New Afghan Law Restricts Women's Rights
UN Claims Decline in Women's Status Reminiscent of Taliban Rule
Apr 8, 2009
Though the new law is not yet published, it was reportedly signed by President Hamid Karzai earlier this month. The law forbids Shi’a women from working or going to school without their husbands’ permission, denies women the right to leave their home for any reason other than ‘legitimate’ purposes, and even permits rape within marriage.
Karzai Accused of Pandering to Conservative Shi’a Hazara Minority
Critics have accused President Karzai of signing the law in order to curry favor amongst the country's conservative Shi’a clerics. According a March 31, 2009 article in The Guardian, the law was drafted in response to the demands of some of the male leaders of the Hazara minority, a group that composes a majority of Afghanistan’s Shi’a community.
Thus Karzai’s support of the law comes as no surprise, for in order to win the upcoming election in August, the incumbent President needs to win votes amongst the Shi’as, who comprise about 10% of the country’s population.
Afghani Female Parliamentarians have complained that the law was passed at an accelerated pace with very limited debate. "There were lots of things that we wanted to change,” said MP Shinkai Zahine Karokhail in the aforementioned article, “but they didn't want to discuss it because Karzai wants to please the Shia before the election."
Worsening Situation for Afghani Women
The Shiite Personal Status Law was drafted to appease some within the Shi’a community to constitutionally enshrine certain differences with Sunnis about Islamic Sharia law. Thus the Afghan constitution, while guaranteeing equal rights for women, allows Shi’a community members to be governed by a separate family law on issues such as divorce, rights over child custody, inheritance laws, and sexual relations within marriage.
According to Women for Women International, a charity that helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives, many in the international community most only see the positive statistics regarding the status of women in Afghanistan. For example, though women’s rights have improved significantly sine the overthrow of the strict Sunni Islamist Taliban in 2001, nearly 79% of Afghani women are illiterate and only 1% of girls in rural areas attend school.
Unfortunately, the latest regulations are a sign that women’s status in the country will not significantly improve in any foreseeable future. According to Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights in an April 2, 2009 article released by the United Nations, “This is another clear indication that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is getting worse, not better.”
