UK Minister for Foreign Office and Commonwealth Ivan Lewis Vows to Ensure that No ‘Reintegration’ Settlement Will Trade Away Afghan Women’s Rights

Arezo Qanih joins Amb. Kai Eide, Government of Afghanistan Minister of Finance Dr Omar Zakhilwal, UK Minister of State and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Ivan Lewis MP, UK Defense Minister Bill Rammell MP and UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, Mike Foster MP.

Amongst others, Shinkai Kharohil and Arezo Qanih speaking on accountability and CSO recommendations for the future of Afghanistan respectively

Amongst others, Orzala Ashraf Speaks on the Importance of Women at all Levels of Governance Structures in Afghanistan

Tuesday, January 26th: Afghan civil society met in London for a British Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG) hosted conference, ‘An Alternative View: Afghan Perspectives on Development and Security'. Throughout the day CSO actors engaged in heated and lively debate on the future of Afghanistan. Amongst those speaking were Afghan women, Shinkai Karohil (Member of Parliament, Government of Afghanistan) and Orzala Aschraf (Independent Civil Society Activist) and Arezo Qanih (Programme Manager, Education Training Centre for Poor Women and Girls of Afghanistan).

The discussions were wide and varied:

· The importance of national ownership over strategy and development in Afghanistan, including military sector;

· The importance of the inclusion of Afghan women throughout all levels of public space – in particular in all peace negotiations (including jirgas), throughout all levels of government and within social services;

· Women’s rights will not to be traded away in exchange for a politically expedient peace settlement;

· The need for better coordination of aid – the delinking of aid from military objectives to ensure it is working to achieve development objectives. Aid to be needs-based rather than politically driven;

· To shift away from PRT led-development projects to putting aid into local communities for expenditure. Additionally, aid funded projects to move away from short impact projects to long term impact projects;

· Any solution must include an emphasis on accountability and ending violence and corruption with impunity. An inclusive and participatory transitional justice must be part of this;

· Listening and participation were emphasized as the first lessons of peacebuilding;

· The need to develop and invest in viable economic alternatives, such as investment in agriculture.

Afghan Women Civil Society Leaders Meet in Dubai to Discuss Peace and Security for Afghanistan in the Context of the London Conference

DUBAI WOMEN’S DIALOGUE ON THE LONDON CONFERENCE ON AFGHANISTAN

AFGHAN WOMEN’S STATEMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

We, the leaders and representatives of women NGOs in Afghanistan, deeply concerned about the exclusion of Afghan women in the upcoming London Conference on Afghanistan on 28 January 2010, gathered in Dubai on 23-24 January 2010 and participated in the Dubai Women’s Dialogue conducted by Afghan Women’s Network with the support of UNIFEM Afghanistan Country Office and the Institute for Inclusive Society, to consolidate the messages of Afghan women to the aforementioned Conference.

We recognize the achievements of the past eight years in restoring women’s rights under the law, positioning gender in the national strategy, starting the removal of gender based discrimination in laws and policies, promoting women’s participation and leadership in public life, improving women’s access to education and health services, and adopting the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA), among others. All of these should be continued and vigorously implemented throughout the country, particularly by holding all government agencies and senior officials accountable, increasing budgets for gender, and putting more women in decision making positions.

Yet, the status of Afghan women continues to be one of the worst in the world. Despite government commitments to improve their well being, they remain underrepresented in all spheres of society and their economic and social status remain a matter of great concern. Although more men die in armed conflict, the women population continues to be lower because of very high maternal mortality rate, which is the second highest in the world. The well-being of women and their contributions are imperatives of sustainable economic growth and the furtherance of a democratic and inclusive society. All measures must be exerted to accelerate the process of bringing women to the mainstream of national life by developing their capacities, creating an enabling environment for the enjoyment of their rights and freedoms, and accelerating the delivery of basic social services nationwide.

