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Afghan Women’s Network (AWN) Demands Tough Enforcement of Constitution and Improved Registration of Afghan Women Voters
Contact: Afifa Azim Executive Director AWN Email: awn@brain.net.pk awnkabul@brain.net Hose # 193, St. 3, Qalahi Fatullah, Kabul, Afghanistan. Kabul, Afghanistan (March 29, 2004) –Afghan women saw a new day dawn in Afghanistan after a 22 day-long Loya Jirga when it ratified a new national constitution, which considers women as citizen and decision-makers. With courage and commitment, women obtained 25 percent of the seats on the Wolasy Jirga. The fact that 102 women attended the Loya Jirga, out of a total of 502 delegations, itself was overwhelming.
Ratifying the constitution is historic but it provides on guarantee to women that they will receive the rights they have been promised. The Afghan Women’s Network (AWN) calls for strong laws to ensure that every article of this groundbreaking constitution is implemented and that violations do not occur. Afghan women speak from experience. In 1965, Afghans agreed to a new constitution, but the document was never put into practice, especially as it applied to the rights of women. For example, the 1342 / 1965 constitution provided for a family court, but women were never given the right to contact the court and file cases. Now, Afghan women want assurance that the new constitution will be followed. We urge the government to take seriously its responsibility to put the provisions of the constitution into practice. One of the first and most important steps for women is their participation in the presidential election, scheduled for June 2004. Yet, already women are losing ground as the voter registration process lags. Since mid 2003, UNAMA planned that it would register 10 million Afghan nationals (out of the 22.7 million people in Afghanistan) to vote. The current reports unveils that unfortunately, the registration of women has been slow since it is a completely new process Afghanistan has undertaken to designate its President. The main barriers in making the registration process slow are the following issues identified by women who were brought from provinces to Kabul on Mar.3, 2004 by THRA the member organization of AWN.
Þ Lack of awareness about the election process and the implement of voting in provinces Þ Lack of mobile registration teams in districts, remote and rural areas of provinces Þ Lack of security in Afghan provinces Þ Lack of transportation for women, who can not walk to obtain registration cards Þ Lack of permission from a close male relative
AWN calls on UNAMA to push harder in registering Afghan women, and specially recommends that UNAMA send additional mobile registration team into provinces of Afghanistan where women are eagerly waiting. Today, AWN and its members ate proud to announce that they are working together with UNAMA in the registration process. In the last few days, from March 8 to March 10, AWN with the assistance of UNAMA has registered over 1300 women from district of Kabul. Meanwhile we want to request all civil society activities to please accept UNAMA’s mission on election as their own responsibility and encourage women in provinces to register themselves for registration. The Afghan Women’s Network is a non – partisan network, representing 65 women’s NGOs and more than 3,000 individuals working to empower Afghan women and ensure their equal participation in Afghan society. The members of the Network also recognize the role of children as the future of Afghanistan and consider it fundamental to empower and protect Afghan girls and boys. The Network seeks to enhance the effectiveness of its members by fostering and collaboration, undertaking advocacy and lobbying, and building their individual capacities. ********************************************************************* Press Releases Peshawar, Pakistan, May 25, 2003 – The Afghan Women’s Network (AWN) strongly urges the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide a written guarantee that it will not use the database it is amassing from iris tests performed on Afghan refugees to collect and distribute private information and identities. UNHCR
has begun using iris scans as a way to determine which refugees
say they are repatriating to their homeland, but instead are crossing
back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Currently, UNHCR
assigns only numbers in the database that correspond to the irises
it tests – no names or other information is kept. However, AWN is
concerned about what might happen in the future and is calling on
UNHCR to guarantee that: 1.
UNHCR will not expand the information it collects from refugees
and assembles into the database, and; 2.
UNHCR will not provide the database to any other individual
or agency. “The privacy rights
of refugees are never a consideration,” said Afifa Azim, Coordinator
of AWN. “We want to make sure that this identity test, the iris
scan, is not misused in a way that will harm refugees now or in
the future.” UNHCR has started the iris scanning system to reduce the numbers of refugees who apply more than once for repatriation packages. The packages are intended to be one-time-only payments from UNHCR to Afghan repatriates, to help them re-establish in their own country. UNHCR pays between $5 and $50 to each refugee, the amount varying depending on the region of Afghanistan where the refugee is setting up home. In the past, UNCHR staff conducted interviews and looked at photographs of family members who said they were repatriating. Refugees who were trying to collect the UNHCR relocation fees numerous times easily circumvented this interview-based verification system. The iris scan, which detects when duplicate tests have been taken, has a margin of error of three percent and a high deterrence rate. UNHCR estimates that there has been a 40 percent drop since March in the numbers of refugees who try to beat UNHCR’s repatriation system. “We agree that UNHCR should keep accurate record of the numbers of refugees who return to Afghanistan and stay,” said Mrs.Azim. “We also realize that UNHCR needs to maintain controls on its repatriation program. But we are concerned that there are no guaranteed limits placed on the kind of information UNHCR collects and who will be allowed to have access to that information.” AWN is a non-profit, non-political organization that represents a network of more than 30Afghan women’s NGOs and more than 1,000 individual members. The organization operates offices both in Peshawar and in Kabul. Contact: SadiqBasiri 091-570-4928 awn@brain.net.pk Afifa Azim, AWN
Coordinator, 92-91 570 4928/ 92-91 850 670 Sadiqa Basiri, Director of External Affairs, 92-91 570 4928 |
