Afghan parliament halts debate on women's rights law

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Afghan parliament halts debate on women's rights law

Hundreds of people have been jailed under the current law
to prevent violence against women

BBC News
May 18, 2013

Arrests for Afghan girl beheading

A debate by Afghan MPs about beefing up a law to prevent
violence against women has been halted amid angry scenes.

Parliament's speaker ended the debate after 15 minutes
after traditionalists called for the law to be scrapped.

A law banning violence against women, child marriages and
forced marriages was passed by presidential decree in
2009, but did not gain MPs' approval.

Hundreds of people have been jailed under the current
law, introduced by President Hamid Karzai.

'Lack of assurance'

The decision to seek parliamentary approval for the law
had split women activists.

Some had said opening it up for debate in parliament
could pave the way for conservatives to amend it and
weaken protection for women - or even throw it out
altogether.

One of those against the move was prominent MP Farkhunda
Zahra Naderi. She told the BBC after Saturday's events in
parliament that her fears had been proved right.

During the debate, mullahs and other traditionalist MPs
accused President Karzai of acting against Islamic Sharia
law by signing the decree in the first place, the BBC's
David Loyn reports from Kabul.

In particular, they demanded a change to the law so that
men cannot be prosecuted for rape within marriage, our
correspondent said.

One of those who had sought to enshrine the decree with
parliamentary approval is leading MP Fawzia Koofi, who
survived a Taliban ambush two years ago.

She had worried that if the law did not have
parliamentary backing it could be weakened as Afghan
leaders attempt to pacify the Islamist Taliban movement.

"There is a lack of assurance that any president of
Afghanistan will have any commitment to women's issues
and in particular towards this decree," Ms Koofi told the
BBC before the debate.

President Karzai has come under fire from women's groups
for frequently changing his position on women's rights.

In 2012, he endorsed a "code of conduct" issued by an
influential council of clerics which allows husbands to
beat wives under certain circumstances.

Ms Koofi and fellow activists have argued that the law is
similar to those in many other Islamic countries.

The existing law will now remain in force while further
discussions on procedure are held, our correspondent
says.

Despite the efforts taken to enhance rights for women and
girls in Afghanistan, child marriages remain common and
stories of abuse keep coming to light.

Most Afghans still live in rural areas, where poverty,
conflict and conservative attitudes are more likely to
keep girls and women at home.

Analysis

By David Loyn
BBC News, Kabul
May 18, 2013

Afghanistan's Law to Eliminate Violence Against Women,
remains in force. It was signed by President Karzai in
2009 and did not need parliamentary approval.

But nothing is certain in this young democracy, and those
who brought it to parliament, led by a potential
presidential candidate, Fawzia Koofi, wanted it approved
there so it was irreversible. But women activists who
feared that debating it would give a platform to the most
fundamentalist voices were proved right. Its withdrawal
for now puts further progress on women's rights into
legal limbo.

There have been hundreds of successful prosecutions under
the law - some resulting in jail terms. But changing
attitudes in the Afghan countryside will take more than a
change in the law, and the failed debate will strengthen
the hand of fundamentalists who see the law as opposed to
Sharia.

More at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22579098

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj

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