On the occasion of International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women and the distribution of the new Armanshahr publication “Justice for Women in War and Peace”:
Armanshahr Foundation*, in collaboration with French Institute of Afghanistan is pleased to invite you to its 98th (year VII) public debate GOFTEGU.
Political Violence against Women in War and Peace
Speakers: Ms. Masouda Karokhi (Parliamentarian), Professor Reza Hosseini (Specialised in Women’s affairs), Ms. Latifa Soltani (Coordinator of Women’s rights at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission)
Moderator: Jawad Darwaziyan
*Member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Jeudi/Thursday 15 nov. 2012, 14:00 H. (Debate in Dari), French Institute of Afghanistan (Lycée Esteqlal), Tel: 0779217755 & 0775321697, E-mail: armanshahrfoundation.openasia@gmail.com
Violence against women is political
The 98th Goftegu public debate (7th year), a bridge between the elite and the citizens, of Armanshahr Foundation, entitled “Political Violence against Women in War and Peace” was organised in Kabul, on 15 November 2012. The speakers were: Ms. Masouda Karokhi (Parliamentarian), Professor Reza Hosseini (Specialised in women’s affairs). Moderator of the meeting was Jawad Darwaziyan. The speakers discussed such issues as violence against women, the Constitution, Peace Council and women’s participation. The Armanshahr title “Justice for women, in war and peace” was also distributed.
The question of violence against women is a political issue, social and cultural problem and an economic requirement. Fortunately, in the past few years, the media have informed the public opinion of the horrible examples of events nationwide: rape, beating to death, burning the girls, forced and early marriage, giving girls and women to solve disputes, kidnapping women, preventing education of women in the family, lack of access to health, death at giving birth, exploiting women in the family, prohibition of visits to relatives and friends, insults and degradation, family rape and other instances.
Outside the home, the clearest examples of political violence against women included omission of women from politics, society and the labour market. Afghanistan has left behind the experience of the Taleban era, whose ideology led to the almost total omission of women from the society and all aspects of the political life. Some people referred to that era as “sexual apartheid.” It was only international pressure that forced Afghanistan and its statesmen to accept women’s presence in the national parliament, to establish the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and allow women to run for council elections. Rape, honour killing, family violence – in short, societal force – have marginalised women. Political violence has equally condemned them. During several decades of war, women were never involved in macro and micro decisions to prevent the war. Hence, 50% of the population were deprived of their right to self-determination.
Ms Masouda Karokhi, MP for Herat, discussed political violence against women, saying: “Women received the greatest harm from numerous coup d’états, system change and several decades of war in the contemporary history of Afghanistan, because there were no laws to support us. After the April 1978 coup d’état, when the people rose against the Soviets, the first thing the mujahedin did was to close the girls schools in remote villages and districts. Gradually, women’s visits to their relatives were also prohibited.
“The current modern and advanced Constitution, which is the outcome of the Bonn Conference, is one of the most advanced constitutions in the world and the region. Unfortunately, the prevailing insecurity has prevented all its provisions from being realised. For example, Article 22 has rejected any discrimination between men and women. Article 33 has deemed the women’s right to elect and be elected. Article 43 has deemed education to be the right of all the people, men and women alike. Articles 44 and 82 have paid special attention to women and guaranteed quotas for women in the lower and upper houses of the parliament. Articles 53 and 54 have paid special attention to unprotected women and the family. Furthermore, the government of Afghanistan has acceded to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention for Elimination of Violence against Women and numerous other international conventions. Nevertheless, the situation is worse in comparison even with five years ago. Despite the support of the international community for establishment of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, membership of women in the parliament and the establishment of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the conditions of women today are more worrying.
“Even though the rights of women, in particular their civil and political rights, have been emphasised in all international conferences, in particular the recent conference in Tokyo and the National Development Plan has emphasised that 30% of all important and decision-making positions should go to women, it has not been fulfilled to this date. According to an Oxfam report, the proportion of working women has fallen from 27-28% to 18%. Women’s presence in the Ministries of Education, Higher Education, and Health has drastically been reduced. Even though the president has been frequently requested to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, it has been ignored on various pretexts.”
