To those who stand as guardians of the honor of women
An open letter from the women of Afghanistan is not
the first time that we are in this room. The walls, the table, the teapot ... how many times I have witnessed in our meetings, our disappointments, our discomfort. How many times have accepted our disappointed but determined group of women friends, activists, allies. How many times have we heard, while expressing the same concerns. How fragile our achievements. What will be of no meaning of the laws passed through our struggles. How are useless policies that we have struggled to enforce in this country who does not believe in the rights of women. In this country where the position of women in society is considered nothing more than an extension of his role in the family and tribe. In this country where ethics and morals are interpreted exclusively through the male definition of women who daily pay the price.
Today, the final blow: the shelters for women. Ripercorriamone history. Begins when a media is closely linked with the power of women falsely accuses the shelters to be places of prostitution and immorality. In response to this charge, the government established a commission of senior officials - none of them experienced, no one who manages a shelter, anyone who has ever lived in a shelter - to assess the situation. The Commissioners and produce a report of some incomplete without discussing their assessments with those who administer the shelters or with the organizations promoting them.
We, activists and women, we are now accused by the government of dishonoring the national pride because we have made public the serious and often humiliating violations of the rights that are imposed on women. This, they say, exposes the country to shame, shame in the eyes of the world. Anything? The revelation violations of human rights? Not the rampant corruption, not the failure to give Afghanistan a clear governance structure for honest and fair? Instead, they argue, that dishonors the country is respect for the ancient Afghan tradition, which requires providing a safe haven to those who need it most, to fight for the rights of the vulnerable? This dishonors us?
In an attempt to "fix" to these problems - and to divert international aid to refugees apart from a government channel "normalized" - the government is using the Ministry of Women as a tool to compress the rights of women. Minister - without shame - accusation women's groups of corruption, but does not offer a shred of evidence nor undertakes to correct the mistakes where they exist.
On the other hand, according to the government budget in January, most of the Ministries has used less than half of the funds allocated for national development programs. And now they want to transfer more funds into a system of government can not even manage the money he has.
But the main issue is not about the money. At least with regard to Afghan civil society and women's groups in particular - which, to cite one example, are the ones who were able to best use the money received, with minimal costs to provide programs useful and practical, transparent and producing budgets that demonstrate the effectiveness. No, the main question now is what will happen to women?
Unfortunately, the solemn promises to protect and respect the rights of women, made at the conferences in London and Kabul and in the Lisbon Declaration, have not translated into concrete action by the Afghan government or its international allies. Ever since those promises were solemnly pronounced, the Government has even gone back, and his commitment to women's rights has decreased. And now we should make women more vulnerable in our society totally in the hands of our government?
The experiences of refugees for women in the past nine years has shown that women who administer them, the women who found refuge there have always been threatened by the state institutions and those who exercise power informally in our society. This is not the threat to cut off funds, not at all. They are insidious threats: threats of the worst kind of betrayal. For example, a twelve year old girl in the district of Shindand in Herat recently asked to be accepted into a shelter, but the Government, under pressure from an elected official, he did return the girl to the family. That was then killed and cut to pieces.
And his story is not so different from many others. His story is a common history. Some of the women we known run enormous risks. In a heroic pose a risk not only their lives but also the safety of their children, to seek refuge from abuse in small houses that offer security. Some receive threats every day, even hourly. But for them it is worth the risk. They are women who have seen up close the torture and murder of other women who have themselves been victims of horrendous abuse. And they run the biggest risk in trying to escape the violence, bring into play their own survival. Under the new legislation, the risks for these women and their children seeking protection would be even larger. How can we allow this to happen?
Today Takhar a woman cries for justice against the powerful local who kidnapped, having kidnapped and then killed his daughter. The perpetrator is the grandson of a criminal Parliamentary sitting - today - in the parliament in Kabul, which is considered to be above the law by the district authorities. In light of the sun. What other evidence do you need? Every Afghan woman knows that this is the situation in the country. He also knows that for the Afghan government, this is considered normal.
The women who run the shelters work every day to protect the lives of their Afghan sisters, regardless of ethnicity or political opinions. And they faced enormous obstacles. Between 40 and 60% of all known cases of violence are handled by some powerful authority who exercises influence over, which puts pressure on the government to be the woman returned to her father or husband - master violent - by which he tried to escape.
We ask our government: Are you really able to take responsibility to protect the lives of these women?
and I really believe that exercise control over women's lives, even into the place of their last hope of salvation, will help you build a better international image of the country? This decision really take it in the best interests of women, even when you know that you are second most corrupt government in the world? This new legislation will miraculously be able to be free of the powerful and corrupt influences that infect all other areas of government? How can you guarantee this? And, more importantly, what can we do to stop you?
1Afghan Women's Network (AWN) is a network of women's organizations, activists and defenders of human rights in Afghanistan. Its membership includes more than 5,000 women and over 75 non-governmental organizations.
_______________________________________________
http://controlaguerra.blogspot.com/
0 comments:
Post a Comment