www.sida.se

Februari 2009

Afghanistan Sida Country Gender Profile – Afghanistan

Forword

Afghanistan is a country facing enormous challenges. It is not only one of the poorest countries in the world, but it also faces a situation of escalating conflict – in a time when everybody hoped for recovery and stabilisation after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, and after almost 25 years of armed conflict. Women and men are experiencing both poverty and conflict in different ways. This has to be known and recognised in order to facilitate and promote development and rights for all Afghans – both women and men. With this Sida Country Gender Profi le we don’t claim to have covered every aspect of women’s and men’s lives in Afghanistan, but as our consultant met with many different women – and some men – we do believe that this is a small contribution to shed some light on women’s and men’s realities in Afghanistan today. Sometimes these realities are considered sensitive and therefore seldom spoken of, but they must be dealt with in Afghanistan as well as in our own country – such as violence against women for example. The realisation of women’s and girl’s rights can’t come without a change in people’s perceptions and actions, and such changes takes time. It needs to be promoted so that all stakeholders understand and endorse the benefits of women’s participation in society. Since 2001 some promising developments have been seen which needs to be acknowledged. For example more girls than ever are going to schools and women have been elected as MPs. Still, there are many remaining challenges to the fulfi lment of women’s rights, among them the high maternal mortality rates and low levels of literacy. The traditional separation of women and men makes development for, and empowerment of, women difficult. Among other things there is an enormous lack of female teachers, female health staff and midwives, female police officers and other government officials. Sweden believes that recognising women’s contribution to poverty reduction and the development of society is an essential step in the process of constructing a peaceful, equal and prosperous Afghanistan. Mette Sunnergren Counsellor and Country Manager for Development Cooperation Embassy of Sweden Kabul, Afghanistan February, 2009

The views, interpretations and recommendations expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of Sida. Published by Sida 2009 Department for Conflict and Post-Conflict Cooperation in collaboration with the Gender Equality Team Cover picture: Girl and boy students outside a school in Takhar, Afghanistan. Photo: Sofia Orrebrink Printed by Edita, 2009 Art. no.: SIDA48577en This publication can be downloaded/ordered from www.Sida.se/publications

Table of Contents

Methodology, Limitations and Acknowledgements ................................ 5 Gender in Afghanistan – a Summary ....................................................... 6 List of Acronyms ...................................................................................... 8 Glossary .................................................................................................. 10 1. Gender in History and Women’s Political Participation ................... 13 Gender Equality in Afghan History .................................................. 13 Elected Bodies, Village Councils and Elections ................................ 15 Shuras/Jirgas and Community Development Councils.................... 17 2. Rule of Law and Human Rights ........................................................ 19 Violence Against Women ................................................................. 22 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues (LGBT).................. 24 Migration, Human Trafficking and Prostitution .............................. 24 3. National Framework and Policy ........................................................ 26 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) .................................. 26 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) .......................................... 26 Constitution ....................................................................................... 27 The Afghanistan Compact ................................................................ 27 The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) .............. 28 The National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) .................................................................. 28 The Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) .......................... 29 Civil Service....................................................................................... 29 The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission ............ 30 Donor Community and Coordination .............................................. 31 4. Overall Economic Situation ............................................................... 32 Macro-economic Situation ................................................................ 32

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5. Socio-economic Situation ................................................................. 34 Human Development, Gender Development and Empowerment .... 34 Employment....................................................................................... 35 Demographics .................................................................................... 35 Health ................................................................................................ 36 Education ........................................................................................... 37 HIV/AIDS ......................................................................................... 39 6. Socio-cultural Situation ..................................................................... 40 7. Media and IT ..................................................................................... 41 8. Conflict ............................................................................................... 42 9. Girl-children ........................................................................................ 43 10. Resources and Further Readings ................................................... 44 Annex 1: Gender Specifics of the Afghan Constitution ........................ 45 Annex 2: Sida Generic Terms of Reference.......................................... 47 Annex 3: Meeting Schedule for the Mission to Afghanistan ................ 52

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Methodology, Limitations and Acknowledgements

This Country Gender Profi le was commissioned by Sida and drafted by a team of gender and Afghanistan experts during the autumn of 2008. The Profi le is based on available reports and interviews that were made during a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan in August/September 2008. The mission consisted of two Swedish consultants, Mr. Per Larsson and Ms. Anita Klum and was organized with the kind assistance of the Swedish Embassy in Kabul. A major challenge when analysing the situation in Afghanistan is to draw conclusions from the often unreliable and contradictory data and statistics. Nevertheless statistics are presented in this Country Gender Profi le to indicate gender-related tendencies. The reader should keep in mind, however, that the figures should be seen as indicative and not factual. Afghanistan is a disparate society with many cultural, ethnic and religious differences. The central powers have never succeeded in controlling the whole territory and there are large differences between the capital Kabul, other urban areas and the rural communities. Women and men’s conditions and opportunities vary greatly between different regions of Afghanistan and even between different tribes in the respective regions. Social class and family credentials also play an important role in the Afghan society. The voice of poor women in rural areas is, typically, considerably weaker than the voice of middle class women in Kabul. And although these differences are too numerous and complex to cover within the frame of this Country Gender Profi le, some of the differences will from time to time be mentioned to exemplify the multifaceted nature of Afghanistan. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all who have contributed input to this Country Gender Profi le. Especially Ms. Anita Klum who took part in the field mission to Afghanistan and who provided valuable written input to the report. I would also like to thank Ms. Carolina Wennerholm and Ms. Sofia Tatsis without whom this important assignment would have been impossible. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Dr. Sari Kouvo who provided important comments on the first draft and also to all Sida staff who provided invaluable feedback and reality checks on the subsequent drafts. Per Larsson, Team Leader Stockholm, December 2008 5