We expect that the London Conference will result in greater clarity of direction and priorities for the new administration, which includes renewed assurance to implement its existing commitments to Afghan women, backed with increased resources and accountability of public officials. The exclusion of gender in the agenda of the London Conference and the lack of women representatives in the GoIRA’s delegation is a reflection of the low regard that the government gives to the views and concerns of the women population. The results of the London Conference should note the recommendations of the Dubai Women’s Dialogue and the London Women’s Preparatory Conference and include them as working materials for the preparation of the Kabul International Conference on Afghanistan which will take place later in 2010.

In regard to the main substantive agenda of the London Conference on Afghanistan, we submit the following concerns and recommendations for consideration:

A. Security

1. Our collective experiences in the way peace is being pursued in the country have not been positive. Military presence in our communities results in increased restrictions to our mobility, which disrupts our work, participation in public life, social interactions, family harmony and access to community resources, such as water and fuel. When our men are injured or killed, we are pushed to assume responsibilities for which we have limited skills, less opportunities and very little support from government. We expect our government and the international community to listen to our vision of how peace could be promoted in our communities and incorporate them into existing peace and security approaches.

2. While the Government of Afghanistan recognizes that civilian support is a key to the promotion of security, its concept of strengthening civilian support and how it affects women are still unclear. Women experience armed conflict differently and have a more pro-life vision of how peace must be pursued. However, the security sector does not listen and consider women’s ideas within their current frameworks. The security sector should hold a high level dialogue with women leaders to listen to their recommendations on how to strengthen civilian support to security and what they can offer to make it a meaningful reality. Toward this end, we call upon the government and the international community to support a process for women peace advocates to gather before the holding of the planned Peace Jirga after the London Conference to consolidate their positions and choose their representatives to the process. We also wish to emphasize the need to use the result of the Jirga in a way that will not undermine the authority and powers of duly established democratic institutions.

3. In framing the national peace and reintegration framework, we stand firm by the principles of ‘no compromise on human rights’ and ‘reconciliation before reintegration’. We are concerned about the lack of consultation and consideration of the needs and views of the citizens, including the women. National healing is the foundation of sustainable peace and this will not be possible unless reintegration is preceded with reconciliation. Granting amnesty and reintegrating ex-Talibans without regard for justice will reinforce the unconstitutionally-passed Amnesty Law in condoning crimes and human rights violations in times of war. This could elicit retributions that will imperil sustainable peace. In no way will we accept a reintegration program that is not based on justice and respect for human rights, including women’s rights. We demand that government inform the citizens about the negotiation deals and the roles and stakes of regional neighbors and the international community in the process.

4. Security is an issue that women constantly face within their own families. Their advocacies for women’s rights and gender equality elicit family discord that escalates into domestic violence. Families should be a target of advocacy on non-violence and religious institutions should serve as partners of the State in promoting a more egalitarian and non-violent domestic relations.

B. Development and Governance

5. By ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Government of Afghanistan has an obligation to ensure that laws and policies are free from gender-based discriminatory provisions. It has been observed (with the enactment of the Shia Personal Status Law (SPSL) that the Parliament is likely to continue enacting laws that could violate the policy of equality and non discrimination under the Constitution. Women’s organizations and civil society groups should be consulted in the review and development of national laws and policies. As a matter of procedure, all laws and policies should be subjected to gender assessment before they are adopted, and the capacity of the Parliament for such purpose should be built. It should set up a mechanism to undertake a gender assessment of all legislative proposals and such mechanism should function in close consultation with MOWA and gender advocates.

6. Despite the adoption of NAPWA in March 2009, the strategy for its implementation has not yet been clarified. MOWA and the Cluster on Governance should immediately adopt and issue a set of guidelines to accelerate the implementation of NAPWA, particularly in provinces where the needs of women are most serious. The government should also adopt gender sensitive standards for the review, design, implementation, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation of the government’s national priority programs to ensure that they will advance the status of women in accordance with the priorities set under the NAPWA. All existing national programs should also be redesigned to attain the six gender sensitive targets of Afghanistan’s MDGs.

