[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Guest Commentary June 28, 2002
Protect Women's Rights in Afghanistan
The Honorable Richard Durbin
After the horror that women endured under the Taliban, it is critical that U.S. assistance to that country promotes women's participation and leadership in the political and economic life of Afghanistan, while protecting women's rights.
In fact, throughout the world, it is clear that the role of women is key for successful economic development and a reliable indicator of whether development programs will succeed. I am not talking about some radical agenda, rather I refer to the basic ability of women to participate in education, society, government, and the economy.
Free Newsletter
Get the scoop on important legislation, Congressional action, election updates, hard-hitting political commentary, the latest developments in the War on Terror...and more! Just enter your email address below.
Privacy: Your name and email address will be confidential - never rented, never sold.
Afghanistan under the Taliban was an extreme example of the failure to include women in the economy, in fact relegating half the population to virtual house arrest. No country will succeed if it refuses to educate half its population. No economy will grow that restricts half its population from the work force, from credit, and from private property. And the government that does such things is no government at all but a travesty.
Economic development programs benefit everyone, but certain programs have a particularly strong impact on the lives of women. Microcredit programs, for example, tend to benefit women who may need only a small loan to buy a goat to sell milk, a sewing machine to make clothes, or vegetables to sell in the village market. These tiny businesses often provide the financial independence that women need to pay school fees, take in an orphan, or simply survive.
U.S. programs are providing books to newly reopened schools in Afghanistan will have a major impact on the education of girls, who were not allowed to go to school under the Taliban.
[The Access for Afghan Women Act, S. 2647] sets out broad requirements for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan for governance, economic development, and refugee assistance.
Among other provisions, [the] bill calls for U.S. programs to include U.S. and Afghan-based women's groups in planning for development assistance, encourages U.S. groups to partner or create Afghan-based groups, and supports for the Ministry of Women's Affairs. It calls for programs that increase women's access to credit and ownership of property, as well as long-term financial assistance for education and health. It requires U.S.-sponsored police and military training to include the protection of women's rights and that steps be taken to protect against sexual exploitation of women and children in refugee camps.
I believe that these requirements will fit well with the development assistance programs that the United States plans to pursue, but I believe that it is still particularly useful to lay them out in detail, especially with regard to Afghanistan, to be certain that U.S. programs help remedy the abuses suffered by the women of Afghanistan. It is only with the concerted effort of both men and women in Afghanistan that that devastated country will recover, grow, and develop.
Richard Durbin, a Democrat, is a U.S. Senator from Illinois. The above commentary has been adapted from a speech Sen. Durbin delivered on the floor of the Senate, June 20, 2002. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
