WUNRN
Afghan Women’s Network Calls on All Relevant Stakeholders for Women's Protection & Security during Election Day
Hasina Safi of the AWN |
Photo: Abigail Disney |
Women’s active participation in the 2014 Presidential and Provincial
Council Election is vital. The Afghan Women's Network, one of Cordaid's
partners in
Afghan Women’s
Network as one of the influential women- led networks within civil society,
expresses its gratitude to the Afghan government and its international allies
for the efforts that has been put in place to ensure a fair and transparent
election for all Afghans - including
women.
The 2014
Presidential and Provincial Councils Election is a historic opportunity for
peaceful transition of political power from one elected President to the other.
In this journey,
Afghan women have come a long way. Today, 35 per cent of newly registered
voters are women. This is an indication of the impact of awareness raising,
advocacy, lobby and confidence building efforts that has been done both by the
government as well as civil society and women’s groups.
However, Afghan
women as voters have legitimate concerns for their security, misuse of their
votes and unexpected violence emergence, which could lead to women avoiding to
vote.
As one of Afghan
Women’s Network ‘s Strategic Priorities is promoting women political
participation in the election process, AWN is contributing to efforts to
increase necessary steps for the protection and security of women voters and
women candidates.
Afghan Women’s Network calls on all the relevant actors such as Afghan
National (Police, Army and National Department of Security) for the following
measures to be taken into consideration for women’s security and protection on
Election Day:
1. Ensure that the
polling stations for women are provided with security measures including female
searchers presences throughout the day.
2. Provide election
environment according to the cultural sensitivity of the country.
3. Include women
observers in the process (to observe and monitor the election)
4. Urgently address
and respond to the Electoral Complaints of women candidates and voters
5. The vote count
must be in the presence of the national and international observers.
6. The election process and the final results must be respected.
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