‘Afghan Girl’ From Iconic Photo Faces Deportation

Human Rights WatchTHE WEEK IN RIGHTS
October 27, 2016
Donate Today
Follow us on:
 
‘Afghan Girl’ From Iconic Photo Faces Deportation


Copyright: 2009 Reuters

Remember this girl? Captured by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry in a refugee camp in 1984, Sharbat Gula’s piercing green eyes captivated the world and spotlighted the plight of millions of Afghan refugees who fled their war-ravaged country, seeking shelter in Pakistan.


Thirty-two years later, Sharbat is once again in the limelight, but for all the wrong reasons. The Pakistani government is on a mission to rid itself of Sharbat and its 2.5 million other Afghan refugees. Officials arrested her on Wednesday.

Three decades ago the Pakistani authorities could rightly hold their heads up high as they protected a young girl who captured the world’s attention. Now they are coercing Afghans into returning to a country wracked by conflict and poverty.
Read more »
share on: Facebook Twitter
Asia
Venezuela in Crisis

Describing the country’s mounting food and medicine shortage, one mother of a 9-year-old girl with diabetes says the “distress and uncertainty is a daily nightmare…” 
Read More >>
 
share on: Facebook Twitter
Asia
Turkey’s Emergency Decrees Facilitate Torture

Following last summer’s coup attempt, Turkey’s emergency decrees have been a blank check for police torture and abuse of detainees… 
Read More >>
 
share on: Facebook Twitter
Middle East
ISIS Booby Traps Kill, Injure Hundreds in Syria

“ISIS mined virtually everything in Manbij, Syria, including, quite literally, the kitchen sink before they left…” 
Read More »
 
share on: Facebook Twitter
VIDEOVideo 
 
This week, South Africa, Gambia, and Burundi all announced they would be withdrawing from the International Criminal Court. Here’s why that’s a slap in the face to victims.
Watch Now »
TAKE ACTION!Photo 
 
End Child Marriage
Join The Call »
TWEET OF THE WEEK
#Calais prefecture declared "mission accomplished," migrant camp cleared, but I've seen hundreds still here this a.m.
Follow Michael Bochenek »