Gender in Afghanistan – a Summary

Afghanistan is a country which has been experiencing civil war and conflicts since the end of the 1970s. These wars and conflicts have left their mark on all aspects of the Afghan society, both private and public. Men and women’s roles in the society have been disputed by the different parties of the conflict and questions about what women and girls can and cannot do have become infected political issues. Armed interventions have been motivated by the need to protect women from exploitation and attempts to reform traditional gender relations have often been met with violent reactions. In such an environment, gender norms and relations are not easily negotiated. Women who question gender roles in the family are taking a serious risk; the same is true for politicians or civil society leaders who promote gender equality. The infected nature of gender issues in Afghanistan must never be allowed to become an alibi for inaction. On the contrary, gender issues need to be discussed more intensively, both publically and privately, to allow the stigmas and tensions around the subject to decrease and for change to become possible. During 2008 the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated. The unstable and worsening security situation is having considerable gender-related consequences as it limits the scope for change in the society and in particular restricts the freedom of expression and movement for women. In some regions of Afghanistan the security situation for women today is reminiscent of the the civil war period when women could not leave their homes to conduct the most basic errands. Deteriorating security also diverts more resources and attention to conflict resolution and unfortunately makes the implementation of development cooperation programmes more of a challenge. Afghanistan is a country in severe poverty with some of the worst income, health and education indicators in the world. Large gender discrepancies exist in access to incomes, health services and education and women in particular are considerably disadvantaged. The situation for women and girls has nevertheless improved during the last decade with considerable achievements in the areas of education and health care, but these improvements could easily be reversed if the security situation continues to deteriorate. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 an elected government has been installed which, is striving to rebuild and develop Afghanistan with the help of the international community. A key challenge for the government is to allow both men and women to contribute and benefit from the 6

development and reconstruction process. Women’s representation in public life has improved particularly in the democratic institutions that have been put in place at the central level. Today women account for 25% of the national assembly and the proportion of women in decision-making positions in the civil service is approximately 9%. This female representation in the governance of Afghanistan is an undisputed achievement, however, women in decision-making positions are often under considerable pressure and take significant risks if they act and speak without the permission of men. The challenge, therefore, is to increase the representation of women in the governance of Afghanistan and remove barriers that hinder women from exercising their powers without interference or threats once they are in decision-making positions. The Afghan Constitution, Afghanistan Compact, Afghanistan National Development Strategy and National Plan for Women of Afghanistan are important building blocks for a democratic and stable Afghanistan. However, it is important to keep in mind that these important achievements are still having a limited impact on the situation for the majority of women and men in the rural areas, where the majority of Afghans live; and especially in the more conservative provinces where the differences before, during and after the Taliban have been considerably less noticeable than in Kabul.

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List of Acronyms

ACBAR ACC AIHRC AIMS ANDS AREU AWBF AWN CEDAW CIPE CSC CSO DoWA GEM GDI GDP GTZ GU HDI HPI ICG IDLG IEC ILO IOM ISAF JICA JRC LGBT MDG MICS MoWA NAPWA NATO NGO NHDR NRVA 8

Agency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief Afghan Constitution Commission Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission Afghanistan Information Management Services Afghanistan National Development Strategy Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Afghan Women’s Business Federation Afghan Women’s Network Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women Centre for International Private Enterprise Civil Service Commission Central Statistics Office or Civil Society Organization Department of Women’s Affairs Gender Empowerment Measurement Gender Development Index Gross Domestic Product Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit Gender Unit Human Development Index Human Poverty Index International Crisis Group Independent Directorate for Local Governance Independent Election Commission International Labour Organization International Organization for Migration International Security Assistance Force Japan International Cooperation Agency Judicial Reform Commission Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Millennium Development Goals Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Ministry of Women’s Affairs National Action Plan for Women of Afghanistan North Atlantic Treaty Organization Non-Governmental Organization National Human Development Report National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment

NSP PDPA RAWA SCA Sida UNAIDS UNICEF UNIFEM UNHCR UNDP WB WDC WFP WHO

National Solidarity Programme People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan Swedish Committee for Afghanistan Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS United Nations Children’s Fund United Nations Development Fund for Women United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Development Programme World Bank Women’s Development Centres World Food Programme World Health Organization

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Glossary

Baadal Burqa entire Chador

Dari

Hanafi Hijab Jirga

Loya Jirga Madrasah Mahram

Meshrano Jirga Mujahedin Namus

Pashtunwali

Purdah

10

Settling a family feud where one family gives a girl to another family as compensation. An enveloping outer garment worn by some women in Afghanistan for the purpose of cloaking their body. An outer garment or open cloak worn by some Iranian and Pakistani women. Less enveloping than the Burqa. A historical name for the Persian language which in contemporary usage refers to Persian dialects that are spoken in Afghanistan. The oldest schools of jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. To veil or to cover. A tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus, particularly among the Pashtun but also in other ethnic groups. Grand Assembly or the Afghan Parliament. Islamic school. An unmarriable relative with whom sexual inter course would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo. The House of Elders, upper house of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan. A Muslim person involved in a jihad, who is fighting in a war or involved in any other struggle. A strongly gender-specific category of relationships within a family described in terms of honour, attention, respect/respectability, and modesty. The term is often translated as “honour”. A concept of living or philosophy for the Pashtun people. It is regarded as an honour code and a nonwritten law for the Pashtun people. The practice of preventing women from being seen by men. This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form.