7. The rejection by Parliament of the two recent female candidates for the Ministries of Women and Public Health without clear justifications and blatant disregard for the advocacies of women supporters has been very disappointing. Likewise, the 2009 Presidential and Provincial Council Elections marked a decline in women’s political participation, due largely to lack of planning on the part of the government to address Afghan women’s specific challenges and opened the door for reported manipulation of women’s votes for fraudulent purposes. We urge the GoIRA to take stock of where it is now in fulfilling its commitments under the Millennium Development Goal 3 to increase female representation in elected and appointed bodies at all levels of governance to 30% by 2020. In the newly set up government, we strongly press for at least 30% representation of women as decision makers – i.e. as members of the Cabinet and Supreme Court, and as deputy ministers, governors, mayors, and advisers to the President and high level policy mechanisms of government. This is a special imperative to ensure that women are included in peace, reconciliation and security discussions.

8. The incidence of violence against women, especially physical violence such as murder, repeated battering, and sexual abuse, continues to be pervasive. A fragile justice system that is incapable of providing effective response contributes to the perpetration of this problem. Existing policy debates around women's political participation tend to overshadow the more urgent need to protect women from violence. The UN Special Rapporteur should pay attention to this reality and systematically raise the issue at the proper level to find swift solutions, including the development of capacities among the pillars of the justice system, health, and educational institutions in order to prevent, protect and secure justice for Afghan women who experience violence.

9. In the implementation of the Sub-national Governance Policy, the accountability and mechanism for ensuring gender responsiveness of sub-national governance should be established. It is recommended that local councils on gender equality be formed within high level bodies that make policies/decisions and coordinate actions on sub-national development. Likewise, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of national programs in promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality. We reject the practice of using women-specific resources to build infrastructures and other projects without consultation with women, and we urge that such resources be used for the development of women’s capacities.

10. Aid effectiveness has been an issue in Afghanistan. More and more resources for peace and development in the country are being used outside of the government framework for projects that are seen as unsustainable and not in line with the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) priorities. More importantly, such projects have not been effective in promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality. The Elimination of Violence against Women Special Fund administered by UNIFEM should be used as an example of how donors could work together and more effectively around a gender issue. There is a need for an oversight body on aid effectiveness for Afghanistan to address this issue. The TOR of this body should include attention to cross cutting concerns including gender and should make provisions for voices of women to be heard in its planning and decision making activities.

11. The quota or affirmative policies in the Constitution had shown very positive results. We urge the government to expand the implementation of quota and other affirmative action policies to promote the participation of women in all aspects of life.

12. We are concerned about the systematic exclusion of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) from vital processes and mechanisms, including in the London Conference on Afghanistan. We recommend that MOWA be a member of the Governance Cluster. Its participation in all levels of policy making should be ensured and support should be provided to continue the strengthening of its capacity for policy advocacy on women’s empowerment and gender equality. In addition, representation of women in all government clusters must be ensured.

14. The Terms of Reference (TORs) for international advisors to be deployed in Afghanistan should incorporate clear requirements for gender capacity. We also demand that gender balance and gender perspective be ensured in the selection of advisors to be deployed in the country.

C. Regional Engagement

We have very positive experiences on regional cooperation around the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality within the region. However, many of our engagements with groups and counterparts in the neighboring countries continue to be outside of the national framework for regional cooperation. We urge the government to give women a space in re-thinking the focus and scope of its regional cooperation framework and consider gender as a key aspect of regional engagement on security, reintegration, and economic cooperation.

The absence of gender perspective on regional cooperation is evident. The government should utilize the existing regional coordination and cross border agreements to promote women’s advancement, particularly on women’s trade, capacity development, education, health, leadership, participation in the regional peace processes, and strengthening of national women’s machineries. The governments in the region should involve their national women’s machineries in their regional cooperation initiatives and ensure that such cooperation fosters women’s well being across borders.

We expect the international community and our government to consider the above statements and recommendations and pay attention to the voices of Afghan women whose perspectives, energies and potentials are essential to sustainable peace and the attainment of the goals of the ANDS.

