September 24, 2003

Afghan Women's Rights

From some of the most desperate corners of Afghanistan, about 45 brave women have embarked on a cause that hardly seems on Washington's powerful radar. President Bush's speech to the United Nations yesterday barely mentioned Afghanistan's struggle to build what he calls a "decent and just society." Yet recently, these Afghan women endured great risk in that very cause. They traveled to Kandahar, now considered a dangerous city, deep in Taliban territory. There, they crafted an extraordinary document they have called the Afghan Women's Bill of Rights.

The document sets somewhat different priorities than the American Bill of Rights adopted more than 200 years ago. For Afghan women, the first amendment would guarantee an education. Then came health care, personal security and support of widows. Freedom of speech was number five, followed by freedom to vote, with a guarantee of constitutional rights to "widows, disabled women and orphans" coming much later.

As basic as these rights sound to Western ears, they are still very much in jeopardy in Afghanistan. Violence against women has increased dramatically since the war. American promises of support are too modest compared with the nation's growing needs. Still, the Kandahar women presented their hand-written bill of rights to President Hamid Karzai in hopes that their views will be considered as a new constitution is written over the next few months.

For many in Afghanistan, a bill of rights may seem a distraction. Men and women increasingly fear traveling or even going outside because of a growing population of drug lords, warlords and Taliban avengers. But the Afghan women are wise to demand security on a historic document. An earlier constitution provided protections for the "human being." Too often, that did not cover Afghan women.

Click here to see the article "Women Gather in Afghanistan to Compose a Bill of Rights" from September 28th, 2003 in The New York Times.