Security
Due to severely inadequate peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan , Taliban forces are continuing to make a comeback. Through 2005 and now into 2006, deadly attacks on Afghan civilians, relief workers, teachers, and private contractors have been increasing. Women aid workers and government employees have been especially targeted by extremist elements. In May 2005, three Afghan women, one of whom worked for an aid group, were found. The three had been raped, strangled and their bodies dumped with a warning for women not to work for such groups. The note, found attached to the chest of one of the dead women, said "This is retribution for those women who are working in NGOs and those who are involved in whoredom.”
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Education
Although Afghanistan ’s literacy rate for women and girls is only 14%, educational opportunities for women and girls in Afghanistan remain scarce. While approximately 40% of the primary students are girls, in some areas of the country the percentage of girl students is as low as 3%, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. In addition, Human Rights Watch reports that only 5% of girls attend secondary school, compared to 20% of boys. More than 1.2 million girls of primary school age are still not attending classes for a variety of reasons including the fact that many schools are too far away, there are inadequate facilities in the schools that do exist, many families hold the perception that education has no value, and safety concerns due to increasing attacks on girls’ schools.
Afghan women also continue to have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with teenaged girls suffering one of the highest death rates from pregnancy and childbirth complications.
Click here for more information regarding Attacks on Girls' Schools in Afghanistan
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Women's Rights
And, signaling the return of Sharia law practices that were widespread under the Taliban, in the northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan , a young woman was stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery. According to BBC News , Afghanistan 's Independent Human Rights Commission stated that the 29-year-old woman, Amina, was sentenced to death by a decree from a local religious scholar. It is unclear whether the woman was killed by her own father in an “honor killing” or if she was stoned to death by local officials and her husband. The man she reportedly committed adultery with was flogged and whipped 100 times and then was freed . In another sign of the growing influence of Sharia law, in October of 2005 the editor of a women's rights magazine was jailed and sentenced to two years in prison for publishing articles criticizing execution and other severe punishments for adultery, thievery, and murder under Sharia. The Feminist Majority Foundation organized an email campaign to protest the arrest and imprisonment of Ali Mohaqiq Nasab and to urge his release. While Nasab was released, the magazine is no longer published . In July 2006 Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his cabinet approved the reestablishment of the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, originally the religious police of the Taliban. The Afghan Parliament will consider the proposal when it reconvenes later this summer.
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Politics
One of the most promising signs of progress for Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan has been the new Constitution, adopted in January 2004. In addition to including an historic equal rights provision, the Constitution also requires the election of at least two women from each province to the Wolesi Jirga (House of People); as a result, women comprise 25% of this parliamentary body. One half of presidential appointments to the Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders) also must be women. Because the president appoints one-third of the members of this body, this results in women holding 12.5% of the seats in the House of Elders.
However, much work still needs to be done to ensure that Afghan women are included in critical policy making roles. Although Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, named three women to his cabinet in January 2005, his appointments to the new 25 member cabinet in 2006 included only one woman, the Minister of Women's Affairs. The Parliament refused to confirm the Minister of Women's Affairs leaving the cabinet without a single woman pending the nomination and confirmation of a new Minister of Women's Affairs. The Parliament has also refused to confirm President Hamid Karzai's reappointment of an extreme conservative for chief justice of the Supreme Court . Fazel Hagi Shinwari had held the post of chief justice since shortly after the Taliban fell and was known for ruling against free speech, women's rights, and human rights.
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Sources
- Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, "Evaluation Report on General Situation on Women in Afghanistan."
- BBC News, 4/23/05.
- CIA World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html. Accessed on August 15, 2006.
- Congressional Research Service, "Afghanistan: Elections, Constitution, and Government," May 25, 2006.
- Feminist Daily News Wire 05/17/05, 10/25/05.
- Human Rights Watch, "Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan," July 2006.
- New York Times, 4/20/06.
- United Nations, Report of the Secretary-General to the Economic and Social Council on the Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan, 27 February 2006.
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