|
Business & Professional Women Australia (BPW Australia) calls to end
Australia's involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
A media release issued by BPW Australia on 7 April 2010.
Business & Professional Women Australia (BPW Australia) calls on the
Government to immediately end Australia’s participation in the war in
Afghanistan.
In the lead up to Anzac Day we must remember that war in any form is
an abomination. War rains death and destruction on civilian
populations with devastating personal and social consequences. It's
time we brought our soldiers home to their families and let the people
of Afghanistan rebuild their lives. Until we do that the death toll
and other consequences of the war will continue to grow.
For example, armed conflict contributes to poverty. Wars leave people
without homes, food or sources of income and often create large
numbers of refugees. These legacies hinder the achievement of the
United Nations Millennium Development Goals to which Australia is a
signatory.
Despite the demise of the Taliban regime at the end of 2001, BPW
Australia remains alarmed about the plight of Afghan women, including
ongoing human rights abuses, as outlined in the United Nations July
2009 report 'Silence is Violence, End the Abuse of Women in
Afghanistan'.
BPW Australia notes the recent UNICEF 2010 Humanitarian Action Report
that:
"...increased fighting between the government and rebel forces along
with floods in the Western and Northern provinces have displaced
235,000 people and caused one third of the population to be food
insecure. An additional 2.6 million Afghans have registered as
refugees in neighbouring countries. In displacement camps, Afghans
lack access to essential health care, safe water, a basic education
and child protection services. Nationwide only 31% of Afghans have
access to safe drinking water and only 12% sanitary toilets. More than
half of school-aged children are not in school because of inadequate
infrastructure, poverty, armed conflict, and climate-related disasters…
nearly 44% of the country remains inaccessible to the humanitarian
community due to armed fighting and inadequate security. Much violence
now is aimed at children…Afghanistan is seeing increasing numbers of
cases of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus, putting additional
pressure on a health system already unable to provide care to over
600,000 people. The most vulnerable are women, children, and the
internally displaced.....""
BPW Australia is concerned about recent reports that suggest that the
UN Security Council did not authorise the use of force in Afghanistan
in 2001 as has been previously asserted and the revelations in secret
cables from the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry,
recommending against the recent escalation of troops in Afghanistan.
Finally, BPW Australia is particularly concerned by the recent
prediction of respected Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg
that four years from now there will be more troops in Afghanistan than
there will be two years from now.
Promises are made about troop withdrawals but the war in Afghanistan
seems to be becoming a war without end, and Australia's involvement in
it seems to be escalating. No benchmarks have been set for victory or
defeat.
Just as we claim not to tolerate violence against women and children
in our own country, so we cannot in all conscience be the perpetrators
or supporters of violence against women and children abroad.
BPW Australia seeks the immediate withdrawal of Australian troops from
Afghanistan and the replacement of military spending by accountable
expenditure on local institutional and social reconstruction.
Marilyn Forsythe
BPW Australia President
BPW Australia
PO Box 193
Surrey Hills VIC Australia 3127
Level 1, 613 Canterbury Road
Surrey Hills VIC Australia 3127
Ph: +61 3 9895 4487
Fax: +61 3 9898 0249
ABN 50 956 174 998
Download this background text as a pdf file.
|
