Nine Out of Ten Afghan Women Fear Return of Taliban
Washington D.C.— Released just days ahead of the 10th anniversary of coalition forces’ intervention in Afghanistan, a new survey of 1,000 Afghan women finds that nine out of ten women in Afghanistan fear that the Taliban returning to government would risk the gains made for women in the past ten years.
A thousand women across Afghanistan were polled by ActionAid as part of the survey, which generated rare insight into their opinions about living through the last 10 years of war and the current reconciliation process with the Taliban. Fully 66 percent of women said they feel safer now than they did 10 years ago, and 72 percent believe their lives are better now than they were 10 years ago.
ActionAid’s new report, A Just Peace? The Legacy of War for the Women of Afghanistan, calls on the international community to ensure that women’s rights are a non-negotiable part of any political settlement in Afghanistan.
The report comes ahead of a conference set for Bonn in December 2011 where delegations from 90 countries will meet for talks on Afghanistan’s future. Prior similar meetings have not had significant participation from women. ActionAid is highlighting the calls of the Afghan Women’s Network, which is urging that 30% of representatives to the meeting come from civil society, of which at least half should be women.
ActionAid USA’s Executive Director, Heather Paul, said: “Ten years on, as the international community begins withdrawing troops and enters into peace talks with the Taliban, we fear that women will be frozen out of talks and that their rights will be traded away for peace. No country can make true economic progress without womens’ participation.”
“We are calling on the international community to protect women who have defended women’s human rights in Afghanistan in the last ten years, to support women’s organisations with direct, long-term funding, and to ensure that women’s voices and views are heard at the critical Bonn conference in December,” said Paul.
In addition Afghan women must be actively involved in the peace, reconciliation and transition processes.
ActionAid Afghanistan Country Director PV Krishnan warns, “If Afghan women are excluded from decision making on the future of their country we risk not only sacrificing the gains made for women over the past ten years, but Afghanistan will be a less stable society as a result.”
Women in Afghanistan who have stood up for women’s rights in the past ten years, including teachers, female politicians and activists are now afraid for their own safety if the Taliban return to power, with some saying they will be forced to leave the country.
Fawzia Koofi, an Afghan MP who has said she will stand in the 2014 presidential election said: “World leaders must not abandon the women of Afghanistan at this crucial time. I urge the international community to make sure that women’s rights in Afghanistan remain at the top of the agenda and are not sacrificed for peace.”
ENDS
For more information or to arrange interviews contact:
Patricia Brooks, (202) 351-1757 or email: patricia.brooks@actionaid.org
Notes to Editors:
1. The report, A Just Peace? The Legacy of War for the Women of Afghanistan, can be downloaded here:http://www.actionaidusa.org/news/publications/womens_rights/a_just_peace.pdf
2. For more information about ActionAid's work in Afghanistan and how people can help, visit www.actionaid.org.uk/afghanwomen
3. The survey was commissioned by ActionAid and carried out by STATT Consulting and Awaz Women and Children's Welfare Organisation. 1,000 women were surveyed in the five provinces of Kabul, Balkh, Kandahar, Herat and Bamiyan between 26 June and 15 August 2011; 491 women were from rural areas and 509 from urban areas.