Womens Rights in Afghanistan Have Not Improved - Essay Example

Women's Rights in Afghanistan Have Not Improved Introduction It has been nearly two decades that there has been any reliable demographic statistics on Afghanistan. During the late 70's it had been estimated that over two million Afghans out of 16 million had been killed in the war of resistance against the Soviet occupiers and later on in the civil war unleashed by fundamentalist alliances, enjoying the espousal of foreign powers. It is also noted that one and half million Afghans have been victims of the war fallout, whereas nearly five million had been forced into refugee camps set up in Iran and Pakistan. Consequently, majority of those presently living in Afghanistan have been internally displaced as result of the unending war of the past two decades and in particular of the fundamentalist in-fighting from 1992-96. It has also been noted that during the most favorable times in Afghanistan, the overall literacy rate was less than 20% amongst males and less than 5% amongst females; surprisingly considered by some to be optimistic. Against such a backdrop, the country plunged into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists in 1992. This was deemed as a misfortune for women's rights. The new government of the country pledged prompt action to improve the conditions of women. A report by the international women's organization, Womankind Worldwide reported that millions of Afghan women and girls continue to face prejudice and belligerence in their day-to-day lives. Now, it has been acknowledged by the Afghan women's rights groups that women in Afghanistan now have a variety of rights, which they were deprived of earlier. History of the Issue The major religion practiced throughout Afghanistan is Islam. This religion guarantees equal rights to men and women before their Lord and gives them various rights such the right to inheritance, the right to vote, the right to work, and even choose their own partners in marriage. This was practiced over 1400 years ago. But this is not the case observed in Afghanistan, neither now, nor earlier. Here women have been denied these rights either by official government decree or by their own husbands, fathers, and brothers, now for centuries, even though their religion permits them the same. 1996 to 2001 was the worst of all times experienced by the women in Afghanistan, or of any other society. Women were degraded, forbidden to work, leave the house without a male escort, not permitted to seek medical assistance from a male doctor, and were forced to coverthemselves from head to toe, so much so, that even their eyes were to be covered. The female doctors, teachers and other professionals were forced to beg and even become prostitutes just to support their families. Their social rights were snatched away and were badly encroached. The year 2001, brought a revolutionary change in the social, political and cultural condition of women in Afghanistan. According to the newly adopted constitution, women's rights were recognized and they were given equal rights and duties as males, before the law. Women were now allowed to get back to work and resume to their social lives. The obligation on wearing the all covering burqa, was relaxed and they were now respected and even appointed to prominent positions in the government. Despite all these changes, there still remain many challenges for the women of Afghanistan. (Qazi, n.d.) No Improvement in Women's Rights in Afghanistan It is evident that the women in Afghanistan are looked down upon and not given their due rights. Their right to full participation in social, economic, cultural and political life of the country was drastically truncated and soon summarily snatched and denied to them. Women were completely deprived of their birthright of getting education, of the right to work, of the right to travel, of the right to health, of the right to legal recourse, of the right to recreation, and of the right to being human. They were not allowed to travel in private vehicles with male passengers; they did not have the right to raise their voices when talking in public, they could not laugh loud as it lures males into corruption, so on and so forth. This incredible list could be carried on and on but does not in itself comprise the whole of the catastrophe which has engulfed the so called better half of Afghan society- women. Women there are looked upon as war booty; and their bodies are another battleground for belligerent parties. It has been reported by the Afghan human rights activists that the condition and status of women in Afghanistan has not improved since the overthrow of the extremists. To get away from the domestic challenges, even now, the women in Afghanistan commit suicide, which is infact a sin in the religion Islam. (Rittel, n.d.) Considering and observing the constant declining conditions of women in Afghanistan, Selmin alkan of 'womens rights organization medica mondiale', states, "After the severe repression of the extremists there was a certain euphoria. But today many women are losing all hope because their situation is not improving," The continuous disregard for women and their basic rights in Afghanistan cannot be denied. They live under appalling conditions. Many of them are so desperate that they even attempt suicide.this ha been justified by Nabila Wafeq, who