AC - Positive Peace Add-On

1AC Poverty Advantage

Following the international donors’ conference for Afghanistan’s reconstruction, which took place in London this week, a group of Afghan farmers has arrived in London today to urge the British government not to use violent strategies against their communities and their families in the coming months. Poppy crop eradication is part of the planned drug strategy by the UK – the lead country for counter-narcotics in Afghanistan – to curb the cultivation of opium in the country. During their visit, the farmers will also visit drug-users and communities affected by drug use in Blackburn on Saturday and will attend a meeting at the House of Commons on Monday.  “We have come to London to ask the British government to help us, and not to use violence against us and our families,” said Mr Akramullah Said, a farmer from Nangahar province. “We want the British people to understand that we are very poor people and that if our crops are destroyed we will be ruined. We are frightened about our future and our children’s lives. If our crops are destroyed we cannot feed our children. Surely there must be an alternative to this that can be found?”  Eradication of poppy crops poses a major threat to the future stability of Afghanistan because it destroys rural livelihoods without replacing them. This in turn presents a large security risk to the country and the region as confidence in the central government plummets. The eradication of crops which has been happening since 2001 has had no effect on the amounts of opium being produced in Afghanistan – the country still produces 87% of the world’s opium.  “Eradication is a very dangerous and destructive policy to pursue,” said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS. “Drug policy is the core issue in Afghanistan’s security and the proposed “quick-fix” aggressive tactics should not be used,” he warned. “Drug policy has to be tackled in a comprehensive, ‘pro-poor’, development orientated way. Current approaches are totally out of touch with the reality of the security situation in Afghanistan. What Afghanistan needs is an intelligent response, not militaristic tactics that wage war on the poor farmers of Afghanistan.”  The Council warned that the British troops who are being deployed to Southern Afghanistan in April must under no circumstances be involved in crop eradication.  “The mandate of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has no authority to destroy crops or to take military action against Afghan Farmers,” said Reinert. “Soldiers will also be put in life-threatening situations if they participate in crop-destruction campaigns because they could become the victims of increasing violence and instability as a result of the current approach to the drug issue.” 

...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. Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world and the third highest rate of child mortality. Only 23 per cent of the population have access to safe drinking water, and only 24 per cent of Afghans above the age of 15 can read and write, with much lower literacy rates among women and nomadic populations.