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18/10/2011
Afghan Women: Towards Bonn and Beyond

This paper reflects the perspectives and recommendations of Afghan women who have participated in a series of meetings, roundtables and workshops organized by Afghan Women’s Network (AWN). The following overview of consultation outcomes and recommendations presents how women see their future and the future of Afghanistan thru 2014 and beyond.

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7/12/2009
We have the promises of the world: Women's Rights in Afghanistan

Human Rights Watch recently released report 'We have the promises of the world: Women's Rights in Afghanistan' provides an insight on the current state of affairs of the women's rights struggle in Afghanistan while highlighting common themes of the feminist struggle across the globe.

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26/10/2009
The Constitution of Afghanistan

Since 2004 the Afghan Constitution has provided women with equal protection before the law. However, many discriminatory practices are disguised as 'Islamic' and, therefore, lawful. These include husbands deciding whether their wives should work, and a father having the right to prohibit his daughters from attending school or forcing them into marriage, all of them based on conservative interpretations of the Quran.

3/2/2003
Dossier 17: Women’s Rights in the Current Political Backdrop of Afghanistan
Introduction:

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.
30/1/2003
Dossier 17: Afghanistan goes to absurd lengths to implement Islamic laws
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.
30/1/2003
Dossier 17: Letter to the Taliban
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.

The right of women to work outside
30/1/2003
Dossier 17: NGO Sign-on letter to the UN Secretary-General regarding Women's Human Rights Abuses in Afghanistan
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.
30/1/2003
Dossier 17: Kabul, ban on women working, the cold, the misery and trading in human remains
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.
30/1/2003
Dossier 17: Statement by the Afghan Women’s Network
Who we are

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.