Shar’ia

Shia Shura Sunni Wolesi Jirga

The term means “way” or “path to the water source”; it is the legal framework within which the public and private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Islamic principles of jurispru dence and for Muslims living outside the domain. The second largest denomination of Islam after Sunni Islam. Consultation. Council where mostly male elders take decisions. Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. The House of the People is the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan

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Afghanistan at a glance General

Year

Surface

647,500 km2***

Religion

Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%***

Ethnic groups

Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%***

Languages

Afghan Persian or Dari 50%, Pashto 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, widespread bilingualism***

Constitution

New constitution drafted 14 December 2003 – 4 January 2004; signed 16 January 2004

HDI Rank

173 (177)*

2007

GDI Rank

176 (177)*

2007

Population

32,700,000***

2008

Average annual population growth,%

2.6%***

2008

Fertility rate, children per woman

6.58***

2008

Share of population under 14,%

44.6% (male 7,474,394/female 7,121,145)***

2008

Life expectancy at birth

44.21years (male: 44.04, female: 44.39)***

2008

Economic situation

Female

Demography

Male

Total

Year

1,000 US$***

2007

GDP per capita (PPP US$)

n/a

n/a

Estimated income from paid employ-

478 $*

1,428 $*

11%****

32%****

2007

ment, in US$

Socio-economic situation Adult literacy rate (% aged 15 and older) Maternal Mortality, no. per 100,000 live

23%****

2005

1,600*

2004

257*

2005

births Under 5-mortality (per 1,000 live births)

Conflict Victims of landmines (fatalities in one

11**

105**

116**

2006

68 (27.3%)**

181 (72.7%)**

249**

2007

Members of upper parliament house

23 (22.5%)**

79 (77.5%)**

102**

2007

Civil servants in ministries and depart-

48,496

168,948

217,444**

2007

ments (excluding armed personnel) by

(22.3%)**

(77.7%)**

9%**

91%**

year)

Decision making Members of lower parliament house

gender Civil servants in decision-making

2008

positions (Grade 1, 2 and above),% Judges

73 (4.7%)**

1,474

1,547**

(95.3%)**

Sources: UNDP NHDR 2007*, UNIFEM and MoWA Baseline statistics on gender 2008**, CIA World Fact Bok 2008***, NRVA 2005****.

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2007

1. Gender in History and Women’s Political Participation

Gender Equality in Afghan History Afghanistan had been under a Pashtun monarchy for more than 200 years when the kingdom fell in 1973. During the first century after its conception in 1747, the kingdom was ruled on the basis of the monarchs’ interpretation of the Pashtunwali. The Pashtunwali is an ancient tribal code of honour which prescribes the norms and values of the Pashtun people and also provides sanctions for violations of these norms and values. While there are some indications that the Pashtunwali predates Islam, the Pashtunwali is traditionally perceived by the Pashtun people to reflect Islamic principles. The Pashtunwali has a heavy emphasis on traditional values of hospitality, bravery and honour but also on the importance of women as the embodiment of the family’s honour. In the Pashto language, the honour of women is encapsulated in the concept of “Namus” which requires the Pashtun to defend the honour of women at all costs. Women were freer in the 19th century, however, than they had been under the Taliban between 1996 and 2001. Although it was considered improper for women to associate socially with men, women could participate in public meetings and events and the traditional and religious requirements were not interpreted so that women had to wear the Burqa. Instead, western travellers in the 19th century reported that Afghan women were wrapped in large white sheets.1 During the times of the monarchy there were attempts to reform and modernize Afghan society. King Amir Amanullah launched the most serious attempt during his reign between 1919 and 1929. Under his rule, gender equality became a political issue and the first girls’ school was opened in Kabul. By 1928 some 800 girls attended the school in Kabul.2 More well-off families sent their daughters to Turkey and Switzerland for higher education. Amir Amanullah also initiated a campaign against the wearing of the veil in Kabul and demanded a Western dress code in the capital. A new constitution was enacted and reforms were introduced in several branches of the legislation. These reforms introduced, inter alia, legal standing for women, a ban on child marriages and the ability for widows to choose their next spouse. These reforms were not rooted in rural areas, however and soon attracted strong opposition. The emancipation of women became one of the most disputed political issues which 1

International Crisis Group, 2003.

2

International Crisis Group, 2003.