On our part, we commit to:

Utilize the above analysis and recommendations to mobilize nationwide engagement of Afghan women in national and local development processes, including the preparations for the Kabul Conference;

Foster solidarity and sisterhood among Afghan women, leading to the development of a vibrant Afghan women’s movement with support base in all provinces;

Continue to build our partnership with men in every possible opportunity and initiate a dialogue towards a shared vision to strengthen their roles and contributions to the promotion of gender equality;

Further strengthen our partnership with international agencies working for the promotion of women’s advancement, especially in providing meaningful and organized support to the government in implementing NAPWA and other commitments on gender equality; and

Optimize the use of media and non-traditional communication technology to accelerate sharing of information and improve communication among women, organizations and individuals working for the advancement of Afghan women.

Adopted this 24th January 2010 in Metropolitan Dubai Hotel, City of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Photographer Paula Lerner: "Without balance we get a very skewed picture."

Photographer Paula Lerner: "Without balance, we get a very skewed picture."
http://www.altmuslimah.com/a/b/a/3108/
By Abbas Jaffer, June 5, 2009

Paula Lerner has been reaching out to the women of Afghanistan ever since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2002. As a photographer and activist, she has seen the unique challenges and triumphs of women's rights activists there. I asked her about her involvement in Afghan women's development, as well as her views on the recent Sitara Achakzai murder and the dangers Afghan women face when advocating for broader rights.

When did you begin traveling to Afghanistan and working with the Business Council for Peace?

I have been to Afghanistan five times, beginning in 2005. The first three trips I was part of a team of volunteers working with the Business Council for Peace, a non-profit organization that helps women establish and grow self-sustaining businesses. Their motto is that more jobs mean less violence. My role on the team was to document Bpeace programs with photographs, with audio interviews and sound recordings. In 2006 I collaborated with the Washington Post to produce an award-winning multimedia feature about this group of unusual businesswomen, which is archived online. My last two trips I spent primarily in Kandahar working on a separate project about women in that city.

Do you see Afghanistan as a culturally divided country, between northern areas like Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif and southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces? Is the coverage on Afghanistan in the U.S. painting an accurate portrayal of what's really going on there?

I have so far only spent time in Kabul and Kandahar, and unfortunately have not yet been to Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, so I do not feel well informed enough to answer the first part of the question. As for the media coverage of Afghanistan in the U.S., I feel that it is generally not as in-depth or well rounded as it should be, and for that reason it is also not as accurate as it should be. In general, the coverage is limited, and heavily focused on the military and on the Taliban insurgency. There is very little coverage of daily life, or stories that would give Americans a better understanding of the cultural complexities or the human side of the Afghan people. Without that balance, I feel we get a very skewed picture. And with only a steady diet of skewed, mostly negative stories, I feel our capacity for compassion - and also for real understanding - is stunted. Since I am something of an "Afghanistan watcher," I monitor news reports about Afghanistan from many sources world wide. Between that and personal reports I get from friends and contacts on the ground, I feel I can get a much more accurate picture of what is happening there than from the general coverage in the American media.

Sitara Achikzai – the women’s rights activist recently killed by the Taliban – can you tell us a bit about her efforts and the challenges she faced?

Sitara Achakzai was an intelligent, educated, articulate and vibrant woman who was working very hard to improve the situation of men, women and children in her home province of Kandahar. As an elected member of the Kandahar Provincial Council, she had a price on her head, as do all of the council's members. It’s very hard to be outspoken about issues of rights and justice when one is constantly under the threat of death. She was very brave to continue her efforts under such circumstances. Her murder was a cowardly and dishonorable act on the part of the perpetrators. Afghanistan needs more people like Sitara Achakzai, not fewer of them.A few weeks before her murder, I did an in-depth interview with Mrs. Achakzai, and one of the things she told me that she was most proud of was that she and the other three women on the Provincial Council are recognized as being more honest and less corrupt than some of the male members of the council. When men in the province would bring a petition to the Council, some of them would seek out her and the other women to act as their representative on the case because of this. One of them even told her that at the next election he would vote only for women because he felt the women were more honest and capable than the men. She talked at length about how she was proud to be a part of that.

