The legislation made child marriage, forced marriage, forced
self-immolation and other violent acts, including rape, a criminal
offence.AFGHAN LEGISLATORS BLOCK LAW PROTECTING WOMEN
KABUL, Afghanistan - Conservative religious lawmakers in
Afghanistan blocked legislation on Saturday aimed at strengthening provisions
for women's freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and
encourage disobedience.
The fierce opposition highlights how
tenuous women's rights remain a dozen years after the ouster of the hard-line
Taliban regime, whose strict interpretation of Islam once kept Afghan women
virtual prisoners in their homes.
Khalil Ahmad Shaheedzada, a
conservative lawmaker for Herat province, said the legislation was withdrawn
shortly after being introduced in parliament because of an uproar by religious
parties who said parts of the law are un-Islamic.
"Whatever is against Islamic
law, we don't even need to speak about it," Shaheedzada said.
The Law on Elimination of Violence
Against 
Women has been in effect since 2009, but only by presidential decree.
Women has been in effect since 2009, but only by presidential decree.
It is being brought before parliament now because lawmaker Fawzia Kofi, a
women's rights activist, wants to cement it with a parliamentary vote to prevent
its potential reversal by any future president who might be tempted to repeal
it to satisfy hard-line religious parties.
The law criminalizes, among other
things, child marriage and forced marriage, and bans "baad," the
traditional practice of exchanging girls and women to settle disputes.
It makes domestic violence a crime punishable by up to three years in prison and specifies that rape victims should not face criminal charges for fornication or adultery.
It makes domestic violence a crime punishable by up to three years in prison and specifies that rape victims should not face criminal charges for fornication or adultery.
Source: CBC...More...
PRESSURE ON AFGHAN GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT WOMEN
KABUL, Afghanistan - The United Nations joined mounting criticism of Afghan President
Hamid Karzai’s government on Tuesday over women’s rights, urging it to
enforce a law designed to prevent violence against women.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a
report that the country still had a long way to go in implementing the
Law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW).
The legislation made child marriage, forced marriage, forced
self-immolation and other violent acts, including rape, a criminal
offence.
The legislation made child marriage, forced marriage, forced
self-immolation and other violent acts, including rape, a criminal
offence.
The 2009 law came law came after years of lobbying by Afghans and Westerners alike, and was held up as a beacon of progress.
Afghan women are increasingly concerned for their future as the deadline looms for most Nato-led combat troops to leave by the end of 2014.
Afghan women are increasingly concerned for their future as the deadline looms for most Nato-led combat troops to leave by the end of 2014.
- They have won back basic rights in voting, education and work since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
- But some female lawmakers and rights groups say abuse against women is on the rise because Karzai’s government is losing interest as it tries to advance the reconciliation process with the Taliban, an allegation it denies.
- On Monday, unknown gunmen shot dead Nadia Sediqqi, acting head of the women’s affairs department in eastern Laghman province, as she was going to work, in an attack widely condemned by the international community.
- She had replaced Hanifa Safi, who was killed in a bomb attack five months earlier. Afghan women’s groups had expressed concern that without international backing, it would be difficult to press for their rights.
WE DON'T WANT TALIBAN LAW
Afghan Shiite Muslim protesters hold a banner reading ? We don't want Taliban Law? in protest against the new Shiite Personal Status Law during a demonstration in Kabul on April 15, 2009
Dozens of young women braved crowds of bearded men screaming "dogs!" on Wednesday to protest an Afghan law that lets husbands demand sex from their wives. Some of the men picked up small stones and pelted the women. "Slaves of the Christians!" chanted the 800 or so counter-demonstrators, a mix of men and women. A line of female police officers locked hands to keep the groups apart.
The warring protests highlight the explosive nature of the women's rights debate in Afghanistan. Both sides are girding for battle over the legislation, which has sparked an international uproar since being quietly signed into law last month.
The law says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days, unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse.
Dozens of young women braved crowds of bearded men screaming "dogs!" on Wednesday to protest an Afghan law that lets husbands demand sex from their wives. Some of the men picked up small stones and pelted the women. "Slaves of the Christians!" chanted the 800 or so counter-demonstrators, a mix of men and women. A line of female police officers locked hands to keep the groups apart.
The warring protests highlight the explosive nature of the women's rights debate in Afghanistan. Both sides are girding for battle over the legislation, which has sparked an international uproar since being quietly signed into law last month.The law says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days, unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse.
It also regulates when and for what reasons a wife may leave her home without a male escort.
Though the law would apply only to the country's Shiites, who make up less than 20 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people, many fear its passage marks a return to Taliban-style oppression of women.
Though the law would apply only to the country's Shiites, who make up less than 20 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people, many fear its passage marks a return to Taliban-style oppression of women.
The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, required women to wear all-covering burqas and banned them from leaving home unless accompanied by a male relative.Governments and rights groups around the world have condemned the legislation, and President Barack Obama has labeled it "abhorrent." Afghan
President Hamid Karzai has remanded the law to the Justice Department for review and put enforcement on hold.A host of Afghan intellectuals, politicians and even a number of Cabinet ministers have come out against the law. But those who decry the legislation face quick criticism from conservative Muslim clerics and their followers, as Wednesday's protests showed.
Courtesy: ABC News
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