13

were disputed by several tribes. Eventually Amir Amanullah was overthrown and most of the advancements for women were lost. After the rule of Amir Amanullah, gender norms were at large not publically challenged in Afghanistan. The traditional norms prevailed for the majority of women and only smaller advancements were achieved over a longer period. In 1958, Afghanistan sent its first female ambassador to the UN and in the 1960s women were allowed to candidate for the parliament and hold public office. Girls were allowed to attend schools in Kabul and women were admitted into higher education. These changes were however resisted by traditionalists and there were violent reactions against emancipated women in Kabul. And however important these partial improvements were, they only affected a small minority of women in better-off families, predominantly in Kabul and provincial centres. The majority of women had no access to education, health services, paid employment or political participation. In 1973, Afghanistan was made a republic by Mohammed Daoud Shah, king Zahir Shah’s cousin, who overthrew the king and announced himself as the president. He was then killed as the communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took power in 1978. The PDPA introduced some reforms in favour of equality. Women were for example included in the Constitution Advisory Committee and in the new parliament. A new constitution was enacted already in 1976 which granted women equal rights and obligations under the law, the right to education and employment. The minimum age for marriage was later introduced (16 for women and 18 for men) and the bride price was abolished. The reforms were however introduced at a pace and with a brutality that provoked the more traditional elements of society and alienated other parts. The secularization of the Government and in particularly the secularization of the traditional institutions like marriage was perceived as an attack on the very fabric of the Afghan society. Resistance grew stronger after the Soviet invasion in December 1979 and manifested itself in a Mujadein lead insurgency. This was the start of a conflict that has continued in different forms for almost three decades; a conflict where disagreement over the status of women has always been central. The Soviet forces withdrew in 1989. A communist government remained in power for three more years before the Mujahedin managed to overthrow it. The Mujadein then began fighting amongest themself. The civil war had a devastating effect on the Afghan people, and women in particular. A large displacement started where many flew to nearby provinces in Pakistan and Iran. Social and economic indicators fell even lower. Maternal and infant mortality numbers were in the mid-1990s among the highest in the world and the life expectancy was around 40 years. Approximately 90% of the female population was illiterate. Although women’s organizations like the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) started to operate during the civil war many of them were attacked by the Mujahedin forces. In 1994, the Taliban emerged in the southern provinces of Afghanistan and by 1996 they had captured Kabul. The Taliban was a mostly Pashtun reactionary movement with its roots in the Deobandi Madrasash in the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban rule lasted until 2001 and constituted probably the most notorious oppression against women in modern history. In power the Taliban restricted even the most fundamental of women’s freedoms under the pretext of protecting women’s Namus, or honour. Women were even restricted from leaving 14

home without a male escort.3 Education became in practice inaccessible for girls since the Taliban required separate schools for girls. Boys’ education also suffered since most of the teachers when the Taliban took over were women. Subsequently even home education for girls was forbidden. Employment for women was restricted to the medical sector where they were needed to examine and treat other women. Women were required to wear the Burqa and even the Iranian Chador was ruled improper as it revealed too much of a woman’s “stimulating and attractive“ features.4 The Taliban regime argued that they were enforcing traditional Islamic and Pashtun norms while in fact the restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights and freedoms were unprecedented in Afghan history. On 7 October 2001 the United States lead a UN mandated international intervention into Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 2001 attacks on the United States. In December the same year a number of prominent Afghan and international leaders met in Bonn, Germany under the UN auspices and concluded the Bonn Agreement. The agreement laid out the lines for an Interim Authority and the international military presence in Afghanistan – the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The agreement acknowledged the importance of women’s participation in the Interim Authority and that a “significant number of women” should be represented in the Emergency Loya Jirga. At the Bonn conference a new ministry was also created, the Ministry for Women’s Affairs (MoWA). Elected Bodies, Village Councils and Elections On 4 January 2004 the Constitutional Loya Jirga approved a new constitution, replacing the 1964 Constitution which had been in place since the Bonn Conference5. The Constitution provides for a democratically elected president and national assembly. The assembly consists of two houses; the Wolesi Jirga and the Meshrano Jirga (the houses of Peoples and Elders respectively). The Wolesi Jirga, which is the more powerful house, consists of 249 delegates directly elected through the Single Non-Transferable Vote system (SNTV). Members are elected on a provincial basis and serve for five years. At least 68 delegates (two from each province) must be women. The Wolesi Jirga has the primary responsibility for enacting and ratifying laws. The Meshrano Jirga consists of 102 local dignitaries and experts currently elected by the provincial councils or appointed by the president. For ex. the president appoints two representatives for the physically disabled. The lower house passes laws, approves the budget and ratifies treaties – all of which require the subsequent approval of the Meshrano Jirga. The lower house also has veto power over senior appointments and policies. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Provincial councils govern each province with members elected for four-year terms. The councils do not have legislative authority but are involved in planning, development oversight and conflict resolution. An important part of the councils’ responsibility is to “participate actively, where possible, in the elimination of customs and traditions contrary to the law and Shar’ia such as forced marriages and exchange of females for settlements of disputes”6. There are 420 seats in the provincial councils, of which 124 are earmarked for women. 3

A close relative referred to as “Mahram”.

4

International Crisis Group, 2003.

5

The Bonn Conference took place in 2001 after the NATO-led invasion of Afghanistan and was a forum intended for the agreement on the reconstruction of Afghanistan (referred to as the Bonn Agreement).

6

Law on Provincial Councils.

15

Many women who run as candidates for a seat are sponsored and supported by men who utilize the quota system to voice their interests through women who are elected (so-called tokenism7). An international development specialist who was interviewed by the Mission in Kabul stated that women in the National Assembly can roughly be divided into three equally large groups: 1) women who are token candidates and are controlled by men, 2) women who belong to the intellectual NGO elite in Kabul, and 3) women who have entered the Assembly for the remuneration. These three groups do not normally cooperate as they belong to interest groups that demand stronger loyalty than gender. An exception was in 2008 when women collectively in the Assembly demanded a specific budget line for gender equality. When the majority turned the proposal down, the women collectively left the premises and the resulting pressure on the male majority was so strong that it finally approved the earmarked funds for gender equality. A major concern for parliamentarians in general, and women parliamentarians in particular, is security. The security situation has deteriorated further since the elections in 2005 and is expected to have a negative impact on the number of female candidates in the presidential/ provincial council elections in 2009 and the national assembly/district elections in 2010. The gender balance in the different provinces varies widely in Afghanistan as a consequence of the ethnic, religious and cultural fabric of Afghanistan. The Bamyan Province at the centre of the country is arguably the most gender-equal province and the only province with a female governor. The province is the capital of the Hazara ethnic group and was also the site of the famous 4th and 5th century “Buddhas of Bamyan” statues before they were destroyed by the Taliban. Table 1: Proportion of Women Members in the National Assembly, 2007 Women

