The Afghan Women's Network (AWN) has called for sweeping changes in the Afghan Constitution that would permit Afghan women free health care in all maternal health facilities and equal rights in all aspects of divorce and custody of children.
There are deep divisions within the Afghan central government between those who favour a conservative interpretation of Islamic law and those who want to revive more progressive ideas about the judiciary.
Violence against women is
one of the sharp indicators of the subordinate position of women in the society.
Violence exists in different forms, different levels from personal to physical
violence to structural violence, justified by religion, culture and laws. Most
of the steps taken from the protection of women against violence tend in
addressing the women rather than men. These steps don’t enforce laws or take
action against men.
The women issues are
political issues. The social paradigms don’t recognize this.
The seizure of power by the Taliban has reduced the Afghan capital to a ghost city. Half of the men are out of work,
the women find themselves forbidden from the work place. To top it all, winter
is particularly trying.
We seek to have a large international response
to stress to the Secretary- General the outrage that women feel. We also want to
show our solidarity with our sisters in Afghanistan, who have been asking what
we in the international community are doing to assist them. Therefore, it is
important to have NGOs from as many countries as possible sign-on to this
letter.
The innumerable bans imposed by
Taliban renders everyday life a veritable punishment.
The latest orders for
regulating the life of Afghans came into force yesterday. Their severity reveals
the determination of the Taliban, out to capture the parts of the country that
have so far evaded them.
In Kabul, life has become a
never-ending punishment. Since the enforcement of law on "the commandment of the
good and interdiction of the evil", whose latest measures are applicable as of
yesterday, everything is forbidden. For the Taliban government, gaiety is
suspect.
We the undersigned representatives
of Muslim women’s organizations concerned about the negative media reports of
the apparent transgressions and abuses against our Muslim sisters in
Afghanistan.
Wish To:
Ask the leadership of the
Taliban to clarify their position on the status and role of Afghan women in
society.
Recall
That:
Fourteen centuries ago
Islam liberated women and guaranteed them dignity and full rights to participate
in the building and well-being of their communities at all levels.
We are a group of Afghan women and their supporters who live in Pakistan and
Afghanistan. In a country where over 90% of the women and girls are illiterate,
we are a group of women who were encouraged by their families to become
educated. Many of us have university degrees. Many of us previously worked in
Afghanistan as lawyers, engineers, professors and doctors. Now we are working
with NGOs (non governmental organizations), UN agencies and schools. Some of us
are widows. Many of us are the sole support of our families.
