Berry Heart takes part in multilingual poetry anthology

Local poetess Berry Heart , who has been using her works to combat violence in her capacity as the  UN Botswana Ambassador in the United Nations Creative Arts Advisory Council (UNCAAC) has joined forces with other 125 world renowned poets from 68 countries to produce a collective poetry anthology that calls for peace and justice for the Hazara people of Afghanistan.

 
“In 2013, 125 world celebrated poets from 68 countries including myself joined words of hope to the Hazara people and published a poetry anthology on the 23rd of January 2014 calling for peace and justice. I’m glad to announce the book “Poems for the Hazara: A Multilingual Poetry Anthology and Collaborative Poem by 125 Poets from 68 Countries. The book has 600 pages, is available in hardcover and paperback formats on Amazon now and will be available in other top online bookstores soon,” Berry said.

 
She continued to say that as the UN Ambassador, philanthropist and a poet she felt the need to be part of the cause to try and  change the lives of the people of Hazara as they had sent an open letter to the international human rights organizations, international authorities and well-known personalities to help them improve their situation.

 
“History is a witness to crimes against humanity such as the persecution and discrimination against beliefs, race and linguistics that have led to various forms of human suffering. Surprisingly the crimes against humanity by the government of Afghanistan that have been investigated and identified are faced with the silence of the international community and international mass media.

Therefore, these crimes are continuing. The Hazara people have been persecuted for more than a century and crimes against humanity, genocide and forced migration have been committed against them. Since the activation of international human rights organizations in Afghanistan, some of these crimes have been documented such as the ongoing massacres of Hazara people in the Afshar area during the Mujahedeen rule in Kabul and the mass killings of Hazaras in Mazar-e Sharif, Bamyian and Yakawlang during the Taliban government. As signatories of this letter, we request from the international community, institutions and especially human rights organisations, condemnation of these historic crimes and also those crimes against the Hazara people which are still taking place under the Karzai regime. We urge you to demand the Afghan government to implement and perform human rights norms, which are acceptable to the international community,” the letter read in part.