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Article by: epidemiologist                               
Friday 16 Nov 2001
                          
Email: action at 9-11peace.org

Summary:The UN SC wants to set up
an ethnically balanced 
government in Afghanistan.
Why not a gender balanced
government? Half of Afghans
are women.

Weblink: http://www.wluml.org

Reference at indymedia website: http://www.indymedia.org:8081//front.php3?article_id=90713

Article:
SUGGESTED TEXT OF APPEAL:
We, the undersigned, insist that 50% of any new
broad-based government of Afghanistan must consist of
women, with equal positions of power to the men.
Anything less would betray the principles of the United
Nations.

BACKGROUND:
The United Nations Security Council and the UN special
representative Lakhdar Brahimi want to set up an
ethnically balanced government in Afghanistan.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011114/wl/attack_afghan_un_dc_12.html

This is going to be a tough business, and mainstream
newspapers will do their best to try to make the public
feel happy as long as any sort of mix between so-called
ethnic groups can be included in any new Afghan
government. 

But why the fuck do they say nothing about having 50%
women in the new government?

> The resolution said any new Afghan government
> should be broad-based and multi-ethnic, respect
> human rights of all people regardless of gender or
> religion, and combat terrorism and illicit drug
> trafficking.

There\'s talk of saying that any future government must
\"respect human rights ... regardless of gender\". Fine in
principle. But how the hell will women\'s rights be
respected if they have to grovel on their knees and kiss
the feet of a bunch of men?

No matter what ethnic mix the men may come from, the
only practical way to establish women\'s rights is by
having women as 50% of the new interim (and long term)
government. (This is a necessary condition, not a 
sufficient condition, for the Afghan situation.)

Don\'t complain about this being an artificial \"quota\"
system or cultural imperialism: what the hell has the US
done by bombing and cutting off food supplies if not
imperialism? So the US/UN might as well go all the way
and impose gender equality as well. Much more civilised
than cluster bombs and daisy cutters.

And you don\'t need to be an expert on Central Asian
ethnic culture or Islam to know the gender balance in
Afghanistan. It\'s pretty bloody close to 50%, give or
take 1% or 2% or so.

> The first step, however, is to organize an all-Afghan
> meeting among the country\'s many factions.
> Diplomats said the coalition of rebel groups, the
> Northern Alliance, had put some preconditions on
> their attendance, which Brahimi rejected.

How about the \"many\" (two) gender factions?

Is the RAWA 

http://www.rawa.org

(plus any other Afghan women\'s associations) included in
these \"all-Afghan\" meetings as representing 50% of the
Afghan population? Or are Afghan women not typical
Afghans?

> At the same time, an emergency Loya Jirga, or
> grand assembly of tribal elders, would convene to
> approve security arrangements and help write a
> constitution. A second Loya Jirga would approve
> the constitution to create a government for
> Afghanistan, Brahimi said.

Are half the tribal elders women? If not, this is a
recipe for disaster.

********************************************************
ACTIONS TO TAKE:
********************************************************

Who hasn\'t received several email chain letters in
favour of Afghan women over the last few years? Now is
the time to act!

This is possibly the simplest and most powerful possible
e-appeal that neither Western authorities nor Muslim
leaders will be able to deny.

Chain letters are bad style and clog the internet,
web-based appeals are best (though of course you can and
should use email to circulate appeals to sign web-based
petitions!).

I\'m not a petition organiser, but please anyone who can
help, reproduce this appeal, discuss the suggested text
and find a better one if possible, organise petitions,
put pressure on newspapers, etc. etc., just do it!

meta-list of petitioning sites:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=90640

9-11 petitions:
http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/224622495 
http://home.uchicago.edu/~dhpicker/petition 
http://www.9-11peace.org

email of petition organisers: action at 9-11peace.org


SUGGESTED TEXT OF APPEAL:
We, the undersigned, insist that 50% of any new
broad-based government of Afghanistan must consist of
women, with equal positions of power to the men.
Anything less would betray the principles of the United
Nations.

FINAL WORD:
Half of us are women.

Half the Afghan government must be women. 

That\'s all there is to it. No ifs and buts.