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Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty
AFGHANISTAN - SERIOUS CONCERNS FOR
PROTECTION OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Two Afghan women in
By Abubakar Siddique and Qadir Habib
June 24, 2013 - The book on
the war in Afghanistan is not yet closed, but already there are attempts to
erase one of the post-Taliban era's most celebrated successes.
The participation of women in Afghanistan's political process, a right that was
restored and protected in the country's new constitution and electoral law, has
come under attack just as its government takes a bigger role in its own
affairs.
Afghanistan's House of Elders, the upper house of parliament, is currently
debating a revised electoral law whose draft text omits passages that set aside
25 percent of seats on provincial and district councils for women.
The House of the People, the lower house of the Afghan parliament, passed the
draft legislation in late May. If approved by the upper house the bill would
then be forwarded to the president for his signature.
The measure has raised concerns among rights and democracy activists. If it
were to become law, they fear, the removal of seats allocated for women would
effectively deprive women from serving in government at the provincial and
local levels, where more conservative and male-dominated society prevails.
In turn, this could reduce the number of women in the upper house, whose
members are selected from the provincial councils. And ultimately, the passage
of the bill could build enough momentum to threaten the stipulation in the
constitution that secures 25 percent of parliament seats for women.
Activists and women lawmakers view the move as part of a larger effort by
conservative forces to exert their influence in Afghan institutions to shape
the country's future to their liking.
Growing Nervousness
Women lawmakers see conservatives as pushing for maximum authority just as
international forces plan their exit from Afghanistan, Kabul takes a leading
role in the country's security, and citizens begin registering to vote in the
presidential election set for early next year.
In a political tug of war expected to intensify as the election and withdrawal
of foreign troops near, the conservatives are arguing against the
affirmative-action measures by saying that reserving seats for women is
undemocratic.
Qazi Nazeer Ahmad Hanafi, the head of the lower house's legislative commission,
defends the proposed revisions to the electoral law.
"It is against the Afghan Constitution to set aside 25 percent of the
seats for women in the provincial councils," Hanifi says. "This is
because those who receive fewer votes in the elections will be able to win
against those gaining more votes. Why can a man with 4,000 votes lose, and a
woman can win with only 500 or 1,000 votes? [Women] are, in essence,
appointed."
The Afghan Constitution does not specifically address the representation of
women in provincial councils but does allow for 25 percent of the seats in the
two houses of the national parliament to be reserved for women.
Un-Islamic?
Shukaria Barakzai, a prominent female lawmaker, voted for the revised text that
passed in the lower house last month but was later outraged to discover that
the passage protecting women's representation in government had been omitted.
She says the parliament's legislative commission swindled legislators by not
informing them about the change.
Barakzai sees a grand conspiracy behind the move. "Some factions such
as the [hard-line Islamist] Hizb-e Islami and Jammiat-e Islami want to do away
with the democratic achievements of the Afghan people," she says.
"They want to return to a time when power grew from the barrel of a gun.
They are afraid of women's empowerment because they do not want to see the
politics being decided by ballots instead of bullets."
Barakzai says that some of the leading members of the two Islamist currents
openly resist democracy by opposing elections and calling for the formation of
a national council to replace a democratically elected government.
She says that these same forces blocked parliament from ratifying a law that
would have branded violence against women as un-Islamic. "There were
always political sensitivities and threats regarding women's rights in
Afghanistan," Barakzai says. "But today the very presence of women in
political, social, and economic life is being threatened."
The United States, which along with the United Nations was key to establishing
the Afghan Constitutional Council that drafted the current constitution,
expressed "concern" over the initiative.
"We are aware that the [Afghan] parliament is considering...election
legislation that would remove the requirement that 25 percent of provisional
council seats be reserved for women," U.S. State Department spokeswoman
Jennifer Psaki said earlier this month. "We urge the Afghan government to
uphold the rights previously granted to women in an effort to protect their
political participation."