Human rights abuses exacerbating poverty in Afghanistan, UN report finds

30 March 2010 – The United Nations human rights office is urging that Afghanistan’s poor be at the centre of decision-making processes that affect their lives, after a new report found that rights abuses are exacerbating poverty in the country.

“Poverty actually kills more Afghans than those who die as a direct result of the armed conflict,” Norah Niland, Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul today.

According to the report published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), some 9 million Afghans – 36 per cent of the population – are believed to live in absolute poverty and a further 37 per cent live only slightly above the poverty line, despite an estimated injection of some $35 billion during the period 2002-2009.

The report called on the Afghan Government and its international partners to strengthen development policy and to implement strategies that adopt a human rights-based approach to poverty reduction efforts. - Human rights abuses exacerbating poverty in Afghanistan, UN report finds

Top UN human rights official in Afghanistan calls for repeal of amnesty law
More than 110,000 explosive devices destroyed in Afghanistan this year – UN
Afghans top global list of asylum applicants in 2009 – UN agency