National

Total number of

assembly

Number

%

seats

Wolesi Jirga

68

27.3

249

Meshrano Jirga

23

22.5

102

Source: Parliament, Kabul, 2007 Table 2: Proportion of Female and Male Candidates in the National Elections in 2005 House/council

Lower House of the

Women

Men

Number

%

Number

%

317

11.7

2387

88.3

211

7.5

2590

92.5

National Assembly Provincial Council

Source: Asian Development Bank, 2005

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) supervises the elections in Afghanistan. The Commission has approximately 205 staff members of which approximately 5% are women. An important and challenging task for the Commission is to register voters prior to the elections. For the upcoming elections in 2009 and 2010, the Commission started the registration of voters in October 2008. For the 2005 elections 46% of the eligible voters were registered, although the percentage was distributed very unevenly between the provinces. There were several instances in the 2005 elections where supporters of certain candidates tried to register 7

Tokenism refers to a policy or practice of limited inclusion of members from a minority group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices, intentional or not.

16

several times to win an advantage. Especially widespread was the practice for men to register as women since women are for cultural reasons not required to register with their photograph. The parliamentary candidates in 2005 were all independent; the law does not recognize parties and party lists do not exist. A low turnout was partially explained by the lack of identifiable party lists as a result of Afghanistan’s new electoral law, which means that in many cases voters were uncertain about whom they were voting for. Shuras/Jirgas and Community Development Councils Community councils, known as Shuras/Jirgas, have played a critical role in the Afghan society for many generations. Traditionally, Shuras are councils in Pashtun-dominated regions while Jirgas are councils in Dari-speaking regions. This ethnic distinction has somewhat diminished and today Shura is typically referred to as a council for resolving local political issues while Jirga is referred to as a council for community dispute resolution. Few women have a say in Shuras/Jirgas.8 To give women a chance to present their issues when they are not accepted in the traditional local councils, international donors and NGOs have initiated and supported so-called women’s Shuras where women have the opportunity to discuss their issues in a women-only environment. These Shuras allow women to express and discuss their issues and concerns more freely and play an important role in cases women previously had few or no forums to voice their grievances. It is important to keep in mind, however, that women firstly have to agree in the women’s Shura and then turn to an entrusted man, if there is anyone, who can represent the the women’s interests in the male Shura, which traditionally is the only decision-making body in the community. Also, donor- and NGO- supported Shuras are vulnerable as they often rely on external assistance which is time-bound. In the tradition of Shuras/Jirgas, Community Development Councils (CDC) have been introduced by the National Solidarity Programme (NSP). As opposed to the Shuras/Jirgas, the representatives of the CDCs are elected and not appointed. The CDCs exercise a measure of selfgovernance through administration of block grants for construction, education and health initiatives. The minimum baseline for CDCs set in the NSP is 30% women while the goal is 50% women. Only nine provinces, however, met the minimum baseline in 2007. The elections to the CDCs have showed a relatively high participation of women. In some locations the number of women voters even outnumbered men. But the prevailing attitude is still that women should not be engaged in community decision-making and that women need the permission of a male relative (Mahram) to vote.

8

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

17

Table 3: Number of CDCs and gender ratio, March 2007 Rank

Province

No. of CDCs

Female members in%

1

Hirat

239

45.5

2

Samangan

240

40.9

3

Kabul

135

38.1

4

Daykundi

192

37.8

5

Badghis

249

35.2

6

Bamyan

334

33.8

7

Wardak

282

32.4

8

Ghazni

501

30.9

9

Balkh

290

30.2

10

Kapisa

364

29.5

11

Logar

294

28.9

12

Farah

179

27.3

13

Sari Pul

275

27.1

14

Jawzjan

251

260

15

Nangarhar

294

25.8

16

Paktya

448

25.2

17

Takhar

315

24.9

18

Kunduz

315

24.2

19

Faryab

327

24.2

20

Baghlan

420

24.1

21

Khost

306

18.5

22

Paktika

314

18.8

23

Parwan

255

18.1

24

Badakhshan

350

18.0

25

Laghman

353

17.7

26

Ghor

336

11.7

27

Kunarh

215

11.2

28

Nimroz

162

9.7

29

Nuristan

173

9.3

30

Panjsher

103

7.5

31

Zabul

122

4.0

32

Kandahar

328

0.8

33

Hilmand

382

0.4

34

Uruzgan

51

0.0

9394

24.0

Total

Source: National Solidarity Programme, Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and Development, Kabul, May 2007

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2. Rule of Law and Human Rights

There are basically two parallel legal systems in Afghanistan9; the first is the formal system and the second is the customary system (informal legal system). Both systems acknowledge the Qur’an as their supreme legal source. The formal system is conceptualized in the 2004 Constitution and is slowly being reformed with support from international donors and organizations. The Afghan Constitution has an important limitation to positive and international law. The third Article states: “No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan”. According to the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the powers to interpret whether international treaties and statutory law contravenes the Constitution and thus Islam as interpreted in Afghanistan. In addition, according to the Constitution courts are allowed to use Hanafi jurisprudence10 in situations where statutory law lacks provisions and apply Shia jurisprudence for Shia believers when the case involves personal matters. This has serious consequences for women since Islamic law is discriminatory against women, particularly in family and property matters. But legality and due justice are not only affected by the supremacy of Islamic jurisprudence, but also by two decades of civil war, corruption and the lack of secular legal education. It is estimated that less than 20% of all disputes are settled through the formal court system.11 Public confidence in formal justice is extremely low. One reason for the unpopularity of the formal courts is that they are primarily located in provincial capitals while approximately 75% of the population lives in rural areas where the road infrastructure is poor. Another reason is the high level of corruption in the formal court system and the phenomenon of “telephone justice”12 and other forms of improper influence.13 Yet another reason for the unpopularity of formal justice is that Shuras/Jirgas place more importance on restoring social harmony in communities while courts often can provoke even more disputes among the parties.

