[Reader-list] Fwd: Urgent Action Alert: include Afghan women in transition processes

[Harsh Kapoor]

>Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 15:15:16 +0000
>From: WLUML <wluml at wluml.org>
>Subject: Urgent Action Alert: include Afghan women in transition processes
>
>Dear friends,
>
>Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) has been trying to ensure that the
>voices of Afghan women are heard by as broad an audience as possible. We
>are doing this by making available their understanding and articulation, as
>women, of what is happening, the impact that this is having and their demands.
>
>WLUML believes that international efforts for the reconstruction of
>Afghanistan must promote a process guided by the Afghan people. Afghan
>women are half of the Afghan people - a fact too often and too easily
>forgotten. It is not enough to  call merely for the representation of
>various ethnic communities and/or factions in the decision making and
>transition processes around Afghanistan. The presence of Afghan civil
>society, most particularly women, at the negotiation table and decision
>making of any peace process is vital.
>
>More than fifty Afghan women from different NGOs and organisations met at
>the call of the Afghan Women's Network on 7 November 2001 in Peshawar,
>Pakistan. We attach below the appeal they drafted addressed to the
>concerned warring parties and countries. They would like the endorsement
>and support of other organisations for the demands in the appeal.
>
>We call upon the UN, that is better-positioned than any other entity, to
>support and facilitate Afghan women's involvement in the decision-making
>and transition processes in the coming months. We appreciate that the
>Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan, Mr Lakhdar
>Brahimi, has been specifically interacting with Afghan women's groups to
>discuss ways of including women in the transition processes led by the UN.
>
>We therefore urge you to endorse the statement and write to the following
>people involved in the UN transition and peace processes.
>
>In solidarity,
>
>WLUML
>
>---
>7 November, 2001
>
>For more then two decades the Afghan nation has been passing through the most
>difficult experiences of war, human rights violations and brutality. While we
>struggle to survive, we are scared for life, losing our dear ones, seeing our
>children traumatized, our neighbors killed, our husbands disabled by a war
>fought under different banners but yet with the same tragic consequences. In
>whatever name the war might be fought, jihad, justice, terrorism etc. We
>ask you to stop it.
>
>The waging and continuation of the war affects us more deeply every passing
>day by hearing that someone else has been added to the list of victims.
>
>Perhaps a million Afghans are in movement facing closed borders, a hostile
>reception and already jammed camps with the most miserable conditions of life.
>
>Stop this war in the name of the Afghan child, the Afghan mother and a
>nation who
>have sacrificed more than enough. The continuation of war will not only be
>adding
>to the existing misery of the Afghan nation, but will hinder the chances of a
>peaceful solution in the future. We call upon the international community and
>the countries and groups involved in this war to support us by listening to us
>and ensuring our rights as citizens of the world are respected. Help us in
>seeking our right to survival.
>
>We request the following:
>
>* The military action in Afghanistan be stopped immediately.
>
>* The anti-terrorism campaign should not be fought at the expense of
>restricting or violating human rights of Afghans. It should be dealt with in
>accordance with international law and procedures by an international tribunal.
>
>* The neighboring countries of Afghanistan should open their borders to
>Afghan families fleeing the war.
>
>* Afghans should be supported in the peace process and nation building effort
>in such a way, which ensures the respect of its diverse ethnic groups and
>religious sects, women and children.
>
>* Afghan women's participation in the peace process must be assured.
>
>WRITE TO:
>
>Lakhdar Brahimi
>Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan
>Tel: +1 212 963 1386
>Fax: +1 212 963 0616
>
>Kamal Hossain
>UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan
>Fax: +880 29564953
>Email: khossain at citecho.net
>
>Carolyn McAskie
>Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator
>Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
>Fax: +1 212 963 1312
>
>The office of Hina Jilani, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
>Defenders
>Martine Anstett
>Email: manstett.hchr at unog.ch
>
>The office of Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings
>Henrik Stenman
>Email: Hstenman.hchr at unog.ch



>WLUML - international solidarity network
>Email: wluml at wluml.org
>WWW: www.wluml.org


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