Ms. Karokhi concluded by criticising the active women and saying: We women have not been able to establish a strong political organisation and have mostly followed men. To combat the present-day despotic conditions, violation of human rights and absence of the rule of law, strong political organisation and public mobilisation of the people is essential.
The next speaker, Mr Reza Hosseini discussed the active participation of women in the peace process and argued that there are two types of peace in the political and legal literature worldwide: negative peace (absence of war) and positive peace (absence of war plus the motion of the society towards fair structures). Transparency, justice and pervasiveness are components of positive peace, which the peace process in Afghanistan lacks. He explained: “The first key principle is transparency, i.e. awareness of the conditions for peace. According to a recent study, 28% of the people are aware of the conditions and demands of the government, whereas 45% of the people are aware of the conditions of the opposition, even though the media are in control of the government. If we deem peace to be a social contract, awareness of its conditions is a prerequisite for participation in it, i.e. the people must be fully and clearly informed. The important aspect of transparency is that we require the women’s rights to be brought up quite clearly and specifically in peace negotiations, otherwise the pervasiveness of peace will be open to doubt and we shall move towards negative peace.
“The next component of a lasting peace is its pervasiveness. However, the High Council of Peace includes only nine women, i.e. 12% of its members are women. Therefore, the peace process in Afghanistan lacks this component. The third key principle is justice. There are two viewpoints in this relation. The politicians (Conservatives) believe that this topic will push the peace process to a deadlock. That is the prevailing viewpoint within the government. The more realistic viewpoint contends that peace shall not be sustainable without justice and crimes against humanity must be prosecuted. We know that many crimes have been committed against humanity Afghanistan. In particular, the historical memory of women is inundated with the bitter memories of the events under the Taleban. If the question of justice is not pursued, and the High Council of Peace fails to devise a mechanism to deal with the issue of justice, the peace process shall not be an enduring one.”
Referring to the need for the presence of women in this process, he said: “Asking this question, i.e. ‘the need for the presence of women in the peace process’, indeed indicates the existence of discriminatory assumptions, i.e. the women’s presence is not really necessary. However, women’s participation in the peace process is necessitated by three issues: 1) war and peace both impact women and it is their certain right to take part in this process; 2) participation of women in the peace process helps the fulfilment of social justice; 3) from a realistic and pragmatic viewpoint, women care more than men for issues such as health, child care, social welfare and security. Their participation in the peace process will help highlight the significance of these issues. Unfortunately, women are marginalised under the pretext that the conflict took place among men and peace must also take place among men. However, the peace process in Afghanistan is a political-security process, which is why the presence of women is dangerous, whereas we demand that peace should have a social aspect in addition to the political aspect.”
Pointing out women’s expectations from the peace process, he said: “In an opinion poll conducted by the Human Rights Research and Advocacy Group on the need for the participation of women in the peace process, the people were asked: what do you expect from the government if the Taleban do not recognise the women’s right to education in peace talks? Ninety-one per cent of the people demanded that the government must end the talks if the Taleban refused to accept this condition. Another question was: what do you expect from the government if the Taleban or the armed opposition refuse to recognise the right of political and social participation of women? More than 90% of the people were of the opinion that the government must not go ahead with reconciliation on those terms.”
In the question and answer section, Ms Karokhi was asked why the Law for Prohibition of against Women had not been approved, and she replied: “The influence of the clergy in the Parliament has prevented it from being approved.”
In reply to the question of one of the participants about social peace and its differences with political peace, Mr Hosseini said: “Political peace takes place among the elite and it does not address issues such as nation building, but social peace stands for fair structures such as educational institutions, family, economy, politics and religion.”
More than 70 people had attended this meeting, one-third of whom were women. Some parts of the meeting were broadcast on Aryana TV. New titles of Armanshahr, “For recording in history”, “Prison, prisoner and human rights” in two Persian and English versions, as well as “Justice for women in war and peace” were distributed.
Invitation to 98th Goftegu Public Debate: Political Violence against Women in War and Peace
