Thank you very much.
Dear ladies and gentlemen, firstly I would like to thank you for the honour and privilege of addressing you.
My name is Dr. Massouda Jalal. I am a medical doctor by profession. I am also a women's rights activist and have struggled on behalf of women in Afghanistan, regardless of ethnicity or locality, for many years.
At one stage, I was a minister. In that capacity, I was able to forge a relationship with the Canadian government. I saw what Canadian money and influence could do. I am very happy about the careful support for local women's groups in particular, through CIDA, and I'm now the managing director of an NGO that attempts to work for change for women step by step, rather than with a big plan.
I want to make some suggestions about how positive change might happen so that we can build a future that includes women and other marginalized groups and does not focus on war and violence.
Just in case any of you cannot stay for the whole of my speech, or in case I run out of time, I will give you a sneak preview and tell you in about 10 words the essence of what I am going to say to you, the representatives of Canada: to solve the problems in Afghanistan, you need to reduce non-productive spending on the military and increase support to women in political life.
As of 2001, after the fall of the Taliban, Afghans, and Afghan women in particular, were very optimistic. We knew what we wanted: peace, fairness, justice, and a lawful society for all. We knew what it could look like: girls at the schools and universities; women in public places as ministers, civil servants, and media workers; laws and institutions that would protect the vulnerable from violence; and the men who ruled by might, either in the home or in the community, behind bars.
We wanted a healthy population and a protective environment. We expected the international community to help us, as we knew that many of the citizens of countries such as yours supported positive change and, in particular, wanted women and marginalized groups to have a far better life.
Was and is that too much to ask?
We didn't ask for masses of money to flood the country and contribute to a few fat cats' bank accounts. We didn't expect parts of our cities to be razed to build narco-mansions for profiteers from international contracts and rackets. We didn't expect our maternal mortality rate to more or less stay the same. We didn't expect to have fewer female police than we did under Soviet times.
No--but that is what we got.
More than half of the country has become inaccessible. Ironically, this is worse than it was under the Taliban. Commanders and strongmen have not only been the linchpin of negotiations and a focus for funds, but are also in the government and in parliamentary positions. We have not had justice--not even transitional justice.
Can we talk about that and focus on that before we talk about “talking to the Taliban”?
And what about democracy in Afghanistan?
Regarding women's rights, we have had some success. Statistically, things don't always look bad. During 2002 and 2003, the Afghan government signed and ratified some international conventions and laws, including CEDAW and the ICC, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the major conventions on civil and political rights.
However, there was very little consideration given to these signings and no meaningful debate. For example, the Minister of Women's Affairs had no idea that CEDAW was ratified until she was told by an international adviser who herself had read about it on the Internet.
We now have laws that promote gender equality--for instance, in the constitution and laws such as the elimination of violence law--but we also have a president who has allowed discriminatory laws such as the Shia personal status law to be passed. We have a quota for women in the parliament, and as a result, we have more women in the parliament than much of Europe and the Americas.
However, the future colour of the government becomes more and more fundamentalist. Practically now, the Taliban are here, and since 2010, the mantra has been about talking to the Taliban.
Truly, make no mistake: this is not good for women's rights. Because as we all know, the Taliban not only don't recognize rights, they barely recognize women.
In the post-Bonn constitution, women and men are entitled to equal rights. Another provision guarantees the age of marriage for girls as 16 years old. In this case, the assurances are denied in reality; I don't believe any man has been sentenced for breaking this law. The Shia family status law of 2009 restricts Shia women's movements and gives their menfolk control over them.
The 2004 Constitution states that 25% of members of parliament should be women, meaning that of 249 seats, 68 seats are reserved for women by law. However, the new electoral decree of 2010 has ambivalent wording that appears to suggest that if women do not stand for any reason, then men can take their seats, and vice versa.
The other thing that is happening is that we are increasingly getting edicts from religious bodies. For example, the Ulema for the eastern region of Afghanistan recently issued an edict saying that women cannot travel without a male guardian and that women who work in international organizations must be aware of the sin of being in the same room as a man.
This edict is already having an impact. At a conference of woman legal professionals held in Kabul on May 5, the female lawyers and judges from this region all came with maharams, or guardians. This is clearly against the equality provision in the constitution, but not against the “no law shall be against Islam” provision.
In another example of this, in almost perpetual doublespeak, the Sharia law faculty teaches female students a curriculum different from that taught to the male students and instructs them that they can only really be primary school teachers, and certainly not judges. Obviously, other brothers have forgotten that the Prophet Mohammed had a very successful businesswoman as his first wife, as well as a wife--Aisha--who went on to fight in the very famous Battle of the Camel.