In your view, how is the situation in Kandahar unique for women’s rights work compared to the rest of Afghanistan?

Unlike for women in some other parts of Afghanistan, when the Taliban fell in 2001, not much changed for women in Kandahar. Because Kandahar is the Taliban homeland and the city from which the Taliban sprang, the fall of the regime didn't change the culture in the region. This means that the repression of women's rights imposed by the Taliban, such as the prohibition of the education of girls, of women working outside the home, of women to even leave home without a male escort, in large part, continues today even though none of this is mandated by law anymore. This is not unique to Kandahar, but it is certainly different than the experience of women in the capital city of Kabul and some other parts of the country.

Who else would you cite as examples of women’s rights leaders in Afghanistan?

For security reasons I would rather not mention names right now. The women I know whom I would cite are trying to keep a low profile, and for their security I think it best not to call attention to them at this time. I hope that will change in the near future.

What do you think the role of Western women should be in wanting to help Afghan women? How would you characterize these interactions?

I have seen firsthand some amazing efforts on the part of Western women to reach out to Afghan women. My first contact with Afghan women was through the Business Council for Peace, which has a very hands-on and practical approach to helping Afghan businesswomen. The Western women were successful businesswomen who reached out to advise, train and, in some cases, help launch their sisters in Afghanistan. What was beautiful to see about these interactions was that this was a clear case of Western women offering a hand up, not a hand out. I think this kind of effort is exactly what we in the West should be focusing on if we wish to improve things in Afghanistan. I saw many strong friendships develop between the Bpeace members and the Afghan women in the program, which have lasted over time. I think it’s fair to say that on both sides the women’s lives were changed in a positive way. Other groups that I have seen doing similarly good work is Women for Afghan Women and Project Artemis at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, to name a few.

What are some accomplishments that Afghan women have achieved that don't always get highlighted in the mainstream media?

There are many women's success stories that go under reported in the mainstream media. Over the last four years I have personally interviewed Afghan women in business, the media, and in politics who are doing outstanding things in their fields but whose stories are for the most part unknown in the West. On just this last trip in March I met with women in traditional garment-making and embroidery businesses, women who are beekeepers and honey producers, and women who manufacture soccer balls. Collectively they employ hundreds of other women and have a significant impact on their communities, both financially and as role models. Part of my personal mission as a photojournalist and multimedia producer is to shine a light on these women, and to tell their stories to a larger audience in order to give a more balanced perspective on the experience of women in Afghanistan.

Abbas Jaffer is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah.

More Women Candidates Needed for Elections, Afghanistan

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7RTM29?OpenDocument
Source: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
Date: 07 May 2009
By Nilab Mobarez, UNAMA

There are concerns for the participation of women candidates in this year's elections in Afghanistan. Friday, 8 May marks the last chance for candidates to register for the 20 August presidential and provincial council elections.

So far only 177 out of the 1,575 registered candidates are women, less than nine per cent of the total number of candidates.

One hundred and twenty four seats on provincial councils are reserved for women according to Afghanistan's Election Law.

"We are really concerned because with this trend we are loosing rights that we got with a lot of difficulties," said Kabul Member of Parliament Mrs Shinkai Karokhil. "Among the many reasons for this problem are the weaknesses of the provincial councils at the local level, insecurity, lack of cooperation of male leaders in a male dominated society, the lack of political will of the Government and the poverty that women are facing."

Dr Daoud Najafi of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission added: "Either security or economic issues are the main reasons of this trend."

According to the Election Law each provincial council candidate should present the signatures and voter registration card numbers from 200 supporters as part of the registration process (10,000 signatures are required for presidential candidates).

"A number of men do not give their voter cards for women to qualify nor give economical support to this very poor part of the population," said Mrs Karokhil. "The consequences of this situation are that we are going back toward a society controlled with only one gender. This is a failure of democracy because if women do not go to the provincial councils today, then they will not go to parliamentary election tomorrow and finally women will again be excluded from political participation."

