Dear Madam, Dear Sir,

Almost one year after the Bonn (Petersberg) agreements and the establishment of the Transitional Islamic Government of Afghanistan, little has changed for most Afghan women and girls who continue to suffer under outdated and misogynistic attitudes which deny them access to basic rights and freedoms.

International human rights defenders in Kabul agree that positive changes for Afghan women and girls are meagre, and instead there are significant signs that their status is slipping backwards. As examples, most women and girls continue to be confined indoors, and denied access to education, training, jobs or income. Women who try to find a way out of family violence frequently find themselves stigmatised by their relatives and even imprisoned for 'moral crimes.' In some provinces newly built girls' schools have been burnt down, and girls have been threatened with death for going to school. Gang rapes of women, and exchange of girls or women as payment for feuds are increasingly being recorded by UN human rights field workers. The Vice and Virtue Commission, which has previously played a key role in controlling women, has been reinstated since the Loya Jirga.

The international community is focusing on stability in Afghanistan. Stability also means secure life for women inside and outside of their home. It is vital that repressive attitudes and acts such as the reintroduction of women dress codes by Herat governor Ismail Khan (see Human Rights Watch - report November 2002) are responded to effectively by the international community and that the impact of such repressions is taken seriously and not downplayed.

There are significant numbers of Afghans who wish to see progressive developments take place for women and girls, but they constitute what could be called a 'silent majority' which is afraid to speak up in the absence of visible high level support and protection. The Government in particular, has not publicly made any unequivocal statements in the media which reflect a firm commitment to advancing the rights of women and girls.

The Afghanistan Support Group and its successors should have a firm focus on human rights issues, especially in the monitoring and support of the various commissions working on justice and constitutional issues in Afghanistan. Reconstruction is not just physical: The current Afghan Government's emphasis on reconstruction is mainly about 'bricks and mortar.' The reconstruction of buildings and roads is crucial. But it is at least as vital to pay adequate attention to building up human resources through training and support.

The signing groups urge the Oslo donor's conference on Afghanistan to consider the following recommendations and input in order to improve the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan. The recommendations we gather in this letter are responses to current activities, attitudes, and priorities of key international actors in Afghanistan.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Monika Hauser, Director
Medica Mondiale

Also on behalf of:

Recommendations

1. Political support

Systematic human rights protection is urgently needed: In order for ordinary people to feel safe reporting or monitoring abuses, there needs to be some form of protection for them, which needs to be international in nature, e.g. an OSCE type institution. The Human Rights Commission also needs more resources to be able to provide real protection for its officers. Particular attention needs to be paid to ensuring that mechanisms are instituted at village level, to enable women and girls to be able to report abuses in confidentiality and safety.

The Ministry of Women's Affairs, requires increased amount of support and advice from international political actors - in order to help it move beyond its current project based work-load and increase its ability to promote women's political and community representation and do political mainstreaming in other government Ministries.

Ministers and other workers in Ministries urgently need education on good and effective governance. They particularly need inputs to effectively understand the difference in roles between NGOs and government, how to deal with donors, policy making and planning, management. Women (including those in senior positions in Ministries) have little background in Government, and this is having serious consequences with very likely long-term implications on the role of women in Afghanistan.

2. Violence against women

Violence affects every Afghan woman and girl in some way. It is essential that the international community puts pressure on all levels of Afghan society in order to reduce the extent of the following practices in particular:

Child marriage: Although the legal age for marriage is 16, it is increasingly common, including in Kabul, to find girls as young as 9 years old married. This has serious implications for the future of Afghan society at every junction: health funding, population growth, education of children etc.

Large age differentials at marriage between men and women must be explicitly discouraged: for example, it is not unusual for young girls (e.g. 15 year old) to be married to old (e.g. 60 year old) men. This kind of violence frequently extends after the death of the husband as his brother or brothers then have power and authority over the young widow.

Outlawing of compensatory exchange of humans: The Afghan authorities should be pressured to outlaw and penalise the practice of 'badla,' when it involves exchange of humans. ('badla' includes practices such as compensating for the murder of a person by giving his family your young girls). In particular exchange of girls and children in payment for debt/murder must be prosecuted.

Emergency operations must be performed on women even without family consent: Continued pressure should be put on the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to insure the abidance by medical professionals of the Directive, which orders that emergency operations (in particular on women) must be performed even in the absence of approval by male family members. (Directive number 201078 of 2 November 2002 from the MoPH)

Medical and educational professionals need training in work on trauma symptoms and trauma symptom management. According to estimates by German-Afghan doctors from Medica Mondiale e.V, over 75% of all patients and doctors in key Kabul medical establishments show significant signs of trauma.

Rebuilding of prison/detention facilities holding women and girls is necessary: Conditions in Kabul jails and in other jails outside of the capital are poor. There is an urgent need for rebuilding, heating, and sanitation. Prison facilities should be extended to be able to provide educational courses and training, and family visits (under strict supervision). It would also be beneficial if cooking facilities were provided, and if authorities provided food for prisoners on a regular basis.

3. Some strategic areas for women which desperately need support and funding include:

Recruitment and training of female police officers: There can be no justice for women without female police in Afghanistan, as women will not report crimes to men. Currently there are a maximum of female 300 police workers nation-wide, mostly engaged in guard type/body-searching duties and as prison officers. According to low estimates 10,000 women would be required to constitute a force capable of recording and investigating crimes against women.

Building of dormitories for female students, and for female teacher trainees: According to the Ministry of Education without accommodation most women and girls cannot study or train for future careers. (In villages teaching is one of the few professions acceptable for women to engage in.)

Transportation for women: Women and girls in Kabul complain of serious almost constant levels of harassment on the street and in public transport. Lack of safe transport also seriously affects women and girls' access to education, health facilities, job and leisure. Projects such as Ministry of Women's Affairs' (MoWA) planned 14 women's centers and those already working can only function if women are able to leave their homes and travel to the centers for education and training. Without separate transport for women such centers (including in Kabul) can only be used by women living in the neighbourhood or by the very small minority of women who are already liberated enough to walk distances.

The establishment of programs to provide extra training for girls and women in science subjects is essential: Most women and girls were not able to study sciences under the Taliban, so girls now applying for High School or University are facing serious obstacles to continuing their education. In particular lack of knowledge of mathematics is so serious that many female students either fail to gain entry to University or drop out early. It is advised that resources are put into science and maths education for female College and University students.