Posted By: Erica When his family members went missing, Shafek went with his father and his uncle to the “front lines” of Kabul (ironically a road that is now so peaceful that my office is located there). They saw bodies strewn everywhere. Many of them had been mutilated, a woman’s head atop a man’s body,…
Posted By: Erica I met with a man named Shafek today. He works with a victim’s group, helping develop transitional justice programming for Afghan victims of conflict. Most of the Afghans in this group have suffered losses in the pre-2001 conflicts, and Shafek’s own experiences are drawn from the Afghan Civil War in the 1990s.…
Posted By: Marla B. We’ve just finished interviewing several doctors – from a psychiatrist to a head and neck trauma specialist to a dermatologist. None of the doctors wanted to on video because they all were worried about the situation for their families back in Iraq and as a precaution if they decided to return…
Posted By: Ana, working on human rights issues in Afghanistan “Are you able to understand my pain?” I hid my eyes for a second, and then looked up at the woman I was talking to. I think she is in her fifties; her face burned by the sun, full of wrinkles; her eyes were searching…
Posted By: Marla B. Every day we interview Iraqis now living here in Jordan, so many of whom escaped violence back in Iraq or came here looking for medical care. All were ready to just leave the violence behind them. Yesterday I heard a story that is of particular interest to CIVIC’s work. I sat…
Over half the world’s governments agreed last week to a ban on cluster munitions. But not the United States. Our government not only skipped the deliberations, but continues to defend its policy of keeping and using these deadly weapons. Why won’t America join the movement to ban cluster munitions? Our executive director Sarah Holewinski sat…
CIVIC’s associate director Marla Bertagnolli talks briefly from Jordan about the stories of Iraqi war victims who have fled to the country as refugees.
Posted By: Erica On June 12, the French government will host 60 major donors, foreign governments and non-governmental actors, at the Paris Donor Conference for Afghanistan. The Afghan government will be asking the international community to commit to $50 billion in aid for the coming years. We at CIVIC wanted to make sure that at…
Posted By: Marc Garlasco, Senior Military Analyst, HRW and CIVIC Board Member Here I am in Dublin at the massive Croke Park Stadium, with nearly one thousand diplomats and campaigners to write the text of a treaty banning cluster munitions. I never would have thought this event was possible just three or four years ago,…