{"id":4091,"date":"2014-04-22T04:12:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T02:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=4091"},"modified":"2014-08-22T15:32:57","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T13:32:57","slug":"mary-nabard-ayeen-womens-rights-must-not-be-sacrificed-in-a-peace-deal-with-the-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2014\/04\/mary-nabard-ayeen-womens-rights-must-not-be-sacrificed-in-a-peace-deal-with-the-taliban\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Nabard Ayeen: \u201cWomen\u2019s rights must not be sacrificed in a peace deal with the Taliban\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mary Nabard Ayeen is a journalist. She is the Deputy Director of Bhakhtar News Agency, the official state news agency of Afghanistan, and Managing Editor of the weekly publication Seerat. She is an active member of the Women\u2019s Political Participation Committee. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"15<\/a><\/p>\n

Can you give us an example of a time your rights have been violated?<\/strong>
\nDuring the dark period of Taliban rule women were banned from leaving the house and moving about in the city. One day, I went to fetch my children from school. A member of the Taliban beat me up with a cable. This was an awful experience. I was so worried about the whole situation at the time – women were imprisoned within the four walls of their homes and their education was stifled. The Taliban\u2019s rules led to a shortage of female teachers, and the consequent emergence of an illiterate generation.<\/p>\n

What gives you hope for the future?<\/strong>
\nArticle 22 of the Constitution, enshrining gender equality, is an innovation. Similarly, the international community\u2019s support for the women of Afghanistan is a positive development. The highlights of the past decade are the presence of women on various scenes including the social, cultural, and political scene.
\nWhat do you see as an important achievement of the new era in Afghanistan?
\nThe developments I just mentioned are the major achievements. Furthermore, the establishment of civil society institutions working for women\u2019s rights is also an important achievement of the past decade.<\/p>\n

What do you fear most today?
\nI am concerned about the fragility of the achievements of the past 10 years. This past decade of relative stability has presented a golden opportunity but we have failed to undertake the fundamental actions necessary to attain self-sufficiency. I worry that the international community and the ruling parties in Afghanistan will throw it all away: women\u2019s rights must not be sacrificed in a peace deal with the Taliban.<\/p>\n

What are the biggest challenges facing Afghanistan?<\/strong>
\nOne of the important challenges is the economy: we are heavily dependent on foreign aid. We have not planned for a dynamic and self-sufficient economy. Furthermore, the lack of security undermines people\u2019s trust in the future. This present time is similar to the final years of Dr Najibullah\u2019s presidency. A dependent economy, reduced security, excessive migration abroad, and increased violence against women – all of these factors occur today, just as they did during those years. People are worried about what might happen after the withdrawal of the foreign forces. Unfortunately, neither the government, nor the civil society institutions and women\u2019s rights activists have planned for the transition through this stage to enable us to stand on our own feet afterwards. People\u2019s enthusiasm to reconstruct the country has subsided.<\/p>\n

Will present-day Afghanistan allow schools to once again be closed to girls and women excluded from social participation?<\/strong>
\nEven if the Taliban play a role in the future system, I believe they will arrive with a more modern program, in light of the negative implications of their government in relation to the status of women. Importantly, women would not allow the restriction of their social participation or the closing of schools. The Taliban left bitter memories in the society that will never be wiped away from the memories of the men and women in this country.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us about any specific occasions where the human rights of a female family member or friend were violated?<\/strong>
\nMy niece suffers violence at the hands of her father and brothers because she works outside the home. They do not even speak to her. They tell her that going to work brings shame on their family. Such examples are numerous and are bitter realities of our society. My niece is supported by her mother, her other aunts, and I.<\/p>\n

Which factors deter women from participating in social, economic, political and cultural spheres?<\/strong>
\nIlliteracy of families, in particular of women, is the most important deterrent factor. How can a woman imprisoned within the four walls of the home raise children in a progressive way that will allow our society to develop? We need to combat illiteracy, in particular among women.
\nRepressive customs and traditions are another factor that pass from one generation to another. The economy is dependent on men and this has made women also overly dependent on men. Consequently, the intellectual and social progress of women has been restricted.<\/p>\n

What are major demands of women?<\/strong>
\nWomen want to uproot illiteracy, have a self-sufficient economy, and see the consolidation of women\u2019s struggles into a solid social movement. We cannot achieve our demands as long as our actions are dispersed. Women make up half the population, but we have only 68 female Members of Parliament amongst a total of 249. There are only three female ministers among the 24 ministers of the Cabinet. Women\u2019s presence is very small and symbolic in all political, social, and cultural organisations. Furthermore, sporadic and individual struggles of women have prevented them from being taken seriously, despite the existence of golden opportunities during this period. We must all move together in the framework of a pervasive and active women\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n

Which sources and centres of power can women rely on to promote their rights and demands?
\nThe Constitution and the newly born civil society, if it keeps in step with the people, can be dependable sources for women.<\/p>\n

What do you wish for your daughter?
\nI wish that she will not become a woman deprived of everything, like I was. That she will not surrender to the society and the reprehensive traditions, like our generation did. That she will not allow her rights to be violated.<\/p>\n

What have you done in your personal and professional life to fight against discrimination?<\/strong>
\nIn my writings, I call on women to join in voluntary struggles. In the organisations I am active with (for example, the Women\u2019s Political Participation Committee, and the weekly publication Seerat), I have always prioritised work on women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

Do you have a specific message to share?<\/strong>
\nOrganisations working for women must try to act cohesively in order for their activities to bear fruit. We have been working at this for a decade now: we need to make sure we are achieving results with our actions.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Unveiling Afghanistan, the Unheard Voices of Progress” is a campaign by\u00a0Armanshahr<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0FIDH<\/a>, which explores views held by Afghan civil society actors. Over 50 days, 50 influential social, political, and cultural actors hope to spark conversation and debate about building a society that is inclusive of women’s and human rights in Afghanistan.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow 50 interviews \u00a0drawn from the “Unveiling Afghanistan campaign” daily on the\u00a0Huffington Post<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0Follow Unveiling Afghanistan on FIDH Twitter:\u00a0www.twitter.com\/fidh_en<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Nabard Ayeen is a journalist. She is the Deputy Director of Bhakhtar News Agency, the official state news agency of Afghanistan, and Managing Editor of the weekly publication Seerat. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,165,90,16,26,88,222,17],"tags":[441,188],"class_list":["post-4091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-armanshahr-campaigns","category-editor-selection","category-expert-narratives","category-lets-break-the-silence","category-slider","category-unveiling-afghanistan-campaign","category-women","tag-mary-nabard-ayeen","tag-unveiling-afghanistan","country-afghanistan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4091"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4220,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions\/4220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}