Increasing Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan

According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban is increasingly targetting violence towards civilians in Afghanistan.

The 116 page report, , “The Human Cost: The Consequences of Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan,” stated that almost 700 civilians had been killed by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. The former has been targeting certain groups of civilians, including “humanitarian aid workers, journalists, doctors, religious leaders, and civilian government employees, condemning them as spies or collaborators.”

The human rights group have also issued previous statements urging NATO forces and the US government to “take greater precautions to protect civilians and establish a program to compensate Afghans who have lost family members, are injured or suffer property damage due to their actions.”

Late october last year, more than 60 civilians were killed as a result of heavy fighting between NATO forces and insurgent forces in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. NATO conducted test fire on October 24 in southern Kunar province, at a residential area, resulting in the death of one girl and injury of two other seven-year-old girls. Last July, in Helmand province, NATO aircraft fired upon a pickup truck and killed 13 members of a family, including nine children, who were trying to flee the fighting.

As violence continues to escalate, with the effects mostly on innocent civilians, Australia will increase its forces in Afghanistan to about 950 by middle this year and 1,000 in middle of 2008.

 

 

 

 

Eerily Reminiscent of 1984

“We watch over you for your security” - These would be the words that would be written in three airships flying over the city of Caracus soon.

According to the BBC news report dated 20th April, the airships are each installed with a camera that transmits images back to a central control room.

Considered one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America, specifically pertaining to gun crimes, UN claims that there were more deaths per capita last year from guns in Caracus than anywhere else in the world.

The US State Department website also stated that it “has one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the world” and that “armed robberies take place in broad daylight throughout the city, including areas generally presumed safe and frequented by tourists.” The website also identified kidnapping as a serious problem with more than 1,000 reported during 2006 alone.

One can easily argue that this is an open and shut case of Big Brother. On the other hand, the effectiveness of police using “watching over you” devices as a crime deterrence may not work once the criminals devise ways to escape being tracked down or monitored.

Moral Duty

Recently the Singapore Government awarded themselves massive pay rises. One of the reasons given is to prevent any corrupting of government ministers by ensuring that they are not liable to bribes.

Should it not be the case that any politician has a moral duty (let alone legal responsibility) not to accept bribes? And that this moral duty should not be enforced by monetary reasons?

If we were to follow this logic, then any worker who is liable to bribery (police, civil servants etc) should also be paid massive salaries to prevent them failing in their moral duties.