I have to tell you that unfortunately these rights you hear about are really just on paper. If we dig even a little deeper, we see that they are really rooted in the entrenched male political culture. They represent temporary concessions given to women with one law and, in many cases, taken away with another, or just simply ignored. Increasingly, the assurances we thought were given are being undermined, and we depend on the international community to add its forceful voice to keep reminding the Afghan patriarchs that they cannot keep signing women's rights with one hand and taking them away with the other hand.
What are the other big problems now? We have never had, either from our government or from the international community, a clear and a strong stance that there has to be peace with justice. I will particularly ask your government to continue every diplomatic action possible, including the threat of the withdrawal of aid to stop the Afghans undertaking something that I believe is going to be a death sentence for democracy.
For the years to come in our country of Afghanistan, what do I think about? What do I talk about? I talk about impunity. Here I will quote a speech given by Amnesty International in Berlin, because I would like to emphasize the human rights problem we have with regard to impunity:
The culture of impunity in Afghanistan can only be seen as supporting the criminals and is encouraging them to continue violating the human rights of Afghans. This lack of accountability and culture of impunity has been going on for years.
This has a huge impact on women's access to justice and resources. Many women who are victims of domestic violence and other types of violence do not have access to justice and their right to justice is denied by the Afghan judiciary.
The London conference on Afghanistan, which took place on January 28, 2010, marked the formal pledge by the Afghan government to develop and implement a national peace and reintegration program to reintegrate what are called moderate elements of the Taliban into Afghan society.
Today, in areas under their control, the Taliban has severely curtailed the rights of girls and women, as it did when in government, including the denial of education, employment, freedom of movement, and political participation and representation.
Malalai Kakar, a high-ranking female police officer, and Sitara Achakzai, a prominent member of the provincial council and lawmaker, were both assassinated by the Taliban in the course of a few months in Kandahar province between 2008 and 2009, while schoolgirls experience killings, acid attacks, and other forms of harassment and intimidation by the Taliban simply for daring to walk out and go to school. Girls in school, even in Kabul, are being attacked this year with gas, which is resulting in the hospitalization of students, as well as trauma and fear.
This impunity issue also relates to the much-discussed so-called “peace jirga”, which just finished in Kabul. Like most jirgas we have had, it has strengthened the warlords and acted as a parallel and opposing force to the democratic institutions that the international community, including the Canadian people, has poured so many taxpayers' dollars into.
In fact, it was yet another kind of festival for the men who fought the Russians to come forward and gain praise and space to hark back to their military powers. It is clear that the impunity is a central demand. Karzai himself led the way by calling the Taliban not criminals or fighters, but “our angry brothers”.
I am now going to talk to you about why I don't support foreign troops staying in our country longer than necessary. I recognize and I am grateful to the many countries, including Canada, that have made sacrifices on behalf of our people. But I don't believe that the argument for staying on is strong enough to justify lives lost.
All the things we were told this foreign presence would achieve have not materialized. As summarized above, this troop presence has not destroyed safe havens for terrorists. This troop presence has not established human rights and has not enabled most of the population to live a better life.
What I am proposing is this. As a former minister of women's affairs, I don't suppose it will be a surprise when I tell you that I propose something quite simple and quite radical: bring in the women. That is the response. I believe we have to look at non-military solutions to the problems we have found ourselves in.
Having or not having troops is not so much the issue. Of course, they have to leave, and it has to be phased carefully and gradually. I suggest a substantial shift of political attention—some would say it's an obsession—from the military as a force for change to using diplomatic and political influence to constantly ensure demilitarization of political power in Afghanistan.
And increase the involvement of women in political negotiations. Demilitarization of political power means, for me, decreasing the number of Afghan commanders in the Government of Afghanistan, warlords, and making it much harder for regional strongmen to wield power and influence. We need clear lines on talking to the Taliban. More women in politics is the key to a demilitarization of political power, because women are not easily part of this corrupt weapons-hungry network.
This means that we rely on national and international pressures regarding ensuring a good number of women ministers, equal numbers of women in local governance, women in commissions, and quotas for women in all political negotiations. I ask Canada to ensure that UNSCR 1325 on women, peace, and governance is supported through the way it gives aid to our country, Afghanistan. And as you expect Afghan women in positions of power here, I and most Afghans I know expect your embassies, delegations, and negotiation teams to be full of women.
Second is support for regular, but not parallel, political processes. Rather than getting involved in parallel retrograde processes like jirgas and talking to the Taliban, the international community, Canada included, needs to focus on parliamentary democracy.
