retrained 1,007 CBFA team leaders and trained 996 new volunteers in Kabul and provinces;

• held 7,439 information sessions for 74,391 people who had come to ARCS health clinics for treatment, with the help of 39 ARCS disseminators trained with ICRC support;

• completed 62 food for work projects that benefited 31,519 families.

The ICRC partially supports the Afghan Red Crescent’s mine-risk education programme, which aims to prevent injuries and deaths from mines and explosive remnants of war. Between January and June 2008, the mine action teams held 7,699 mine risk education sessions in 2,473 locations, for 61,091 adults and 112,212 children.