[women-rights] Afghanistan: Constitution fails women

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International
AI INDEX: ASA 11/027/2003     26 November 2003


(Washington, DC) -- Amnesty International today (26 November 2003) warned
that the draft Constitution of Afghanistan fails to protect the rights of
women. In recent testimony to Congress, the human rights organization has
warned that the constitution must explicitly prohibit discrimination based
on gender and fully acknowledge equality between women and men.

"Last week, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly applauded the
role of the US forces in restoring the right to work and education to the
women of Afghanistan," said T. Kumar, AIUSA's Advocacy Director for Asia,
who delivered the organization's testimony to Congress. "However, such
gains are fleeting at best unless the rights of women and children are
enshrined in the Constitution of Afghanistan."

In its recent report, "Afghanistan: No-one listens to us and no-one treats
us as human beings", Amnesty International described Afghan women's
struggles with forced marriage, in addition to other abuses. To defend
against forced marriages, AI urges that a woman's right to choose a spouse
freely, including forbidding child marriage, should be specifically
mentioned in clauses in the constitution that make reference to the family.
Similarly, women should also be guaranteed the same rights and
responsibilities as men in marriage and at the termination of marriage.

More than 20 years of war have left millions of children orphaned, and many
as breadwinners for their family. The Afghan draft constitution does not
presently grant the right to food, shelter, and other protection to
children. As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the
state of Afghanistan should make its international obligations to this
treaty and to all Afghan children clear in its constitution.

Amnesty International believes that while the constitution alone cannot
prevent human rights violations, if key women's rights are not explicitly
enumerated, then the overall framework of guarantees for the protection of
fundamental human rights and freedoms will be weakened.

In addition to the constitution, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights
Commission (AIHRC) has the potential to help protect the rights of all
citizens of that country. Amnesty International welcomes the constitutional
status granted to the AIHRC, thus ensuring its permanence in the
government. However, the AIHRC should be given the mandate to ensure that
new and existing legislation fully complies with Afghanistan's
international treaty obligations and protects human rights, a function
currently accorded the Supreme Court. Additionally, the AIHRC should be
given the powers to investigate, initiate cases in Afghanistan's courts,
and remedy abuses.

President Bush has stated: "The women of Afghanistan, imprisoned in their
homes or beaten in the streets and executed in public spectacles, did not
reproach us for routing the Taleban." The United States' commitment to the
rights of Afghanistan's women must include lobbying for much-needed
protections to be added to the Afghan Constitution.


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Justice turned upside down in Afghanistan. Read more in the Wire, October
2003, at
http://amnesty-news.c.tep1.com/maabH4Iaa2tZXbd5AQwb/

View all documents on Afghanistan at
http://amnesty-news.c.tep1.com/maabH4Iaa2tZYbd5AQwb/

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