"Top Ten" Humanitarian Crises

Reveal Growing Insecurity, Neglected Health Needs

NEW YORK - December 22 - Massive forced civilian displacements, violence, and unmet medical needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan, along with neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe, are some of the worst humanitarian and medical emergencies in the world, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported today in its annual list of the "Top Ten" humanitarian crises.

The report underscores major difficulties in bringing assistance to people affected by conflict. The lack of global attention to the growing prevalence of HIV-tuberculosis co-infection and the critical need for increased global efforts to prevent and treat childhood malnutrition—the underlying cause of death for up to five million children per year—are also included in the list.

View the Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2008.

"Working on the frontlines of crisis zones throughout the world, MSF medical teams witness firsthand the medical and psychological consequences people endure from extreme violence, displacement, and neglected—yet treatable—diseases and health needs," said MSF International Council President Dr. Christophe Fournier. "In some of these places, it is extremely difficult for aid groups to access populations requiring help. Where we are able to provide assistance, we have a special responsibility to bear witness and speak out about intolerable suffering and draw attention to basic humanitarian needs—needs that are often largely ignored."

Many of the countries on this year’s list illustrate the ever-shrinking space for impartial humanitarian action, making it extremely difficult to deliver aid to those most affected and vulnerable. Aid organizations now operate with increased security risks and in generally more hazardous and threatening environments. In highly politicized and volatile conflicts such as those in Somalia, Pakistan, Sudan, and Iraq, MSF—despite its neutrality and independence—is limited in its ability to directly address immense medical needs.

In Somalia, intensified violence, including direct attacks and threats against aid workers, meant that MSF had to curtail some of its operations in 2008, including the withdrawal of its international staff, significantly reducing the quality of assistance provided to an already weakened population. In Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people fled air attacks and bombings from a counter-insurgency campaign in the northwest area earlier in the year. After aid workers in the country were threatened, attacked, and kidnapped, MSF restricted the number of international staff in its projects.

In places such as Myanmar and Zimbabwe—where governments fail to make health care a priority or view NGO interventions with suspicion—humanitarian organizations are either limited in the type of assistance they can provide or are left to deal with overwhelming health crises on their own. In Myanmar, where MSF is the main provider of HIV care, hundreds of thousands of people are needlessly dying due to a severe lack of HIV/AIDS treatment while the government does far too little to help its own people.

Governments are also ignoring the crisis of childhood malnutrition. In Niger, the government in 2008 forced the termination of MSF’s child nutrition program in the region of Maradi, where tens of thousands of children were suffering from acute malnutrition. As a result, they have not received proven and highly effective treatment. The closure came at a time when efforts to make progress in the fight against malnutrition globally are more possible—and more necessary—than ever.

"The reality on the ground is that the humanitarian community is unable to do nearly enough for populations in grave need of medical assistance," Dr. Fournier said. "With the release of this list, we hope to focus much needed attention on the millions of people who are trapped in conflict and war, affected by medical crises, whose immediate and essential health needs are neglected, and whose plight often goes unnoticed."

MSF began producing the "Top Ten" list in 1998, when a devastating famine in southern Sudan went largely unreported in U.S. media. Drawing on MSF’s emergency medical work, the list seeks to generate greater awareness of the magnitude and severity of crises that may or may not be reflected in media accounts.

To view each story, click on the following links:

• Somalia’s Humanitarian Catastrophe Worsens
• Beyond the International Spotlight, Critical Health Needs in Myanmar Remain Unmet
• Health Crisis Sweeps Zimbabwe as Violence and Economic Collapse Spread
• Civilians Trapped as War Rages in Eastern Congo
• Millions of Malnourished Children Left Untreated Despite Advances in Lifesaving Nutritional Therapies
• Critical Need of Assistance in Ethiopia's Somali Region
• Civilians Killed and Forced to Flee as Fighting Intensifies in Northwestern Pakistan
• No End in Sight to Violence and Suffering in Sudan
• Iraqi Civilians in Urgent Need of Assistance
• HIV/TB Co-infections Posses Health Battle on Two Fronts

“Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11”

By Ann Fagan Ginger, Editor

What Is The Real Score In The "War On Terrorism"?

An Introduction and adjunct to the MCLI book "Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11," to be published by Prometheus Books in April 2005. The book will contain 184 reports, which are listed in the Table of Contents, with the sources, for readers to think about, and perhaps use, in their work on the November 2004 election.

