At Afghanistan Summit This Week, Will Afghan Women Be at the
Table?

By Lisa Savage
Common Dreams 
July 3, 2012 

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/03-7

When rich countries like the U.S., Japan, and NATO nations
get together periodically to discuss the future of
development funding for Afghanistan, who represents the
interests of women and children who actually live there?
Mostly men. Who will represent the women of Afghanistan?

Even though research shows that durable security accords
responsive to real conditions for civilians in war zones
require women's participation in the planning stages. Even
though United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325
recognized this reality, and called for significant numbers
of women to be present in all security talks.

On July 8-9 in Tokyo governments, international
organizations, and other major donors will meet to discuss
and take on financial commitments for a ten year period after
2014. As global players discuss funding Afghanistan's future
development, will they continue the pattern of devoting 90%
of funds to building the Afghan army and police forces? If
they really want peace, they will invite Afghan women to the
table and listen to their expert testimony on how to make
Afghanistan a safe place for them and their families.

Fahima Vorgetts of the Afghan Women's Fund is one of a chorus
of voices making what should be an obvious point: that more
military or even policing does not represent more security
for women. On an international conference call organized by
CODEPINK June 27, Vorgetts shared her view. "Eleven years of
war did not change the situation for women very much,
especially in rural areas, and violence against women has
escalated over the past few years. Those who commit crimes
against women are not punished- laws protecting women’s rights
are not implemented. Afghan women are the victims of violence
from three directions: NATO bombing, insurgents, and their
own government, which protects religious groups and warlords
in positions of authority, some of whom have private
militias."

Environmental concerns are also made worse by war and impact
women. During the past three decades of war an estimated
60-80% of the forests and orchards of Afghanistan were
destroyed. Dr. Mariam Raqib of the reforestation organization
Afghanistan Samsortya found that children were gathering
scraps of plastic from trash heaps to bring home to their
mothers as cooking fuel. Herbicides sprayed on the poppy crop
affect people as well, and miscarriages and birth defects
appear to be on the rise. It is sad but not surprising that
Afghanistan continues to rank among the highest in the world
in childhood and maternal mortality after more than a decade
of NATO occupation. Where is the development money to address
these problems?

Recently Amnesty International USA held a shadow summit
during the NATO summit in Chicago, May 2012. Bus shelter ads
with the headline "NATO: KEEP THE PROGRESS GOING!" featured a
photo of Afghan women fully covered by burkas. Former
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who infamously said
that half a million children's deaths under sanctions in Iraq
were "worth it," was one of the shadow summit panelists, and
the most prominent signer of an open letter to Presidents
Karzai and Obama calling on them not to forget women's rights
in talks for the transition that is supposed to commence in
2014, handing over security responsibility to the Afghan
national government.

In London, Amnesty International (AI) screened a film Peace
Unveiled, which followed a group of Afghan women trying to
battle their way to winning votes in a male-dominated
Parliament. Under Afghanistan's new constitution, women are
entitled to 25% of seats in Parliament. According to attendee
Mitra Qayoom of the group Afghans for Peace: "The documentary
also showed Hillary Clinton shaking hands with these women
and promising to help them in their fight for justice and
women’s rights in Afghanistan. But when it came time to do
so, she ignored the voices of these women in a parliamentary
meeting which also included Hamid Karzai and some of the
prominent warlords. Clinton remained silent when questions
were asked about the roles of women in parliament and in the
peace process. So did Hamid Karzai. She did not defend them
or even take notice of the issue; instead, she kept looking
down.

When the documentary was over it was time for question and
answer. The person answering the questions was none other
than AI’s Afghanistan researcher Horia Mosadiq. One girl
asked:

'How can we here in Britain help Afghanistan and its women?'
Horia’s response to this question: 'By putting pressure on
your government to keep the troops in Afghanistan and not to
withdraw them after 2014.'"

Why AI would help NATO and the U.S. State Department push the
false narrative of women's "progress" after eleven years of
war is debatable. Members of the organization are presenting
this question and being told that women's rights, education,
and even health have prospered since the fall of the Taliban.
In a country where women's life expectancy is 51 years, where
women are jailed for adultery after being the victims of
rape, and where deteriorating security means that many newly
built schools stand empty, this is a specious claim.

The women's advocacy organization MADRE is partnering with
the women-led peace and social justice group CODEPINK to
create a twitterstorm July 2-8 calling for significant
numbers of women to be at the table in Tokyo. Using the
hashtag #AfghanWomen, tweeters hope to call attention to the
need for representation beyond women from the Kabul elite to
testify to what women all over Afghanistan really need: and
end to war, real security, respect for the law, food, clean
water, and access to education. Only then may we see
authentic progress for all the people of Afghanistan.

[Lisa Savage is a CODEPINK Local Coordinator in Maine and
blogs about the war in Afghanistan at
went2thebridge.blogspot.com.]

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate