[fpn_atrocities] Atrocities: Opium farmers sell daughters to
Lynette Dumble
Give at-risk students the materials they need to succeed at DonorsChoose.org!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Ryu7JD/LpQLAA/E2hLAA/nJ9qlB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article316683.ece
The Independent -- London -- Monday October 3, 2005
Opium farmers sell daughters to cover debts to traffickers
By Justin Huggler in Laghman, Afghanistan
Afghan farmers prevented from growing poppies under a British-led
eradication programme have been forced to hand over their daughters to drug
traffickers to settle their debts, according to reports from Afghanistan.
The claim is the latest in a series to dog the British effort to curb
Afghanistan's opium industry.
Opium dominates Afghanistan's economy, accounting for 60 per cent of its
income. Critics say the country is turning into a narco-state under the
noses of Nato peacekeeping forces, and of the Western governments involved
in reconstruction.
The latest claims come from Nangahar province, which has been held up by the
British, put in charge of the fight against opium in Afghanistan, as their
biggest success. Opium cultivation fell by 96 per cent there this year, part
of a 21 per cent fall nationwide.
But farmers are now coming forward to say that the forced loss of their
poppy crop has left them unable to repay debts to drug traffickers who lent
them money to buy the seeds.
In desperation, they have had to turn to a traditional Afghan practice in
which a family can pay off its debt by handing over a daughter to a relative
of the creditor. Usually, there is a marriage ceremony for the sake of
propriety - but the woman is treated as property.
The problem is familiar to Mohamed Hanif Isamuddin from Laghman province,
next to Nangahar. He has given up his poppy crop under pressure from the
authorities. For one acre of poppies he can make 150,000 Afghanis (#2,000).
If he sows the same acre with wheat, he makes only 6,000 Afghanis.
Mr Isamuddin, 68, says that when the local authorities first started
pressuring the farmers to stop growing poppies, the Westerners promised to
help them grow alternative crops by providing them with free seed, but they
got nothing.
Mr Isamuddin gave up growing poppies of his own volition when he heard that
the government was going to clamp down. But further up the valley, he says,
helicopters sprayed the poppy fields with insecticide.
The British, put in charge of the effort to curb the opium trade, say there
has been no spraying. Although the Americans proposed spraying poppy fields,
it was rejected because of opposition from the Afghan government.
"The government is doing the right thing," said Mr Isamuddin. "According to
our religion, opium is prohibited. But if you have to feed your family, you
do what you have to do.
"If people here cannot earn enough to feed their families, they will start
growing opium again." Although he has not had to take measures as drastic as
some farmers in neighbouring Nangahar, his son has had to leave home and go
to Iran to find work.
At least Mr Isamuddin's son left voluntarily. Richard Danziger, of the
International Organisation for Migrants, says that when poppy farmers in
northern Afghanistan have a good crop it means they do not have to sell
their children.
In Afghanistan's barren landscape, no other crop brings a return close to
that of opium.
A French think-tank called last week for the legal cultivation of opium in
Afghanistan. The Senlis Council pointed out the irony that, while
Afghanistan today provides 87 per cent of the world's illegal opium, legal
opium-based medicines are in short supply in Afghanistan and all over the
developing world.
A handful of countries, including Australia, India and Turkey, grow opium
legally for use in medicine under licences granted by the United Nations.
But drug companies have resisted the production of cheap versions of their
opium-based medicine, according to Jorrit Kamminga of the Senlis Council.
The group's proposal was that legally grown opium in Afghanistan could
satisfy its domestic medical need, and might even allow it to export opium
for medicinal use. But the proposal was rejected by the Afghan government
after being rubbished by the US and by the UN Office for Drug Control.
The Afghan government said it could not put in place safeguards to ensure
legally grown opium was not channelled into the black market.
Afghan farmers prevented from growing poppies under a British-led
eradication programme have been forced to hand over their daughters to drug
traffickers to settle their debts, according to reports from Afghanistan.
The claim is the latest in a series to dog the British effort to curb
Afghanistan's opium industry.
Opium dominates Afghanistan's economy, accounting for 60 per cent of its
income. Critics say the country is turning into a narco-state under the
noses of Nato peacekeeping forces, and of the Western governments involved
in reconstruction.
The latest claims come from Nangahar province, which has been held up by the
British, put in charge of the fight against opium in Afghanistan, as their
biggest success. Opium cultivation fell by 96 per cent there this year, part
of a 21 per cent fall nationwide.
But farmers are now coming forward to say that the forced loss of their
poppy crop has left them unable to repay debts to drug traffickers who lent
them money to buy the seeds.
In desperation, they have had to turn to a traditional Afghan practice in
which a family can pay off its debt by handing over a daughter to a relative
of the creditor. Usually, there is a marriage ceremony for the sake of
propriety - but the woman is treated as property.
The problem is familiar to Mohamed Hanif Isamuddin from Laghman province,
next to Nangahar. He has given up his poppy crop under pressure from the
authorities. For one acre of poppies he can make 150,000 Afghanis (#2,000).
If he sows the same acre with wheat, he makes only 6,000 Afghanis.
Mr Isamuddin, 68, says that when the local authorities first started
pressuring the farmers to stop growing poppies, the Westerners promised to
help them grow alternative crops by providing them with free seed, but they
got nothing.
Mr Isamuddin gave up growing poppies of his own volition when he heard that
the government was going to clamp down. But further up the valley, he says,
helicopters sprayed the poppy fields with insecticide.
The British, put in charge of the effort to curb the opium trade, say there
has been no spraying. Although the Americans proposed spraying poppy fields,
it was rejected because of opposition from the Afghan government.
"The government is doing the right thing," said Mr Isamuddin. "According to
our religion, opium is prohibited. But if you have to feed your family, you
do what you have to do.
"If people here cannot earn enough to feed their families, they will start
growing opium again." Although he has not had to take measures as drastic as
some farmers in neighbouring Nangahar, his son has had to leave home and go
to Iran to find work.
At least Mr Isamuddin's son left voluntarily. Richard Danziger, of the
International Organisation for Migrants, says that when poppy farmers in
northern Afghanistan have a good crop it means they do not have to sell
their children.
In Afghanistan's barren landscape, no other crop brings a return close to
that of opium.
A French think-tank called last week for the legal cultivation of opium in
Afghanistan. The Senlis Council pointed out the irony that, while
Afghanistan today provides 87 per cent of the world's illegal opium, legal
opium-based medicines are in short supply in Afghanistan and all over the
developing world.
A handful of countries, including Australia, India and Turkey, grow opium
legally for use in medicine under licences granted by the United Nations.
But drug companies have resisted the production of cheap versions of their
opium-based medicine, according to Jorrit Kamminga of the Senlis Council.
The group's proposal was that legally grown opium in Afghanistan could
satisfy its domestic medical need, and might even allow it to export opium
for medicinal use. But the proposal was rejected by the Afghan government
after being rubbished by the US and by the UN Office for Drug Control.
The Afghan government said it could not put in place safeguards to ensure
legally grown opium was not channelled into the black market.
Disclaimer:
***In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.***
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fpn_atrocities/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
fpn_atrocitie...@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/