Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations rights chief on Tuesday led calls for Afghanistan’s new Taliban leaders to respect the rights of all Afghans, warning that the treatment of women and girls is a ”fundamental red line” that should not be crossed just as UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that a resurgence of Bubonic plague in Ituri province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was putting young lives at risk.
Bubonic plague is an infection spread mostly to humans by infected fleas that travel on rodents. Called the Black Death, it killed millions of Europeans during the Middle-Ages. Prevention doesn’t include a vaccine, but does involve reducing your exposure to mice, rats, squirrels and other animals that may be infected.
It gets its name from the swollen lymph nodes (buboes) caused by the disease. The nodes in the armpit, groin and neck can become as large as eggs and can ooze pus. Swollen lymph nodes are simply a sign that one immune system is fighting an infection or illness. But if they are enlarged with no obvious cause, one should see his/her doctor to rule out something more serious.
Bubonic plague deaths exceeded 25 million people during the 14 century. This was about two-thirds of the population in Europe at the time. Rats traveled on ships and brought fleas and plague with them. Because most people who got the plague died, and many often had blackened tissue due to gangrene, bubonic plague was called the Black Death. A cure for bubonic plague wasn’t available.
Disturbingly, poverty, conflict and displacement are contributing to the return of the centuries-old illness for the first time in more than a decade, and new research supported by the agency revealed children are especially vulnerable.
The research focused on three health zones in Ituri, where more than 490 cases were recorded between 2020 and 2021, with 20 fatalities. Some 578 cases, and 44 plague-related deaths, occurred throughout the entire province during the same period.
‘’The really worrying thing here is that we’ve got plague reported in areas which had not seen a case for more than 15 years, and many more cases in areas where they had very few or more previously’’, says Izzy Scott Moncrieff, UNICEF Social Sciences Analytics Cell (CASS) Field Supervisor, adding, ‘’there are grave consequences for children because they are more exposed to the risk factors of plague.’’
Bubonic plague, also known as black death is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, which is usually found in small mammals and their fleas. It is characterised by painful swollen lymph nodes called buboes.
Outbreaks are often blamed on poor sanitation and hygiene practices which attract rats carrying fleas, searching for food, who infect people in their homes.
While the disease can be fatal, it is easily treatable with antibiotics. The DRC, specifically Ituri, as well as Madagascar and Peru, are the only places worldwide where cases continue to be reported.
UNICEF says the current outbreak there differs from previous ones because both bubonic plague and the highly infectious pneumonic form of plague, which is transmitted from person to person through the air, have been reported in areas previously free of the disease. These areas are in the east of Ituri province, near the border with South Sudan and Uganda.
Ms.Scott Moncrieff said the plague is mostly transmitted in rural areas by fleas carried by wild rats. Poorer families can be particularly affected.
Yako Adhiku, 40, lives in a round, mud house with a thatched roof in the town of Aru, one of the three health zones in the UNICEF study. She first realized that her daughter, Asizu, who is two, had caught the plague when the lymph nodes on her neck started to swell.
“She also lost her appetite, had a fever, and her gums were very red”, said Ms. Adhiku. Fearing that the child would die, she rushed her to the local health centre where she was given pills for her daughter and everyone in the family, in case they too had been infected.
Ms. Adhiku told researchers that she often saw rats scuttling around her house. She even borrowed a cat to try and keep them out. “The very existence of the plague here is making us poor,” she said. “I have to look after my sick child, so I do not have time to go to the fields and farm anymore.”
Although plague is easily treatable with antibiotics, which are available in most health zones in Ituri, UNICEF stressed that it is important to seek treatment quickly.
A recent report found that although communities in the three targeted health zones are aware of factors which increase their exposure to plague, poverty, conflict and displacement have hindered people from taking action to protect themselves and their children.
The situation is further aggravated by additional factors, such as lack of resources, which forces many people to sleep on floors because they do not have beds; unsafe funeral practices, poor waste disposal, and seeking medical care through traditional methods rather than recognized health centres.