Around 49 per cent of Afghanistan's population of approximately 24 million is female. A very low literacy rate estimated at around 16 percent for women compared to 31 per cent for men and a high mortality rate standing at around 1,600 to 1,900 deaths per 100,000 live births, or the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world, contribute to the plight of women in Afghanistan.

Following the parliamentary and provincial council elections in 2005 women held 121 out of the 420 provincial council seats; the remaining three seats had to be given to men. In parliament women gained 27 per cent of the seats with women holding 68 out of the 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House), and 23 out of the 102 seats in the Meshrano Jirga (Upper House).

In terms of the executive and judicial bodies in Afghanistan there is only one female cabinet minister, while almost 26 per cent of civil servants and 30 per cent of farmers are women.

So far two women have registered as presidential candidates for 2009 compared to one presidential and two vice presidential candidates in 2004.

Figures show that the number of women who registered for elections in Afghanistan increased from 41.5 per cent in 2004 to 44 per cent in 2005 but has decreased to 38 per cent for the 2009 vote.

Taliban Murders Women's Rights Activist

(Kandahar, Afghanistan) Provincial council member, women's rights activist and high school teacher Sitara Achikzai (also Achekzai) was murdered in Kandahar last weekend by four gunmen on two motorbikes.

Sadly, Mrs. Achekzai was brutally killed as she was exiting her vehicle in front of her house.

Officials said the attack happened in broad daylight. The Taliban have claimed responsibility. Friends said Mrs Achakzai was returning from a provincial council meeting; her assassins were lying in wait nearby.

“This cold-blooded assassination puts in question the direction that Afghanistan is heading,” warned Wenny Kusuma, the director of the United Nations Development fund for Women in Afghanistan. “There is no respect for the rule of law.”

Mrs. Achikzai was planning on leaving Afghanistan because of the security situation. She already had a ticket for a flight out on May 1.

Mrs. Achekzai's death is a major loss for the women's rights movement in Afghanistan.

Taliban assassins gun down female provincial council member

(note Sitara's blue scarf)

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/04/taliban_assassins_gu.ph

April 13, 2009 12:09 AM

The Taliban assassinated a female member of Kandahar's provincial council in a drive-by shooting in the insurgency-plagued southern province.

Sitara Achekzai, a female member of the Kandahar provincial council, was shot to death in broad daylight by unknown assassins in southern Kandahar province on Sunday. A spokesman for the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. Sitara died shortly after four men traveling on two motorbikes opened fire as she exited a vehicle in front of her house, provincial police chief Maitullah Qateh Khan told the Associated Press. Sitara, a proponent of women’s rights, had returned to Kandahar in 2004 after living in exile in Germany during the Taliban era.

On April 1, the Taliban attacked a Kandahar provincial council meeting shortly before noon, unleashing five suicide bombers in a complex assault that left 13 people dead including provincial education minister Mohammad Anwar Khan and the deputy of the provincial public health department, Dr. Abdulhai Razmal. Sitara Achekzai, who also attended the ill-fated meeting, suffered shrapnel wounds to her face after one of the bombers succeeded in penetrating the building’s main lobby and detonated, collapsing parts of the roof. Six of the ten policemen tasked with securing the building were among those killed in the attack.

Abdul Wali Karzai, a provincial council member and brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, told Pajhwok News that the head of the rural development department, Eng Abdul Latif Ashna; council members Bismillah Afghanmal and Haji Syed Jan Khakrizwal; and an official of UNAMA's political branch, Mujeebur Rehman, all were injured during the attack.

Taliban officials have reportedly offered 200,000 Pakistani rupees, around $2,500, to anyone who murders a councilor.

The Taliban have a long history of attacking both provincial council meetings and high profile female personalities in Kandahar. In November, a suicide truck bomber detonated a fuel tanker truck near a government compound hosting a provincial council meeting. The massive blast killed six people, wounded 42 others, destroyed five nearby homes, and damaged the provincial intelligence headquarters. General Rahmatullah Raufi, the governor of Kandahar province at the time, said that two of the dead were provincial intelligence officers.

