Killing of Safia Amajan highlights continuing women’s rights abuses in Afghanistan
WOMANKIND Worldwide strongly condemns the murder of Safia Amajan on 25 September 2006. Safia Amajan, was the provincial director of the Afghanistan’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Kandahar and was a long-standing women’s rights advocate who was responsible for the education and skill training of hundreds of girls and women in her geographical area.
Her death draws attention to the continuing failure to protect women and women’s rights in Afghanistan.? WOMANKIND calls upon the national and international community to urgently fulfil their obligations under national and international law to safeguard women’s rights within the country.
Safia Amajan’s death has caused both a national and international outcry.
‘We denounce this brutal, un-Islamic act yet we stand strong in our fight for the safety, security and empowerment of all Afghan women. The murder or intimidation of our courageous leaders will not stop us in our struggle to promote and protect women’s rights in Afghanistan. We ask the people of Afghanistan and our brothers and sisters around the world, for their solidarity and support’
Afghan Women’s Network (AWN)
Mrs Amajan was killed outside her home by gunman last week, leaving behind her four children and husband. Maggie Baxter, Executive Director, WOMANKIND Worldwide stated, ‘We are all deeply saddened by the loss of such a courageous woman, who bravely spoke out against women’s rights abuses and worked tirelessly to improve the situation of disadvantaged girls and women in Afghanistan.’
WOMANKIND Worldwide currently provide technical and financial support to three partner organisations in Afghanistan including the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN).? We issue this press release in solidarity and support of our local partners, whose work is crucial in promoting women’s equal participation in governance, building awareness among civil society and policy makers of women’s human rights, as well as providing educational, health, community and psycho-social support to those women affected by violence and conflict.
Despite women’s rights being guaranteed within the Afghan constitution, under CEDAW and within UN Security Council Resolution 1325, women and girls rights within the country are not being protected.? To this day, almost 60% of school-age Afghan girls remain out of school, contributing to a female illiteracy rate of over 85%.? In addition, recent reports on Afghanistan highlight a range of women’s rights abuses, from the withholding of education and health care to forced marriage, child marriage, honour killings, domestic violence, trafficking and women’s fundamental exclusion from participation in social, economic and political processes.
WOMANKIND Worldwide therefore calls upon international and national parties to act immediately to fulfil their obligations and to provide increased resources and support mechanisms to women and girls in Afghanistan. ?In addition, we call upon parties to ensure that proper legislation, policies and practices are put in place to ensure that the perpetrators of gender-based violence are brought to justice.
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Background Information
1. WOMANKIND Worldwide’s work in AfghanistanWOMANKIND Worldwide has been working on women’s issues in Afghanistan since 2003, following the events of September 11th 2001, the subsequent war in Afghanistan and a sense of the urgent need to address women’s human rights at the first stage of the reconstruction process.
We currently provide technical and financial support to three partner organisations in the country including the Afghan Women’s Network, (this Network has over 94 national organisations and over 3000 individual members making it the largest women’s rights organisations in Afghanistan), the Afghan Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) and the Afghan Women’s Educational Centre (AWEC).
We focus on promoting women’s equal participation in governance, building awareness among civil society and policy makers of women’s human rights, as well as providing educational, health, community and psycho-social support to those women affected by violence and conflict.
For more information, please see: http://www.womankind.org.uk/afghanistan.html
2. Forthcoming event
WOMANKIND present to Her Majesty’s Government on 31st October 2006:? ‘The Situation for Women and Girls in Afghanistan’
To mark the anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325
The Situation for Women and Girls in Afghanistan
Welcome & introduction from Joan Ruddock, MP
A presentation of WOMANKIND’s new research by Maggie Baxter, Executive Director of WOMANKIND Worldwide & Afifa Nazir, Director of the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN)
New Video Documentary of Afghan women’s testimonies, presented by Zarghona Rassa, Director of the British-Afghan Women’s Society
To be held on 31st October, 2006 at the Houses of Parliament, Committee Room 16, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Space is limited, so please contact Kathryn Lockett, Programme and Policy Manager for South Asia:
Kathryn@womankind.org.uk
Tel: 020 7549 0360.
3. Afghan Women’s Network Press Release
Available online: http://www.afghanwomensnetwork.org/index.php?q=node/186
4. Relevant National and International Commitments of Afghanistan
The UN Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), ratified by the Afghan government in 2003 requires state parties to take "all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men" (article 3).
In addition, UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which Afghanistan is obliged to implement, reaffirms the need to implement fully international humanitarian and human rights law that protects the rights of women and girls during and after conflicts.
The Afghan Constitution also states that ‘the citizens of Afghanistan – whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law’.
For further information, case studies & photos, contact Louise Finnis, Head of Fundraising & Communications:
louise@womankind.org.uk
Tel: 020 7549 0384