This year we had more women nominating themselves for parliament than we had in 2005, despite the decrease in security. However, women and other marginalized groups face real resource restraints that block their effective political participation and ability to campaign for office, or to consult while in office--for example, a woman requires taxis, money for billboards, and training.
CIDA has in the past supported UNIFEM projects providing training and resources for female political candidates. Funds for these kinds of activities need to be increased. Compared to the amount of money and resources that male political candidates have, this is very little.
Any reintegration programs should pressure the Afghan government on the conditionality of the use of the funds, based on maintaining accountability, human rights, women's rights, and other international human rights standards.
Women in Asia, in Europe, and around the world tell us that they do not want their sons, husbands, and brothers to die on our soil. The truth is that we do not really know why foreign troops are on our Afghan soil; we have all swallowed the big propaganda, which destroys our land, forces people from their homes, prevents women from being active, and leads to civilian casualties and deaths.
The international community continues to pour enormous resources into so-called “security and peace”. The military budgets of European and North American nations are also inflated as they send their soldiers to us. Even the budgets of the UN for Afghan elections are dominated by security costs.
As women, we surely know that war cannot make peace. We have to strive, long term, for cultures of peace. We have to be part of the voices that demand and the brains that lead to ensure development before, not after, fighting--for instance, schools, hospitals, and agriculture. This is a part of your commitment to UNSCR 1325.
I would also ask you to provide a gender audit of Canada's aid to Afghanistan, and a peace audit. Please let us know how much money you have actually spent on women and how much you have spent on your military. My suspicion is that there are far less resources for democratization activities outside of Kabul than there are for international military activities. But I cannot prove this to you, because it is so hard to get accurate figures on governmental spending that do not hide the military expenditures in clever little ways.
I thank you for your continued interest in my country, Afghanistan. I know the Canadian people wish to see peace, stability, and rights in Afghanistan. However, currently things do not look good. There is increased violence, increased Taliban activities, etc.
I sometimes wonder how we Afghan woman can keep going; what kind of craziness means that we continue despite the fact that women's rights are almost totally off the agenda?
Is all lost? This is the question. Well, I am an optimist, and I believe it is possible to prevent things from getting worse and to build on some of the successes. On the whole, women are very courageous. Many of the female parliamentarians do not even say hello to warlords or other war criminals in the Parliament now.
For women in Afghanistan and civil society to keep struggling, we require that others, including decision-makers in Canada, renew their energy and re-engage in the struggle on our behalf.
Because we still have dreams. In order to achieve them, we have to reroute the river. It is a river that currently looks like it is going in one direction. We have to make it go in another. We need to do this together.
My third suggestion for how we can make change and reroute this river that threatens to destroy all of us is about the kinds of projects that Canada supports in the future. We hear a lot about debt aid these days. So what is the alternative?
On the macro level, we need a much greater focus on transitional justice, disarmament, and bringing in marginalized groups to the political centre--I mean women, ethnic minorities, and the underclass here--because clearly the Taliban are not a marginalized category. They have become central to the political consciousness.
On a more easily understood and practical level, I would suggest scholarships for young women. Women are hungry for knowledge and experience, and there are women with good English who would return, and who, if they do not have support now, will just end up being married young, which is going to lead to higher population rates as well as a gap in women in politics.
The Jalal Foundation, which I manage, has one such gender and governance project that I can use as an example. We wish to increase awareness for female candidates of their potentially positive role in building a future, so we are seeking money to educate the candidates and the public regarding that role in peace, parliament, women's rights, etc. We want to find ways that female candidates can be supported to undertake campaigns and ensure that they're accountable to the voters in their provinces.
I want to ask the Canadians to support us in Afghanistan in building cultures of peace. In Afghanistan we see that the post-9/11 rhetoric, as well as pressures from military lobbies, mean that our society is becoming more militarized than ever before. We are told that security is the highest goal. We are not allowed to argue against that. I say that's wrong. We must argue against it.
As women, we know that wars and barbed wire and men with guns do not make us secure. We know that violence most often comes from those closest to us, which means our husbands and our families.
So on the money issue, the Canadian government should put extreme and continuous pressure on the Afghan government to ensure there is no impunity. They also must continue to speak out to our government, and not accept superficial assurances, to ensure that human rights, including women's rights, are respected, and that any denial of them is highlighted and prevented.
The Canadian government should make it very clear that they will not accept the Afghan government's attempts to legitimize any outcomes of the so-called peace jirga, which represents attempts to enforce impunity and the denial of rights to women, children, and other marginalized groups. What this also means is making sure that the Afghan government is fully committed to strengthening the rule of law and accountability for past human rights violations during the integration of the Taliban.
Thank you for your attention.