Last September, the Taliban assassinated Captain Malalai Kakar, the top female police officer for Kandahar, in a similar brazen daylight attack that included motorbike assassins shooting her point blank in the head as her son drove her to work. At the time of her death, Ms. Kakar was head of Kandahar’s department of crimes against women.

Other Kandahari commanders and MPs have also been targeted and killed. Two Taliban suicide bombers succeeded in penetrating Kandahar’s provincial police headquarters in September and nearly assassinated the Border Police Commander Abdul Razzaq. On July 7, 2008, MP Habibullah Jan was shot dead by assassins after visiting an Army base in the Zhari district. In February 2008, a Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 55 people including a pro-government militia commander named Abdul Hakim Jan at a dog-fighting match in the Arghandab district of Kandahar.

the Amazing Life of our Afghan Sister Sitara Achekzai

Photo by Paula Lerner.

The life of Sitara Achekzai (4:00)
April 27, 2009

http://www.theworld.org/node/25988

We hear about the remarkable life of Sitara Achekzai. She was born and raised in Kandahar -- a city known as the birthplace of the Taliban. Sitara served as a local legislator in Kandahar, where she was a vocal proponent of women's rights. Earlier this month, she was shot and killed outsider her home.

Read the Transcript

This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI's THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI's THE WORLD is the program audio.
LISA MULLINS: We’d like to take a couple of minutes here to tell you about a remarkable Afghan woman. Her name was Sitara Achekzai. She was born and raised in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban. Achekzai served as a local council member in Kandahar. She used her position to advocate for women’s rights. Earlier this month, Achekzai was shot and killed outside her home. The government of Afghanistan blamed the attack on “enemies of Afghanistan,” that’s code for the Taliban. The resurgence of the Islamist movement has made Kandahar increasingly dangerous. Women rarely go out on their own anymore. It was a lot different when Sitara Achekzai was growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s. Here’s how she described it last month, just a few weeks before she was murdered.

SITARA ACHEKZAI: It was much easier to ask for our rights then than it is now. My family was the first family to allow its women to ride on a bicycle in Kandahar city. My sister-in-law was the first woman to come out in public unveiled, and she was also the first woman to ride a bicycle. I was a girl at that time. And I remember my father always telling his children, us kids, “rights are not given, they’re taken.” And so by buying us bicycles and riding bicycles, we were taking our rights.

MULLINS: Sitara Achekzai went to college. She taught high school and she became a principal. Then she moved to Germany. She married an Afghan man living there. The couple didn’t have children. And Sitara Achekzai said she had mixed feelings about that.

ACHEKZAI: No, I’m not bitter, because I also have to admit that I’m like a man. I’ve always been raised like a man: independent, always doing things on my own. So to be quite honest, I really didn’t have the patience to raise kids, but I wanted it because it’s the tradition of the world. You know, husband and wife have kids.

MULLINS: In 2003, Achekzai and her husband returned to Afghanistan to help their country. She said it wasn’t easy.

ACHEKZAI: I have made a sacrifice of choosing to come and work and live in Kandahar. Nobody asked me to come. I left my comfortable life in Germany, a peaceful life in Germany, to come and be here. I’m happy to be doing what I’m doing.

MULLINS: What Achekzai was doing was serving as one of four women on Kandahar’s Provincial Council. Local men would go to the council to air grievances and petition for relief.

ACHEKZAI: One pride that I’m happy to note is that after this many times, many of the people who come to bring complaints to us, they’re old men – but they will come and ask for me or the women to be their representatives for their case, because they’ve proven. they’ve seen now that the women are less corrupt and that they will truly hear the voices and requests of the people. So this is my pride. This is what I have done. I’m also happy to note that most of the people who come, they say the next elections they will vote for women, women only, because they see that women are doing a better job, and I’m part of that.

MULLINS: Sitara Achekzai, from a conversation with photojournalist Paula Lerner back in March. Thanks to Stoorai Ayazi for her help in the translation. Sitara Achekzai was gunned down on her way home from work on April 12th. She was 52 years old.