WUNRN
Link to Oxfam Report Description & Links to Full Report & Summary:
http://www.oxfam.org/en/research/behind-closed-doors
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS – The Risk of Denying Women a Voice
in Determining Afghanistan’s Future
AFGHANISTAN – PEACE EFFORT WITH TALIBAN IS EXCLUDING
WOMEN – REPORT
By ROD NORDLAND
- NOV. 24, 2014
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan women have been systematically excluded from
the government’s efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban,
according to a report released on Monday by the international aid group Oxfam.
The report, “Behind Closed Doors,”
echoes complaints made by many female leaders here. Among the issues they cite
are that they have long felt marginalized in the country’s nascent peace
process, and that they are worried that Afghanistan’s leaders will reach an
agreement to reconcile with religiously conservative insurgents that will wipe
out gains made by the nation’s women.
“We’ve always been concerned about the threat that our leaders will trade
women’s rights away for peace,” said Sara Surkhabi, a senator and one of nine
women on the Afghan High Peace Council, which has 61 men. “We need to fight for
our rights or we’ll lose all the advances we’ve won.”
There are more former Taliban
members on the High Peace Council — at least 11, Ms. Surkhabi pointed out —
than there are women. “Some of the old Taliban even oppose the participation of
women in such meetings,” she said.
Oxfam’s report details 11 instances of direct or indirect peace talks
between the international community and the Taliban or other insurgents since
2005, none of which had any confirmed participation by women. It also lists 16
such efforts carried out by the Afghan government, only three of which involved
any female delegates, and those were fewer than 10 percent of the government
representatives involved.
During the Taliban government, from the autumn of 1996 until late 2001,
nearly all the rights of women were revoked: They were forbidden to work,
attend school or leave their homes unaccompanied by a husband or close male
relative. Since then, countries have repeatedly insisted that Taliban
acceptance of the Afghan Constitution’s guarantee of women’s rights is a “red
line,” a prerequisite for their participation in peace talks.
“The international community used women’s rights to help justify its
presence in Afghanistan,” said John Watt, Oxfam’s director for Afghanistan. The
group has long had a large presence in the country, including during the
Taliban’s rule.
“Having brought about some improvements and investing more than $100
billion in aid, it would be a tragedy if progress was reversed,” Mr. Watt said.
“As donors rush to the exit, Afghans should not have to worry that the world
will forget promises made to Afghan women and allow women’s rights to be
negotiated away.”
But that is what many women worry has been happening during efforts to
start peace talks.
“Afghan Women’s Network has made repeated requests to be at the negotiating
table because we do not want our rights to be sacrificed,” the report quoted
Lida Nadery, a member of the network, the largest coalition of women’s groups
in the country, as saying. “We are not included in any talks. We always find
out after the meetings that there was contact but no one tells us what was
discussed.”
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On the three occasions where some women were included in preliminary peace
talks, they were few in number and faced opposition to their presence. In a
round of talks in the Maldives, for instance, a BBC reporter said that the
representatives of the insurgents complained that the women were present
without husbands or close male relatives accompanying them.
The Oxfam report expresses concern that countries might compromise on some
prerequisites for talks with the Taliban, including on women’s issues.
The report says the group interviewed an official at the American Embassy
in Kabul in 2011 who played down the prerequisite regarding women. “We do
recognize the need for protection of women’s rights,” the official said,
according to the report. “But we can’t impose this as a prenegotiation red line
because that will be counterproductive in getting to talks. Women’s issues are
important, but they are not our top priority.”
An embassy spokeswoman, Monica Cummings, said on Monday, “That is not an
accurate representation of U.S. policy.”
“We have made it very clear that any process with the Taliban or other
insurgent groups must first include protection of women and minorities,” she
continued. “Women’s rights have always been a top U.S. priority, and our policy
on that has not changed.”
The report also expresses hope that the new government of President Ashraf
Ghani will be more inclusive in its approach to peace negotiations. Mr. Ghani
has pledged to bring more women into government, but he has so far made no
concrete steps in that direction as protracted
negotiations on forming a new cabinet drag on.
“As the possibility of a new round of peace talks gains momentum under a
new Afghan government,” Mr. Watt said, “Oxfam is concerned that a sustainable
peace agreement will not be possible if women are denied a stake in
negotiations.”
Oxfam’s report calls on the government to guarantee that at least 30
percent of all future peace delegates be women, including members of the High
Peace Council. It also asks that Afghan women’s views be included in a current
high-level review of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1325, which urges that women be represented in all peace
talks worldwide.
Ms. Surkhabi said there was a practical reason for such inclusion. “Women
want peace more than men do,” she said.