Artists in aid of children” “

“Decades of conflict, oppression and barbarism, without hope and without a future, have forced the population of Afghanistan to live a life of poverty, fear, privation and exodus. The victims are especially the weakest and most defenceless, women and children”, declared the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers , who has launched an appeal in aid of Afghan refugees: “We cannot turn our back – he said – on those who are oppressed and have experienced nothing but grief and humiliation”. That is why the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has promoted a fund-raising campaign “Emergency Afghanistan” which has obtained the support of the political institutions. The High Commission has been present in Afghanistan for the last twenty years and since 1988 has assisted the repatriation of over 4.6 million Afghans. Lubbers has asked the governments of the countries of the region affected by the conflict, who already host millions of refugees, to make a further effort and open their own frontiers to those in need of temporary protection and assistance. According to the data furnished by UNHCR, over 135,000 Afghan refugees have succeeded in entering Pakistan through secondary routes and remote mountain valley since the beginning of the conflict. Many of them have not asked for assistance for fear of being deported as illegal immigrants. The most painful burden of this grave situation weighs on the many children forced with their families to flee from the war. An initiative to help them has been launched in Germany. Over the last few weeks the main theatres in Berlin (Berliner Ensemble, Schaubuehne, Deutsches Theater, Volksbuehne and Gorki Theater) have been raising funds in aid of Afghan children. The success of the appeal is such that the idea is spreading to other theatres elsewhere. The Berliner Ensemble alone had collected the record sum of 16,000 DM during just six evening performances. Everything began on 20 October, on the occasion of the appeal launched by UNICEF in Germany in aid of the Afghan victims of the war. On that occasion UNICEF held a press conference with the involvement of some famous personalities: the actress Corinna Harfouch, the writer Guenter Grass (winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature), Vanessa Regrave, Sabine Christiansen, Heide Simonis, Prime Minister of the State of the Federal Republic of Schleswig-Holstein, and Hermione Youngs. Corinna Harfouch, a very well known actress in Germany for her appearances on the stage and on television, participated for the first time in an event of this kind. On the day following the press conference she involved her colleagues in Berlin. The five Berlin theatres then launched their own appeal with the title: “Artists in aid of children in Afghanistan”. “Children don’t have enemies”, declared Corinna Harfouch, explaining the reasons for this gesture. In each theatre, at the end of each performance, one of the actors of the company informs the public that they can, if they wish, make a donation in aid of Afghan children. The response has been so tremendous that some theatres, who had thought of devoting just a few performances to the appeal, will continue until Christmas. Other theatres, such as the renamed “Grips-Theater” in Berlin, the “Schauspielhaus” in Leipzig and the “Schauspielhaus” in Zurich in Switzerland, have taken up the idea and will begin to collect funds in the days ahead.