works for the women's rights organization medica mondiale in Afghanistan, who confirms, "Suicide attempts by women in Afghanistan have increased sharply in recent years - especially among 15- to 19-year-olds." (Amnesty Report Afghanistan) In one incident, the head of the Women's Affairs Ministry in the southern city of Kandahar, Safia Amajan was shot dead. One of her former colleagues, who kept her name undisclosed, because of fear, says that since then activists have been staying home. There are many opportunities to work in Afghanistan. There's a lot to do, but there's no security for women, so women don't want to leave their homes. They rather prefer dtaying home and safe. They think about what happened to Safia Amajan and they're afraid the same thing will happen to them. All Afghans are encroached by worsening security. According to her, for women in Afghanistan, widespread domestic violence is an additional problem. Women had thought that their lives would improve, but to their dismay. (BBC News) A report, Human Rights Watch states the catastrophic assault on women's human rights during a decade of conflict in Afghanistan, and under the tyrannical rule of the extremists. The 27-page report, "Humanity Denied: Systematic Violations of Women's Rights in Afghanistan," stipulates the international community to safeguard women's rights during the conflict and include full reverence and protection for women's human rights as an integral part of any post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan. Women have been sexually assaulted, abducted, and forcibly married, during the armed conflict. They were targeted on the basis of both gender and ethnicity. Many thousands of women have been physically assaulted and have had severe restrictions placed on their liberty and fundamental autonomy. They are restricted to move freely and independently, dress as they wish and associate, confines them from fleeing for safety or getting access to humanitarian aid. Women are forced to wear a chadari, whether they like it or not. Because they are bound to travel outside the home without a close male relative, widows and women who head households face a particularly serious humanitarian crisis. The following is a testimonial from the report "Humanity Denied: Systematic Violations of Women's Rights in Afghanistan:" that highlights the pressures women folk in Afghanistan have to go through. Zafia Akil, a widow who worked as a seamstress in Kabul states: 'They asked my customers, "Why are you going to her house. Are you going to gather and make plans against us" I had a board outside which read, "Tailoring for women and children." Three times they came and warned me, and I told them, "I am a widow, what should I do" The third time they took my board down and said that if I do not stop this work they will kill me. They accused me of making plans against the extremists. They said, "Everyone should sew their own clothes; our wives sew their own clothes. God will assist you, if you do everything as God wishes." It was the Religious Police, and I was forced to close four months ago and leave for Pakistan.' Facts prove that there has been no advancement in the rights given to Women over the years in Afghanistan. Their status is dishonored and they are maltreated. Some of the facts that justify their disrespect are: Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies during childbirth 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate 30 percent of girls have access to education in Afghanistan 1 in every 3 Afghan women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women in Afghanistan 70 to 80 percent of women face forced marriages in Afghanistan Source: IRIN Afghan women face the risk of abduction, rape, and forced marriage on a daily basis, states Amnesty International states in a new report. The report entitled "Afghanistan: Women Under Attack" says women in Afghanistan face discrimination from all segments of society as well as by state officials. Throughout Afghanistan, hundreds of women and girls continue to suffer abuse at the hands of their husbands, fathers, and brothers. It is a male dominated society and women are not respected, even though their religion regards them as the best of all. Afghan women are maltreated by armed individuals, state institutions such as the police, and the judicial system as well. This was found out by Amnesty International, by interviewing the suffering women. Throughout Afghanistan, "few women are exempt from violence or safe from the threat of it." It was since the overthrow of the hard-line regime that women in Afghanistan have returned to schools and the workplace. They have resumed their social life, but mostly in urban areas abuse against women is still endemic in rural areas. The report states that "societal codes, invoked in the name of tradition and religion, are used as justification for denying women the ability to enjoy their fundamental rights." The Afghan government has also been called on by Amnesty International to censure publicly violence against women folk and to change laws and traditions that sanction gender discrimination. (Hussein, 2005) A young mother of three from Kabul relates her story to the BBC; "My husband beats me whenever he feels like it, once he broke my arm, then my legs. Now he's broken my arm again. I try not to make a fuss because of the children." According