Good morning to you all.
I would like to begin by thanking the chair, Mr. Casson, as well as the other members of this important committee for your attention to the issue of women's rights in Afghanistan and for inviting Rights & Democracy to today's hearing. I would also like to acknowledge the support of Canada's elected representatives in the struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan. With that in mind, we note the two motions that were passed by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women on April 23.
As you know, Rights & Democracy was created by an act of Parliament in 1988 to promote and defend human rights and democratic development internationally. For close to 20 years we have been implementing this mandate on behalf of Canadians and reporting to them through Parliament. We promote the values of human rights and democratic freedom around the world to support individual citizens and struggling democrats caught in the grip of repression and to build democratic institutions and processes that give effect to universal human rights. That is what we are doing in Afghanistan.
Rights & Democracy has been working directly with Afghan women since 2002. We supported Afghan women in their effort to ensure that the constitution adopted in 2004 enshrined equality between men and women. We currently provide support to Afghan women's organizations and the government to ensure Afghanistan family laws reflect this constitutionally assured equality and Afghanistan's international human rights commitments. We are building bridges between Afghan society and the government on this important issue.
The news that President Karzai signed a law, for the Shia minority, that would effectively legalize rape in the home and restrict the most basic rights of women was a shock and a setback. The decision to review this law, however, is an opportunity. It is an opportunity, first and foremost, for Afghan women to participate in the process of revising this law. It is also an opportunity in the long term for Afghan women to strengthen human rights protections in law and practice and to ensure that their views are taken into account in all decisions that affect their lives. For both the short- and long-term opportunities to be fulfilled, Canada must be steadfast in its support for Afghan men and women who strive for a future based on universal democratic and human rights principles.
Rights & Democracy, thanks in part to financial support from CIDA, is assisting these Afghan-led efforts. Rights & Democracy facilitates the work of an Afghan-led drafting committee in which the different elements of family law, including the Shia personal status law, are debated for eventual submission to the Afghanistan Parliament. This committee includes representatives of Afghan civil society organizations, Kabul University, government officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Women's Affairs, and members of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. The objective of the drafting committee is to review existing family law in order to ensure that it respects women's rights under Islamic law and international human rights.
It is time-consuming, labour-intensive and difficult work. Afghanistan is a traditional society where the prospect of greater freedoms and equality for women under the law remains intensely controversial.
However, the diligent work of the drafting committee has produced results: in 2007, Afghanistan brought in a national marriage contract that protects a woman's legal status within marriage. The Shi'a Personal Status Law, the legislation that sparked the recent outrage, was before the drafting committee throughout the latter half of 2008.
Rights and Democracy facilitated the participation of Afghan women and civil society representatives who called for progressive amendments to Afghan laws. As we now know, most of these progressive elements unfortunately never made it into the legislation that President Karzaï blindly signed into law.
While clearly a setback for human rights in Afghanistan, the Shi'a Personal Status Law is not the absolute failure many would have us believe. While certainly a clear and troubling reminder of the complex human rights challenges that remain in Afghanistan, we cannot ignore the growing chorus of Afghan voices rising in opposition to the law's more regressive elements.
I was in Afghanistan as news of the Shi'a Personal Status Law broke. Rights and Democracy was organizing a conference in Kabul on family law in Muslim countries. The participants from Malaysia, Iran and Pakistan as well as representatives of Afghanistan's government, Parliament and women's organizations, among others, issued a spontaneous declaration denouncing the Shi'a Personal Status Law in its current form and calling for revisions that conform to Afghanistan's national and international human rights commitments. A petition signed by 5 Afghan cabinet ministers, 22 members of Parliament and more than 100 intellectuals and civil society representatives was filed to protest the new legislation and some women even took to the streets to demand their rights.
As a result of these public protests, President Karzaï agreed to revise the law, and called on women's groups and others to participate in the process. The Ministry of Justice was given the task of revising the law in consultation with Afghan civil society, and the drafting committee has participated in these efforts. It presented a list of amendments to the Minister of Justice to ensure that the revised Shi'a Personal Status Law respects national and international human rights and equality principles.
While we hope that the revised law takes into account the views expressed by women's groups and the drafting committee, the real opportunity that this nascent democratic process presents is for the long-term development of a culture of human rights in Afghanistan. The Shi'a Personal Status Law is one of many laws currently under consideration that will have a direct impact on the lives of women. The forthcoming Guardianship Law, the broader Family Law for the Sunni majority and the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law are just some of the laws that will be debated in the coming months and years as Afghan society moves toward the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law.
These laws will not in and of themselves protect against violations. Putting in place a legal framework for the protection of human rights is only the first step in a long-term process.
That is why Rights and Democracy also:
- trained 350 men and women to lead discussions at the community level on human rights and the means to ensure their protection within family law, for example, through the marriage contract.
- supported over 1,000 Afghan-led community meetings held to raise awareness of women's rights, family law and the use of the marriage contract, as well as to consult local women and men on the legal reform process.
- provided support to legal aid clinics so women will have judicial recourse when their rights are violated.
- worked with religious leaders to obtain their support for the use of the marriage contract.
- provided professional psychological/psycho-social support to girls and women who are victims of violations.
- supported civil society advocacy efforts through training and research on women's rights, and facilitated State-society dialogue on policy and legal reform.
- funded 34 local NGOs to work on projects involving women's rights. Through this support, over 9,000 Afghan men and women received training on women's rights.
- produced 12 radio shows in 6 provinces on the family law and on women's rights.
To overcome a history of exclusion and repression, Afghan women are taking matters into their own hands, as is demonstrated by their participation in Parliament, government departments, small businesses, and civil society organizations. The protests against the Shia personal status law demonstrated a growing desire for equality in Afghanistan, both in the home and in the public sphere.
The courageous women and men leading these protests need our encouragement now more than ever. To do otherwise, to pull our support for the Afghan women and men who are now mobilizing against repression with such courage and determination, would be to abandon the best source of hope for advancing human rights and democracy in Afghanistan.
Honourable members, in your deliberation on Canada's mission in Afghanistan, you are faced with innumerable challenges related to a complex whole-of-government mission in a complex part of the world. I hope to leave you with two messages today. First, our mission to help Afghanistan become a stable and democratic society is a long-term endeavour. Second, the 300 men and women who risked their lives in public protests to demand their human rights have defined that mission. We must follow them.
Merci beaucoup.