Women's lives worse than ever. (For Afghans)

[Prada]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...er-786752.html

By Terri Judd
Monday, 25 February 2008

Grinding poverty and the escalating war is driving an increasing number of Afghan families to sell their daughters into forced marriages.

Girls as young as six are being married into a life of slavery and rape, often by multiple members of their new relatives. Banned from seeing their own parents or siblings, they are also prohibited from going to school. With little recognition of the illegality of the situation or any effective recourse, many of the victims are driven to self-immolation – burning themselves to death – or severe self-harm.

Six years after the US and Britain "freed" Afghan women from the oppressive Taliban regime, a new report proves that life is just as bad for most, and worse in some cases.

Projects started in the optimistic days of 2002 have begun to wane as the UK and its Nato allies fail to treat women's rights as a priority, workers in the country insist.

The statistics in the report from Womankind, Afghan Women and Girls Seven Years On, make shocking reading. Violent attacks against females, usually domestic, are at epidemic proportions with 87 per cent of females complaining of such abuse – half of it sexual. More than 60 per cent of marriages are forced.

Despite a new law banning the practice, 57 per cent of brides are under the age of 16. The illiteracy rate among women is 88 per cent with just 5 per cent of girls attending secondary school.

Maternal mortality rates – one in nine women dies in childbirth – are the highest in the world alongside Sierra Leone. And 30 years of conflict have left more than one million widows with no enforceable rights, left to beg on the streets alongside an increasing number of orphans. Afghanistan is the only country in the world with a higher suicide rate among women than men.

Campaigners say these are nationwide figures but in war-torn provinces, such as Helmand, the British area of responsibility, oppression is often worse, though the dangers make it impossible for them to monitor it accurately.

The banned practice of offering money for a girl is still rampant – along with exchanging her as restitution for crime, debt or dispute. With the going price for a child bride at £800 to £2,000 – as much as three years salary for a labourer – many grooms are forced to take loans or swap their sisters instead, explained Partawmina Hashemee, the director of the Afghan Women Resource Centre.

Mrs Hashemee, who has fought for the rights of her fellow Afghan women, initially for refugees in Pakistan, for almost 20 years, said: "For me the issue that breaks my heart is the forced marriages because of poverty – even girls as young as eight. They don't get to go to school or to go out. They are told 'you are not allowed to visit your family, we paid, now you have to work'."

In 2007 a law was passed banning marriage under 16, but Mrs Hashemee said: "The majority of people are not even aware of it. Early age marriages are increasing."

The vast majority of international aid goes directly to the Afghan government rather than non-governmental organisations. Activists are calling on the British to ring-fence some of the funding for human rights issues – such as gender-based projects – and to ensure the money reaches appropriate beneficiaries.

Mrs Hashemee said, in Kabul at least, there had been greater recognition of women's rights over the past seven years as well as major civil and political gains since the fall of the Taliban. But it remains a dangerous environment and female MPs, activists and journalists still live under constant threat of death.

Womankind is calling for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which says women in conflict zones should be offered protection and recognition of their role in the peace process as well as their human rights. Across Afghanistan women's organisations, such as Mrs Hashemee's, are now turning their attention from providing basic needs to empowering females, teaching them their rights and urging them to vote.

Often illiterate women are instructed on how Islam views women as equal. Training is offered to young men in why sexual abuse is wrong. Communities are being "mobilised" to fight for and monitor women's rights – encouraging mullahs to promote the equality that the Koran teaches.

But there are no women's rights associations in Helmand. The closest is one courageous group working in another southern province, Kandahar. Yet Mrs Hashemee is positive. She said: "I don't want to be disappointed. We will struggle on and hopefully the government and international community will help."

In a report this month the chairman of the International Development Committee, Malcolm Bruce MP, said: "There is a dangerous tendency to accept in Afghanistan practices which would not be countenanced elsewhere, because of 'cultural' differences and local traditions.