to April Palmerlee, a Senior Coordinator for International Women's Issues, the situation for women in Afghanistan has changed remarkably over the years. According to her women were previously banned from working outside the home, there was a brutally enforced restrictive dress code, and women were prohibited to leave homes unless escorted by male relatives. The reopening of schools in Afghanistan was a major step towards improving conditions. However, that's not the only important change that has happened. Several women have been appointed or elected to important political roles, and their rights and status recognized. Over 200 women participated in the Loya Jirga (Grand Council). They have returned to work and they are receiving better medical care, and girls have returned school. (Femia, MSNBC) The assertion that the rights of women in Afghanistan have improved, was only on paper. It is not practiced. Even now the conditions of women there is the same. They are deprived of their basic rights and their status is still disregarded. Neither are they given equality, nor have their rights been recognized. All that was asserted was a ray of hope to the distressed women that has still not come into practice. The thought that women will be given their due rights, still remains a thought and there still remains a long way to go. (Tabeling, n.d.) Conclusion Women of Afghanistan have borne the lion's share of human rights abuses throughout the conflict, and they are in particular danger now. Their rights have not been recognized and their conditions remain the same. Their sufferings should be taken into account by any future political arrangements in Afghanistan. Fundamentalism is the main cause of all miseries and wherever there are fundamentalists, there will be hostility against women. Afghanistan's Women's Affairs Ministry said that it's trying to introduce a new bill to prevent violence against women but it will also realize that even if a new law is eventually passed, in practice it may be difficult to ensure that it is widely enforced. The Afghan government has been urged to take effective and immediate action to ensure that women's human rights are not relegated to the bottom of the political and development agenda. It must seek to build on its efforts to ensure that laws and policies are practiced, so as to guarantee that the human rights of all Afghan women and girls are respected, protected and fulfilled. Appendix This is an interview with Robert Bates who is a former police advisor in Afghanistan. In the past four years he has been working in Eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border in a town called Jalalabad. Mr. Bates why can it be said that Islamic fundamentalists are still ruling Afghanistan Answer: Because the United States installed a democratic government in Afghanistan which is very weak and unable to make positive changes. The people of the country do not trust this new government, because they have not made good on their promises, leaving the country in a place where it has been before the invasion. Corruption is still wide spread especially in the government, including ministers, police and military, giving the Islamic fundamentalists the opportunity to run Afghanistan and to win the hearts and minds of the citizens. In what way did the women's rights change since the US invasion of Afghanistan Answer: It's hard to see any real changes in the local population especially among the middle aged and older women because they have been brought up in the fundamentalist culture and prefer to remain as they were. The real changes that I've seen are among the younger women and women with education which are mainly present in the larger cities such as Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar. These changes include the women wearing western attire and being more vocal in public. Why are Afghan women still at high risk of sexual violence Answer: because the police for the most part have not been trained in areas of crime against women and are reluctant to make changes in the way they protect women. Why is the human trafficking in Afghanistan still high among female children Answer: The lack of border control is the main reason for human trafficking in Afghanistan. It is still very profitable for the government officials to allow this kind of activity. As I said earlier the corruption in the country is still very high that provides an environment that allows these kinds of crimes to be committed. Some families do sell their children in order to survive. What steps could the government take to change in a better way the status of women in Afghanistan Answer: First and foremost the United States and other allied countries need to take a sincere interest in promoting human rights and monitoring the progress by involving women's rights organizations from around the world. Works Cited 1. "Afghan Women Suffer Daily Violence." BBC News. 2. "Afghanistan: New War Puts Women's Rights In Peril" 3. "On the situation of Afghan Women" 4. "The Plight of the Afghan Woman" March 11, 2008 5. Golnaz Esfandiari. "Afghanistan: Amnesty International says Afghan Women still facing Abuse" 6. Will Femia. "Women's Rights in Afghanistan and Beyond." MSNBC. Washington, DC. September 5, 2002 7. "Amnesty Report Afghanistan" 8. "Amnesty International Public Statement" AI Index: ASA 11/003/2008 (Public). 07 March 2008. Read More