9

The distinction between formal and informal justice is however often blurred in practice, as for example the formal system sometimes refer to local councils for dispute resolution and local councils sometimes apply statutory law.

10

Sunni Islamic jurisprudence.

11

Swedish MFA, 2007.

12

A practice whereby the executive branch contacts judges and delivers instructions on the judgement.

13

Swedish MFA, 2007.

19

There is a severe lack of trained legal professionals, especially women. The majority of judges do not have any secular legal training and many are not even trained in Islamic jurisprudence. There is also an insufficient number of defence lawyers and most criminal cases are heard in the absence of a defence lawyer. The gender balance in the legal professions is heavily tilted in favour of men. One of the reasons for the low number of female legal professionals is that the number of women in legal education is very low. Out of the 170 students who completed the judicial stage course14 in 2006, only 12 were women. And in 2007 only 30 out of 365 applicants to the judicial stage course were female.15 Table 4: Proportion of women and men as judges, attorneys and prosecutors in Afghanistan Position

Judges

Female

Male

Total

No.

%

No.

%

No.

73

4.7

1474

95.3

1547

Attorneys

76

6.1

1165

94.9

1241

Prosecutors

35

6.4

511

94.6

546

Source: Supreme Court, 2007 and Attorney general, 2006

There are approximately 62,000 police officers in Afghanistan. The police per capita ratio is roughly the same as in many Western countries, which is low given the conflict situation in Afghanistan. Since the 1960s women have made up a small fraction of the police force and the proportion has slightly increased over the last few years.16 A new police unit, the Family Response Unit (FRU) was recently established in Kabul to deal with violence against women. The unit is made up exclusively of female police officers and investigates domestic abuse in the capital. Despite the establishment of the FRU in Kabul there is a considerable lack of female police officers throughout Afghanistan, which has a negative impact on prosecutions since many female victims of abuse hesitate to report their experiences to male police officers. Violence against female police officers is also a fact of life. In September 2008, for example, two gunmen on a motorcycle gunned down a high-ranking female police officer in the southern city of Kandahar. Table 5: Number of women in the police force, May 2005 – Feb 2007 Category

2005

2007

Difference

Officers

80

93

13

Sergeants

84

118

34

Patrol

0

22

22

Total

164

233

69

Source: UNDP NHDR, 2007

The conditions in correction facilities have been under the scrutiny of human rights organizations, that have reported about torture, overcrowded conditions and generally poor conditions. Women’s detention has also been criticized as there is a lack of separate facilities for women and facilities that can house detainees’ children. A new closed prison for

14

Legal training for judges.

15

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

16

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

20

women was constructed in Kabul in 2007 to address the lack of facilities.17 The total number of prisoners in 2007 was 6,156 out of which 3.3% were women.18 Several interlocutors reported to the Mission that the majority of female prisoners are sentenced for Zina-related crimes (adultery-related crimes, see more about Zina below). As mentioned above, informal or customary law plays an important role in contemporary Afghanistan. It is difficult to conceptualize and describe customary and tribal law in Afghanistan because of the lack of codifications and the big discrepancies between regions and tribes. Local warlords are also intervening in the resolution of disputes and therefore influencing or deciding the outcome of the disputes.19 An important difference between Afghan customary law and secular Western law is the former’s reliance on compensatory outcomes as opposed to punitive outcomes. Thus murder, rape, theft, etc. is settled in Afghan customary law by the perpetrator compensating the victim. An example is the practice of giving one or several young girls in compensation for a wrongdoing (Baadal). Two important concepts in Afghan traditional societies that are important when considering gender and informal justice are Purdah and Namus. These concepts are enshrined in the Pashtunwali but do not seem to be exclusive to the Pashtun population. Purdah is Urdu for “veil” and refers to the physical and cultural boundary between women and men. The interpretation of Purdah varies from tribe to tribe. In the north, for example, the Kuchi nomads allow women to appear in public spaces without a veil and to receive male guests while their men are out with the herds for days. In other tribes, Purdah is interpreted so strictly that women are not even allowed to attend education classes or visit health care facilities. Purdah is also establishing boundaries for men. A man may not enter a designated female space in another family’s house. If he does, the head of the family has to protect his Namus. In most cases, however, Purdah means restrictions for women and girls and is often perceived as a set of rules for what women can and cannot do. Namus is commonly understood in Afghanistan to be the “defending the honour of women”, although in many parts of the Muslim world the concept refers to simply “honour”. For a man and his family, Namus means sexual integrity of women in the family and their chastity in particular. On the other hand, the man has to provide for his family and to defend the Namus of his house, his women in particular, against the threats to members of his extended family from the outer world. Namus of a man is determined by Namus of all the women in his family (i.e. mother, wives, sisters, daughters). Another important concept is Zina. Zina means to have sex outside marriage – to commit adultery – and is considered to be a grave breach of the Shar’ia. Homosexuality, masturbation and prostitution are also often interpreted as a form of Zina. The punishment for Zina in customary justice is whipping or stoning. Because of the seriousness of the crime, the evidence normally has to be strong to prove Zina The plaintiff has to provide at least four male witnesses, while women are not allowed to provide witness statements at all. For a female rape victim these rules are particularly troublesome since the victim has to find four men who witnessed the rape, otherwise she risks being accused of false accusation which can also lead to punishment by whipping or imprisonment. 17

Swedish MFA, 2007.

