WUNRN
AFGHANISTAN - WOMEN'S RIGHTS -
WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE
ELECTION PROCESS &
IN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN AFGHANISTAN
The
Declaration of Commitment to Afghan Women
Five Million Afghan Women Campaign-4th
August 2009
Translated from Dari
According to the
constitution of Afghanistan and national and international treaties, one of the
important social rights of human beings is to determine their political future
(the right to elect and to be elected), but unfortunately in Afghan society the
women are facing many problems in order to use their rights. Considering the time constraints in
presidential and provincial councils’ elections, among the society there are growing
concerns over participation of women in the election process. Therefore, women
rights activists and civil society representatives from all over the country
gathered on 25th June, 2009 and held comprehensive talks on related issues. In
this gathering decision has been taken to launch a campaign of 5 million Afghan
eligible women to support women’s political participation in order to ensure
the rule of law and gender equality.
Taking into account that the active
participation of women in elections is vital for resolving the current problems
of the country; therefore, we (women) need a comprehensive support of people as
well as national and international organizations. Hence, for increasing the
level of women participation and in order to attain their legal rights, this
campaign suggests the following:
·
This campaign asks the people and government of Afghanistan to support
their commitments regarding women’s political rights and transparency of election process,
especially:
·
The MOI, governors, district governors and all relevant national and
international organizations are asked to adopt measures to ensure the security
of women during polling day.
·
The Ministries of Culture & Information, Hajj and Religious Affairs
and other religious and cultural organizations are asked to encourage eligible
women to participate in elections by using religious courses through mass
media, mosques and Shia mosques.
·
The MOWA, and national and international organizations working for women
rights, are asked to support the campaign.
·
The IEC and national and international organizations working for election
are asked to pave the way for women to participate in election and to use all
sources and possibilities such as media, schools, mosques and free
transportation, in order to motivate and guarantee their presence in the
election.
·
The campaign asks all presidential and provincial councils’ candidates to
acknowledge and include issues like women’s political, social, cultural, civil
and economical rights, ensure the opportunities of reaching justice for women,
amend the laws which affect women life “specifically the Family Law” and
implement the Law of elimination of violence against women in accordance with
the Constitution and national and international commitments.
·
According to the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS),
Operational Plan for Afghan Women and the third Millennium Development Goal for
increasing the number of leadership positions by 30% in different political and
government civil services levels; the Afghan women need support to speed up the
process of women participation and leadership in governmental affairs related
to the presidential candidates.
·
The Afghan Women Network as the implementer and supporter of this campaign
believes that promoting democracy without women’s independent and active
participation is unattainable. Therefore, all Afghan women are asked to realize
the value of their votes and by considering their social responsibility, they
shall participate in election.
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