Liturgies

Afghanistan is a landlocked country of rugged mountainous beauty, with bitterly cold winters, and blisteringly hot summers. A land with a rich history of poetry (writing poems is considered the province of every person, not an elite group) and a rich and diverse music tradition due to being situated at the confluence of many trade routes. Some Afghan music is heavily influenced by the classical music of Northern India and there is also the folk music of groups like the Tajiks and Hazaras on traditional instruments. Kabul musician Soosan Firooz has been described as Afghanistan’s first female rapper.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="330"] From the perspective of one neighbourhood in Herat (AlJazeera.com)[/caption]

Afghanistan is also one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. In the 1960s, during the reign of the more progressive king Zahir Shah, and during the Russian occupation in the 1970s, Afghan women actively pursued careers as politicians, judges, doctors, teachers and university professors. Women went without the veil more frequently. However, patriarchal attitudes run very deep in Afghan society; the 1960s was the time when men began flinging acid at unveiled women.

Despite women’s relative freedoms during this period, literacy rates were low, child marriage was common, and there were high levels of maternal mortality and domestic violence (round 87% of all women are affected by domestic violence issues). Child marriage and domestic violence remain areas of huge concern, despite the fact that the legal age for marriage in Afghanistan is 16 for girls and 18 for boys. Infant and maternal mortality rates remain among the highest in the world, particularly in rural and remote areas.

When the Taliban arrived in 1996, after decades of war induced destruction, many Afghans welcomed the newcomers, hoping for a new era of peace and stability. However, much worse was to come. The horrors women experienced under Taliban rule are well documented. In particular, life was harsh for ethnic minorities like the Hazaras, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing to Pakistan and Iran, where more than 3 million Afghans remain to this day. No ethnic groups have been spared in the bloodshed and devastation however.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the occupation by forces of the ISAF, or NATO led International Security Assistance Force, life has improved to a certain extent for women in Afghanistan, particularly in urban areas. From fewer than 1 million children attending school in 2001, almost none girls, now around 7 million children attend school, 37% of these girls. 40 % of voters in the 2010 elections were women, as were 27% of parliamentarians elected.

But these hard won gains, could so easily be lost. Since 2006, Taliban insurgents have increasingly attacked schools. According to data from Amnesty International, from March to December 2010, 74 schools were closed down after bombings, arson, rocket attacks and students being poisoned. According to the Afghan Ministry of Education, in 2010 34% of schools remained closed in Helmand province and 61% in Zabul for security reasons.

Women who run health and other development NGOs are constantly threatened and base their headquarters in private and undisclosed premises. A common form of intimidation is night letters. Which are pinned to trees, or the doors of mosques or houses These letters often threaten supposed international “spies” or government sympathisers, one example being the night letters before the elections threatening those found with indelible ink on a finger (this prevented double voting) with having that finger cut off.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="372"] March against violence toward women (REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail)[/caption]

Many women in public life (or men supporting women’s rights) have been killed since 2006. The head of women’s police in Kandahar, Malalai Karkar (who led a team of 10 policewomen dealing with cases of domestic violence) was shot dead in 2008. Two women officials leading up the Ministry of Women’s Affairs Hanifa Safi and Najia Sadiqi were killed in 2012. Teachers, journalists, health workers and lawyers have also been targeted. Of real concern is the fact that the Afghan government is currently negotiating with the US government and Taliban officials, and is showing a worrying tendency to pander to Taliban demands where it comes to women’s rights.

So you might ask, what can we do here in Australia to show our support for these courageous and determined girls and women? In 2012, the Australian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Afghanistan pledging around $1 billion in aid to be administered by AusAid over 5 years to 2017. Amnesty International Australia is currently running a campaign calling on our government to direct a sizable proportion of this money to women’s issues.

With troop withdrawal happening in the imminent future, AIA is particularly keen for all political parties to be reminded of our obligation as a nation to protect the rights of Afghan women in this election year.

The hub of the campaign is a petition which can be signed online on the Amnesty International
Australia website. AIA hopes to receive at least 60 000 signatures on this petition by August 2013,
when it will be presented to the Australian parliament.

Over the next months, members of Amnesty International Australia will be meeting with the Government to discuss these key areas of concern.

1. Engagement: the Australian Government can influence the Afghan Government to ensure women have a place at the reconciliation talks with the Taliban, and protection and continued political strengthening of women's rights. It is imperative that women are adequately represented at any peace councils and in the provincial tribal peace councils or jirgas. Only 9 women were included out of 70 at the High Peace Council of Afghanistan (established 2010), which includes prominent members of the Taliban.

2. Military assistance: ensuring that training to Afghan Government security forces includes a gender component.

3. Development: AIA wants to see a significant proportion of the MoU aid money going to technical assistance, such as providing gender advisors, programs to strengthen women's rights and the protection and capacity building of women human rights defenders and women generally.

The women of Afghanistan celebrate the modest steps forward they have seen over the last 12 years. However, they are very concerned that these gains not be lost with the withdrawal of the international forces over the next few years. The actions and attitudes of both tribal warlords and extreme exponents of Sharia Law pose a threat to the women of Afghanistan. The issues in this deeply patriarchal, war torn society are immensely complex. Afghan women must lead the way forward for true hope and peace to prevail in the future.

Recently, I met a woman who has recently returned from a visit back to her family in Afghanistan in Kunduz province. Adela spoke of seeing many widowed and single women begging in the streets, desperate to feed their families. She wants to go back to Kunduz and other parts of Afghanistan with a group of fellow Afghans now living in Australia to hold community forums in villages asking people what type of employment projects they would like to set up to provide for their families. If and anyone here would like to hear Adela speak and to offer support for her project, she is happy to speak to groups of interested people, feel free to email/phone me on the below contacts.

Amanda Rosenfeld
0434 557 925
n.quoll@gmail.com

Sources

Don’t Trade Away Women’s Rights Amnesty International UK 2011

Afghan Women’s Rights Toolkit 1 website)

Amnesty 10 Years Report on Human Rights in Afghanistan (AIA website)

http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/afghanistan-women-violence-rural-human-rights-balkh

http://awwproject.org/2013/04/exchange-for-a-cow/

Amnesty International Australia 2013 (Amnesty International Australia)