"We believe that the rights of women should be upheld equally in all countries. The government of Afghanistan has a vital role to play in this by ensuring that the international human rights commitments which it has made are fully honoured and given greater priority."

[Pooks]

some things they have to figure out for themselves. Government cannot make people wealthy... It could steal from creditors, and give to debtors by printing money, but eventually the responsibility falls on each individual. Yes Afghanistan has a long way to go, to build up infrastructure and set up an economy we consider normal in western europe and the USA.

"involving as it does the attempt to call 50 cents a dollar and make it legal tender for dollar debts." Populism, he said, was "the product of protection founded on the idea that Government can and therefore Government ought to make people prosperous." [Summers 240]

....

The govt needs to make it a stable nation to do business in both politically and inflation wise. Keep the interest rates low to spur growth. Also keep in place friendly policies towards business's so that they can grow some.

[Prada]

Yes you are right however historically speaking Afghanistan has always been a war-torn country. One that is unstable, non-secular, fragmented and one in which foreign countries have always pulled their weight. Pakistan, Iran and now USA. Interestingly enough actually the Taliban was the only "regime" to have actually put some stability in the country. They had some 90% of the country under control, under a central government. No one has achieved that in recent history. There is no economy, illiteracy is high and their is no de facto central government. War lords still roam around controlling their areas. The Pushtuns fight against Tajiks, Hazara and the others.

Hence I agree but they have to start buy actually having a veritable and credible government.

[Pooks]

Yes you are right however historically speaking Afghanistan has always been a war-torn country. One that is unstable, non-secular, fragmented and one in which foreign countries have always pulled their weight. Pakistan, Iran and now USA. Interestingly enough actually the Taliban was the only "regime" to have actually put some stability in the country. They had some 90% of the country under control, under a central government. No one has achieved that in recent history. There is no economy, illiteracy is high and their is no de facto central government. War lords still roam around controlling their areas. The Pushtuns fight against Tajiks, Hazara and the others.

Hence I agree but they have to start buy actually having a veritable and credible government.

yup but overall they were a sort of Fascist regime, kinda of like Hitler.
Germany was stable also in the 1930's
---

Taliban was starting some stuff too, with blowing up the Buddha statues.
and destabilizing Iran, and Pakistan, and probably some of the former Soviet republics.
Than of course giving shelter to Al-Quada.
Who ended up carrying out an Attack on the United States.

[thegodfather]

The government has no legitimacy. They have vast parts of their territory where the law ceases to exist, and warlords and druglords exert their own influences over certain regions. They are experiencing much the same problem that Colombia has been going through since the 70s. The government is unable to provide the basic necessities of the people or provide infrastructure or a solid economy, and therefore the lucrative drug trade is more profitable and the common people must sustain themselves somehow.

[Pooks]

The government has no legitimacy. They have vast parts of their territory where the law ceases to exist, and warlords and druglords exert their own influences over certain regions. They are experiencing much the same problem that Colombia has been going through since the 70s. The government is unable to provide the basic necessities of the people or provide infrastructure or a solid economy, and therefore the lucrative drug trade is more profitable and the common people must sustain themselves somehow.

That is a very good point... and something to analyze further.

Basically the Afghan government is just an occupational force, and so is the Taliban..

The true government of Afghanistan might be a form of Anarchy..

the problem is that both the Afghan gov't.. and the Taliban, and maybe some other groups do not respect the Freedoms of Anarchy.

so they attack it.
and this struggle for control over the people seems to cause bloodshed.

--
The way afghanistan is set up today, it seems that growing heroin is the only viable industry in the country.. and it has been this way for years..

The people realize this, so to make money they grow poppy.
Thats capitalism at work.
there is a clash where there are forces at work, that want to destroy that industry..

Creating friction again..

so its a sticky situation..

the other obvious thing that Afghanistan could offer the world, is cheap labor.
that is something they need to start working on.
but that would require security first.
These would be governments need to sort themselves out, cause the bloodshed needs to stop for stability to happen.