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Perpetuation of Warlordism Detrimental to Security for Women

MONTREAL -  March 10, 2003  -  Once again gender apartheid is being instituted in grave violations of the human rights of girls and women in Afghanistan. This time, the attacks are coming from warlords. Like hooliganism, vandalism and barbarism, warlordism threatens the security and stability of post-Taliban Afghanistan.

For International Women's Day 2003, Rights & Democracy is launching a campaign to address the problem of rampant warlordism in Afghanistan, with an action initiative titled Perpetuation of Warlordism in Afghanistan Detrimental to Security for Women. Rights & Democracy is asking for action and a halt to financial and political support of warlordism from those governments who play a role in the perpetuation of it and has prepared 17 recommendations for halting this obstacle to peace in Afghanistan. While Afghanistan struggles to rebuild, the dominance of warlords, some of them supported by the United States, others by cabinet members in the Transitional Government of Afghanistan, has created a major barrier to both peace and human rights throughout the country.

Women in Heart, for example, are being subjected to abusive gynecological examinations by Governor Ismail Khan to prove their virginity. In Kabul, Abddurab Rasul al-Sayyaf has publicly declared that women be denied the right to participate in political processes. In every province, the hard-won rights of women and girls are being clawed back. And education is once again being denied to women through the banning of "co-education" (the simultaneous learning of males and females and the teaching of women by men) by warlords who continue to control much of the country.

Rights & Democracy is documenting who the warlords are and lists their supporters, who include the U.S., Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Iran, among others, as well as cabinet members within the Afghanistan Transitional Authority (the ATA) government.

Rights & Democracy calls upon the Afghan government, the American government and regional governments, as well as the donor community, to halt all financial and military support of warlords and to work towards a viable solution that will provide a sustainable and non-violent means of livelihood as an alternative to conflict.

Rights & Democracy is therefore initiating this letter-writing campaign in an effort to bring world attention to the on-going plight of Afghan women and girls.