18

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

19

However, the UNDP Afghanistan Human Development Report from 2007 states that the general perception that warlords often interfere in the decision–making of Jirgas/Shuras is often exaggerated.

21

Women and girls’ inheritance is virtually non-existent in Afghanistan because even when women inherits, a close male relative will normally receive control of the property. In Islamic law, daughters inherit half of son’s share and wives are only entitled to 1/8th of her husband’s property. The local interpretation of the Shar’ia in Afghanistan varies between different tribes. Some studies indicate that women’s inheritance is more frequent in Tajik tribes than in Pashtun tribes. Another aspect of inheritance is the actual control of inherited property, because even if a women owns land on paper, the man usually exercises the actual control of the land. Most disputes in Afghanistan are resolved informally at the discretion of village elders, often within traditional councils – Shuras/Jirgas20. These councils decide matters by consensus and the decisions are binding for all parties involved. The councils are almost exclusively composed of elderly men who have a reputation for being honourable. The councils take on civil disputes (land, water, housing etc.), family disputes as well as criminal matters. The councils apply different sources of law, of which tribal law and Shar’ia are the most important. The perception of the councils is that all decisions are based upon the Qur’an. But many council members are illiterate and the Qur’an is read in Arabic, a language that few Afghans master. Women are usually disadvantaged when applying customary law as it grants women less rights than formal law. For example, in statutory law the minimum marrying age for girls is 16, while Shia Islamic tribes usually apply a minimum age of 13, and many times even lower. Women’s access to informal justice is also seriously constrained by traditional customs that hinder women from even registering their own cases. Women’s access to formal justice is rarely any better because, inter alia, women risk being ousted from their communities if they turn to a court and also because the high illiteracy rate among women. Table 6: Influence and decision-making in Jirgas and Shuras Group

Has most dominant role

Has one of the most dominant roles

Ordinary elders (rishsafidan)

63

78

Mullahs

18

48

Local leaders (khan or malik)

15

46

Commanders

3

17

Women

0

3

Other

1

1

Don’t know

0

0

Source: UNDP NHDR, 2007

Violence Against Women The frequency of violence against women and girls is difficult to estimate as most surveys that have been conducted are too limited in respondents and coverage to give a reliable estimate. The Afghanistan Human Development Report from 2007 states “violence against women is widely believed to have reached epidemic proportions. Yet, because the majority of cases remain unreported, … limited evidence exists to confirm this perception”. But whether the violence is epidemic or not there are enough indicators to support the perception that violence against women

20

See above for women’s representation in Jirgas/Shuras and the political role of them. In this section the councils’ role in dispute resolution is described.

22

is a tremendous problem in Afghanistan. This is not least highlighted by the high figures of forced marriages and child marriages. In a study by UNIFEM it was found that about 80% of the violence occurs within families. The perpetrators are mostly men with the husband being the most common violator. However, mothers- and sisters-in law also have a strong power position within many Afghan families and in a Global Rights survey were found to be the perpetrators in 34% of the violence against women. Table 7: The perpetrators of violence against women21 Husband

30.6%

Mother-in-law

23.7%

Sister-in-law

10.4%

Brother-in-law

9.9%

Father-in-law

7.4%

Husband’s uncle

1.5%

Other person

16.5%

Source: Global Rights, 2008 It is estimated that 58%–80% of all marriages in Afghanistan are forced marriages.22 The term ‘forced marriage’ covers a wide array of practices that range from bride kidnapping, exchange of girls to so-called arranged marriages between consenting families (albeit where the spouse’s consent does not count). The Afghan penal code exempts ‘honour’ killings in adultery matters from punishment for murder but states that the perpetrator should be punished to imprisonment for up to two years. In practice, men who murder their wives, daughters or female relatives are often not punished at all and, in addition, rape victims are often considered to have committed adultery. There is no specific criminal statute against rape in Afghanistan. Baadal is a practice of settling a dispute by exchanging girls between families. Baadal is banned in the penal code and yet is practised, particularly in rural districts and the tribal belt. There are few reliable estimations of the scope of the problem, especially since population registration is extremely weak in Afghanistan. The practice of burning oneself (self-immolation) is reported to be frequent among women and girls in Afghanistan who are exposed to psychological and physical violence over extended periods. The phenomenon is particularly common in western Afghanistan and anecdotal evidence suggests that several hundreds of women burn themselves to death every year. AIHRC reported that from May to July 2006 there were 106 cases of female self-immolation in Kabul and Herat alone. Self-immolation among women and girls can be found in several Asian countries but has become more frequent in recent years, mostly as a protest and to escape abuse from the family and community. Spousal rape and extra-marital rape is rarely prosecuted in Afghanistan, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, it is very difficult for a raped woman to prove the man’s guilt as she often has to produce several witnesses. The man, meanwhile, can just claim that there was consensual sex. Secondly, and more importantly, because the woman is often doubly victimized if she turns to a court or Jirga/Shura as she risks being pros21

There were 4,700 respondents from 16 provinces who participated in the survey.

22

AIHRC and Global Rights, 2008.