As a result of the actions by the U.S. Government after 9/11, what is the reality in the "war against terrorism" three years later? On July 13, 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a report: "The information-sharing and coordination made possible by section 218 [of the PATRIOT Act] assisted the prosecution in San Diego of several persons involved in an al Qaeda drugs-for-weapons plot, which culminated in several guilty pleas. They admitted that they conspired to receive, as partial payment for heroin and hashish, four "Stinger" anti-aircraft missiles that they then intended to sell to the Taliban, an organization they knew at the time to be affiliated with al Qaeda." (Attorney General John Ashcroft, "Report from the Field: The USA PATRIOT Act at Work," U.S. Department of Justice, July 13, 2004)

Ashcroft did not mention that the conspiracy was actually with U.S. undercover agents who offered them the weapons.

This report from a Government official charged with finding the terrorists leaves a series of questions:

• How many alleged perpetrators of the acts of 9/11 have been charged and convicted of that crime?
• Have the reasons behind these terrorist actions been clearly spelled out?
• How many millions of people in the U.S. innocent of crimes were detained, lost their jobs, or had their lives disrupted?
• Did the loss of one hundred eighty thousand union jobs through the Homeland Security Department Act actually "ensure airport security"? Was security heightened as a result of repeated efforts to break militant labor unions and destroy the right to organize?
• When the Department of Defense demanded, and got, massive increases in the military budget, including funding for new types of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, did this increase homeland security?
• Did it increase homeland security when the DOD denied discharges to Service members who discovered they were conscientious objectors to war after joining the Service in order to get an education and "to be all you can be"?
• Is the country more secure because the Government has made major cuts in the budget for education, health and human services, medical care, battered women's shelters, federal courts, and for rehabilitation of parolees and first offenders?
• Is the United States more secure because 83,000 people were required to register with the Immigration Office once and 13,000 of these people were deported or face deportation?
• When thousands of foreign scholars and students had their academic work interrupted, or put to an end, although they were not even charged with any wrongdoing, did that help the war against terrorism?
• Did it help that the U.S. did not honor many of its treaty commitments to other nations?
• Did people in the U.S. feel more secure when, in December, 2003, the DOD announced that contracts for reconstructing Iraq after the massive damage by U.S. and UK bombing would be made only with corporations in nations that supported the U.S. war in Iraq? Did everyone agree to thus eliminating all contracts to corporations in China, France and Germany, among others?

As Declaration Of Human Rights Approaches 60,

ACLU Announces New Campaign And Contest
Document Initiated Global Human Rights Movement

NEW YORK - October 6 - In anticipation of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the American Civil Liberties Union today announced the launch of "Dignity Begins at Home," a new campaign to celebrate the document that is the cornerstone of the modern human rights system. Despite the United States' involvement in drafting the UDHR and supposed support of the document, it has failed to honor its commitments under the UDHR, especially within U.S. borders."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first document to recognize the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all people in the world," said Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program. "If the United States wishes to claim the high moral ground and assert leadership on the issue of human rights, it can't just talk the talk; it must also walk the walk and take its human rights commitments more seriously at home and abroad."

As part of the "Dignity Begins at Home" campaign, the ACLU has launched a new website, www.udhr60.com. The website contains information about the UDHR and a petition calling on the U.S. government and the next president to recommit to the Declaration.

In addition, the ACLU is holding a video contest for youth. Contestants between the ages of 16 and 23 years old are asked to submit an original short video about an article in the UDHR. The winner will be flown to New York City to attend the U.N. General Assembly session celebrating the anniversary on December 10, 2008. The winning video will be featured on YouTube and www.udhr60.com.

"Our goal is to ensure that the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are recognized and enforced in the United States," said Dakwar. "The struggle for universal human rights is far from over, and the next administration can lead by example by renewing the U.S. commitment to dignity for all here at home."

Adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, the UDHR details the basic rights and protections guaranteed to all people, regardless of "race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." The UDHR was drafted in the aftermath of World War II in reaction to the mass targeting and killing of people because of their race, religion, sexuality and opinions. Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which drafted the declaration.

More information about the "Dignity Begins at Home" campaign, including the ACLU's video contest and a history of the UDHR, can be found online at: www.udhr60.org