‘Worse than the Taliban’ – new law rolls back rights for Afghan women
This is an enormous step backwards for women’s rights in Afghanistan, if this law stands. If this is what our money in Afghanistan is going for, we should cut it off immediately. I refuse to pay taxes to pay for the support of a government in Afghanistan that supports this type of law. We should just leave the country instead of supporting this.
Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan’s presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands’ permission.
The Afghan president signed the law earlier this month, despite condemnation by human rights activists and some MPs that it flouts the constitution’s equal rights provisions.
The final document has not been published, but the law is believed to contain articles that rule women cannot leave the house without their husbands’ permission, that they can only seek work, education or visit the doctor with their husbands’ permission, and that they cannot refuse their husband sex.
A briefing document prepared by the United Nations Development Fund for Women also warns that the law grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers only.
Senator Humaira Namati, a member of the upper house of the Afghan parliament, said the law was “worse than during the Taliban”. “Anyone who spoke out was accused of being against Islam,” she said.
The Afghan constitution allows for Shias, who are thought to represent about 10% of the population, to have a separate family law based on traditional Shia jurisprudence. But the constitution and various international treaties signed by Afghanistan guarantee equal rights for women.
Shinkai Zahine Karokhail, like other female parliamentarians, complained that after an initial deal the law was passed with unprecedented speed and limited debate. “They wanted to pass it almost like a secret negotiation,” she said. “There were lots of things that we wanted to change, but they didn’t want to discuss it because Karzai wants to please the Shia before the election.”
Obama was asked about it at a news conference on April 4th, Saturday, after his participation in a NATO summit in France. He said the law came up in conversations among the allies, and that NATO’s closing statement specifically says that human rights should be respected.
Obama also said that while improving conditions in Afghanistan is a commendable goal, people need to remember that the primary reason that U.S. troops are fighting there is to protect Americans from terrorist attacks.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that the law will be studied and possibly sent back to parliament for review. I doubt this will happen because he’s trying to please the Shias (see article above) and this for him is to retain his hold on power and remain in power.
Photo: A burqa-clad Afghan woman walks in an old bazaar in Kabul. Photograph: Ahmad Masood/REUTERS
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