EU and NGOs Urge U.S. to Alleviate Detainees? Conditions in Afghanistan

On May 13, 2002 the European Union?s special envoy, the U.S. based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Afghan Taliban and Pakistani prisoners near the northern Afghan City of Mazar-e-Sharif. EU Special envoy Klaus-Peter Klaiber decried the condition of the detainees, saying the lack of proper nourishment of the detainees had made them ghost-like. The U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights told Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, that it had discovered a grave violation of international standards. Both PHR and Amnesty International asked the U.S. to assume immediate responsibility for the camp from General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the ethnic Uzbek faction leader who is the Minister of Defense in the interim Afghanister administration. John Heffernan, PHR?s legal adviser, said the U.S. has a clear responsibility for the detainees under the Geneva Convention. The proactive involvement by the PHR and Amnesty International indicate the increasing role of non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan and other peacekeeping efforts.