UNICEF is appealing for support to assist affected communities in Ituri, including through a rat and flea eradication campaign and the construction of homes that are more resistant to rodents and dangerous insects. The agency is also working to provide beds for children made from locally available materials. “We want to give parents the means wherever possible to provide children with beds and stop young people from having to sleep on the ground where they are more exposed to plague through flea bites,” said Ms. Scott Moncrieff.
“At the same time, we want to ensure that householders and subsistence farmers can live in a secure environment with the resources to keep their food and livestock safely in separate buildings from where they live and sleep.”
However, speaking at the opening of an emergency session at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, a little over a week since the Taliban swept to power, Ms. Bachelet reminded member states of credible reports of violations of international humanitarian law against civilians in areas under their control.
These reports, she said, make it especially important that the Human Rights Council work in unison to prevent further abuses, and that Member States establish a dedicated mechanism to monitor the fast-evolving situation in Afghanistan and, in particular, the Taliban’s implementation of its promises.
“A fundamental red line will be the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls, and respect for their rights to liberty, freedom of movement, education, self-expression and employment, guided by international human rights norms. In particular, ensuring access to quality secondary education for girls will be an essential indicator of commitment to human rights”, she adds.
Among the reported violations received by her office, the UN rights chief cited summary executions of civilians and members of the Afghan national security forces, recruitment of child soldiers and repression of peaceful protest and expressions of dissent.
Echoing those concerns ahead of a vote on a draft resolution calling for investigations and accountability for rights abuses, Afghanistan’s Ambassador, Dr. Nasir Ahmad Andisha, described the prevailing sense of apprehension in the country, with “millions fearing for their lives”.
Andisha warned that a humanitarian crisis was “unfolding as we speak”, and that thousands people were at risk, from human rights defenders to journalists, academics, professionals, civil society members and former security personnel “who were the backbone – and we hope still will be – of a contemporary and democratic society”.
Speaking in person at the Council, Andisha reminded member states that the situation on the ground remained uncertain: “We witness a high number of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses which are documented and most of those gruesome videos are available online. While some Taliban were and are still talking differently, restrictions and violations are already taking place as we speak.”
Chair of the Coordination Committee of UN Special Procedures, Anita Ramasastry, also noted that women and girls, and many internally displaced people, face particular risks
“Many of these persons are in hiding as the Taliban continues to search homes door-to-door”, she said, “and there are serious concerns that such information gathering may led to them being targeted for reprisals. Searches, arrests, harassment, and intimidation, as well as seizures of property and reprisals are already being reported.”
Warning that Afghanistan was now “in its worst moment” and in need of the support of the international community like never before, Chairperson for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Shaharzad Akbar, rounded on the emergency session’s draft resolution as a “travesty” that failed to far enough to defend those at risk in the country.
“We have documented that the Taliban advances came with summary executions, disappearances, restrictions on women, media and cultural life. This is not ancient history. This is earlier this month, and this is today”, she said.
“Women in Afghanistan are being turned down (sic) from their offices by the Taliban, universities have been asked to discuss gender segregation possibilities, women are required to be accompanied by male members of their family in public, media are not broadcasting music, journalists and activists are in hiding or in flee (sic), former members of the Afghan National Security Forces are scared of the worst, the summary executions, house-to-house searches and information gathering has led to widespread fear.”
For the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Pakistan Ambassador Khalil Hashmi reiterated the OIC’s commitment “to supporting an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process to reach an inclusive political settlement. The OIC underscores the imperative of active engagement by the international community along political, humanitarian, human rights and development tracks.”
For the United States, Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, insisted that the protection of “civilians, including women and girls, academics, journalists, human rights defenders, and members of ethnic, religious, and other minority groups” must remain paramount.
“We condemn attacks on them and those seeking to aid them, including UN staff and humanitarian aid providers. Such attacks must stop immediately, and all Afghan nationals and foreign nationals who wish to depart must be allowed to do so safely.”
Following the meeting, a draft resolution on Strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights in Afghanistan was adopted without a voite.
