Call on Malaysians to establish a Malaysian support group for Afghan women, comprising all political parties, women organisations and human rights groups, to work for the protection of human rights for women and children in Afghanistan

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

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A start can be made in this direction with the establishment of a Malaysian support group for Afghan women, comprising all political parties, women organisations and human rights groups, to work for the protection of human rights for women and children in Afghanistan.

The current international outrage at the medieval barbarism of the Taliban ruling militia in wanting to destroy the world's common heritage by obliterating the ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan has also focussed the spotlight in this year's International Women's Day on the plight of the Afghan women under Taliban rule.

Women's rights have gone backwards under the Taliban militia's rule in Afghanistan in the past 12 months, with tougher restrictions on their employment and no perceptible change to the de facto ban on education, with the vast majority of women in the  desperately poor and isolated country unemployed, uneducated and ignorant of their basic rights.

The most visible change has been the growing number of women, mostly war widows, begging on the streets of the capital, Kabul, where one quarter of the population already depend on foreign relief handouts.

Single mothers and their children also make up a large portion of the estimated 170,000 refugees who have flooded into poorly equipped and overcrowded refugee camps in neighbouring Pakistan since September.

The Taliban's brand of Islam has been termed un-Islamic and condemned by most Muslim scholars and countires. Though most countries  do not recognize the Taliban because of their human rights abuses, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia support the Taliban with money and supplies.

The plight of the women in Afghanistan includes the following:

• Women are not allowed to work outside of the home.

• Girls and women are prohibited from attending schools and universities.

• Women are forced to wear the burqa voluminous garment, which completely shrouds the body under layers of fabric, leaving only a small mesh opening through which to breathe and see.

• Women cannot leave the confines of their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative.

• Male doctors are not allowed to examine women.

• Women are forbidden to wear white socks, and their shoes cannot make noise when they walk.

• Women and men are stoned to death on the suspicion that they may have committed adultery and persons accused of homosexuality are also punished by death.

• Women have been stoned to death for traveling with a man who was not her relative.

• Women have been beaten by the hundreds for not being "properly dressed".

• The ban on women working has thrown tens of thousands of families into destitution, because many women in Afghanistan are war widows and the sole source of support for their families.

• A small number of female medical staff is allowed to work, but are continually harassed. Because male doctors cannot treat women, they are severely limited in their access to medical care.

• Women have been shot at for leaving their homes without a male escort to receive medical care.

In the Islamic world, at the beginning of Islam, there were no restrictions or prohibitions toward women to seek knowledge and  education. There were many women scholars in the fields of religion, literature, music, education and medicine.

Before  the Taliban occupation, women in Afghanistan were educated and employed: 50% of the  students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul University were women,  and 70% of school teachers, 50% of civilian government workers and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women.

If Malaysians can mark the 2001 International Women Day with a commitment to establish a national support group to promote awareness of the tragic human rights situation in Afghanistan and to advocate for social, political, economic and civil rights of the Afghan women and girls in that country to end the gross violation of basic human rights in Afghanistan, Malaysians
will be making a signal contribution to the protection and promotion of women rights not only in their own  country but in the international arena as well.

(8/3/2001)