WUNRN
http://gandhara.rferl.org/content/afghanistan-nato-women-represrentative/26979094.html
Afghanistan – NATO Helps Afghan Preservation of Women’s Rights
Marriet
Schuurman – NATO
By Safiullah
Stanekzai – 26.04.2015
Marriet Schuurman, the NATO secretary-general's special
representative for women, peace and security, says the transatlantic alliance
is helping Afghanistan to safeguard the gains the country has made in recent
years.
RFE/RL: How do you see the Afghan government's efforts in
maintaining peace in Afghanistan?
Marriet Schuurman: As NATO's special representative for women, peace and security, I am here
to see how can we fully support the efforts of the Afghan government and civil
society in ensuring that what has been gained in terms of space for respect for
human rights and to see how that can be best preserved.
It is important to say that a lot has been gained in
terms of human rights and women's rights in particular during the past 10
years. I am very impressed by the leadership and particularly the courage of
women who have been fighting for their right to equally contribute to peace and
security in Afghanistan. It is really to see what we can do looking to the
future to sustain that effort and make sure Afghanistan becomes a safe place
for men and women.
RFE/RL: NATO is certainly aware of the escalating
violence in Afghanistan. Do you think this is the right time to talk to the
Taliban?
Schuurman: Sometimes
emergencies overtake what needs to be done, but it's very clear that there can
never be an end to the violence if there are no talks. Thus it points out even
more to the urgency to have peace talks and an inclusive, ongoing peace process
in order for the peace process to deliver lasting peace.
RFE/RL: What kind of commitments is NATO ready to make to
support the Afghan government?
Schuurman: NATO's
Resolute Support Mission, which we've had here since the beginning of the year,
is a training, assisting and advising mission. Our first objective is to
support the Afghan authorities in providing security themselves. We are doing
this through our support for the Afghan police and the Afghan Army.
One of our efforts -- one of our big priorities -- is to
ensure that we as NATO integrate the gender perspective into those endeavors
and that we see to it that women are trained as security providers in order to
provide security to men and women, and particularly to women. And we have to
make sure these security providers have the facilities and working environment
that allow them to do their job, to use the skills that they gain through the
training, that they are promoted to decision-making levels.
RFE/RL: How exactly are you increasing the capacity of
women in the Afghan security forces?
Schuurman: The capacity
is obviously a matter for training for both men and women and that is what our
mission here is about. But there is a specific need for building the capacity
of the Afghan women.
For Afghan policewomen, since this year, we have started
to train Afghan police officers in Turkey with the assistance of the Japanese
authorities -- training facilities hosted by the Turkish authorities -- to
specifically train Afghan female police officers to [give them] the basic
skills they will need in order to be able to be security providers in their
communities."