23

ecuted for adultery or false accusations. Several cases of rape have attracted international attention in recent years. In particularly when women have been sentenced to death for adultery after reporting a rape. Men and boys are also frequently raped and abused in Afghanistan. Boys, for example, are reportedly taken as sexual slaves by warlords (this practice was confirmed to the Mission by several NGOs in Kabul). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues (LGBT) Information about LGBT issues in Afghanistan is scarce and the Mission was not able to consult with any organization or network that represent the interests of LGBT-persons. Homosexuality, and in particularly female homosexuality, is taboo in the public discussion and the legislation only recognizes male homosexuality. During the 1970s, male homosexuality was criminalised and after the Taliban took over in 1996 male homosexuality became a crime which carried the death sentence. Today male homosexuality is not a capital crime in the Penal Code; however, the Chairman of the Supreme Court has allegedly stated that male homosexuality is a capital crime which has caused some confusion as to the punishment for male homosexuality.23 There is no public advocacy for LGBT rights in Afghanistan and LGBT persons usually network underground not to draw attention. Migration, Human Trafficking and Prostitution During the civil war and the NATO-led invasion, millions of Afghans fled to neighbouring countries, mainly to Pakistan and Iran. Since 2001, UNHCR has assisted as many as 4.5 million refuges return from Pakistan and Iran to Afghanistan. At the end of 2007, UNHCR estimated the number of Afghan refugees to be around 2,100,000 in Pakistan and 920,000 in Iran. Because of the number of Afghans who have been refugees, the Afghan society has been receiving extensive influences from other countries and cultures. These influences have often related to gender norms and relations in the society, i.e. women’s role in the public and private sphere. For example, many Afghan refugees who have returned from Iran have seen the relative freedom for women in Iran, as they are more involved in productive work and do not have to wear the Burqa. These influences are usually geographically limited, as most of those who fled to Iran came from western Afghanistan while those who fled to Pakistan came from southern and eastern Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a Tier Two country according to the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Person (TIP) report from 2008. This means that while Afghanistan is not fully compliant with the TIP requirements, its government is making a significant effort to be compliant. The country is a source as well as transit and destination country for sexual exploitation and forced labour. Afghan women and girls are trafficked internally as well as being sent to Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Oman and to other Gulf States for sexual exploitation. Afghanistan is also a destination for women and girls from China, Iran, and Tajikistan trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Many of the clients are reported to be international contractors working in Afghanistan. There is no comprehensive criminal statute against human trafficking in the Afghan legislation.24 Instead traffickers are prosecuted with kidnapping offences and other criminal offences. The General Attorney’s office is now estab-

23

Rulings in the formal legal system have so far been giving lengthy prison sentences rather than the death penalty.

24

Although there is a Presidential decree against child trafficking.

24

lishing anti-trafficking offices in the provinces. However, prosecution is weak and many victims are doubly victimized as they are being prosecuted for adultery or prostitution when they in fact are trafficking victims. IOM is helping the Government to conduct public awareness campaigns and many donors and NGOs support various shelters for trafficked persons.25 Information about Afghanistan’s sex industry is scattered and few solid figures exist. But since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, prostitution has become, if not more widespread, at least more open. Under the Afghan Penal Code, prostitution is often considered adultery.

25

U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Person report and IOM Trafficking in Persons report, 2008.

25

3. National Framework and Policy

International treaties

Afghanistan has ratified or accessed the following treaties that pertain to gender equality and women’s rights: • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW (1979) • Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Afghanistan signed and ratified CEDAW on 23 March 2003 without reservations but has not yet reported to the CEDAW Committee despite the first report being due in 2007.26 The optional protocol of the CEDAW has not been signed by Afghanistan. In 2008, a woman from Afghanistan was elected member of the CEDAW committee until 2012.27 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) The latest MDG report from 2005 states that Afghanistan needs to accelerate efforts to meet the national targets for gender equality. The report acknowledges that although improvements have been made, in girls’ education, for example, there is still a “systematic discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan, which starts early in life and has long been perpetuated through cultural systems, particularly during the Taliban rule”. Still the UN stated in 2005 that the targets could potentially be met before 2020. The authors of this Country Gender Profi le are, as of the autumn of 2008, more pessimistic about the prospects of meeting these targets, particularly because of deteriorating security in 2008.

26

State parties to the Convention should report to the treaty body (CEDAW-committee) every fourth year. The reporting includes the presence of Afghanistan representatives at a CEDAW session and the delivery of concluding remarks from the Committee to the Government. NGOs are also allowed to present shadow reports along with the Government’s report if they so wish.

27

Ms. Zohra Rasekh was previously the Director of Human Rights and Women’s Affairs at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

26

Table 8: Can Afghanistan meet the MDG targets for gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Target 4: Elimination of

Will the target be met?

State of policy environment?

Potentially

Weak but improving

Potentially

Weak but improving

Potentially

Fair

Lack of data

Weak but improving

Probably

Strong

Potentially

Fair

Unlikely

Weak but improving

Lack of data

Weak

gender disparities in primary education no later than 2020. Target 5: Reduce gender disparity in economic areas by 2020. Target 6: Increase female participation in elected and appointed bodies at all levels of governance to 30% by 2020. Target 7: Reduce gender disparity in access to justice by 50% by 2015 and completely (100%) by 2020. Assessment scale

Source: MDG-report, 2005

Constitution The current Afghan Constitution was approved by the Constitutional Loya Jirga on 4 January 2004 after being prepared by the Afghan Constitution Commission (ACC) which was mandated to draft the Constitution at the Bonn Conference in 2001. The ACC was composed of 35 members appointed by President Hamid Karzai. Seven of the members were women. The Constitution was considered to be a milestone in the development and reconstruction of Afghanistan and was at the time of its adoption praised by the CEDAW Chairperson, Ms. Feride Acar, who stated that “the newly approved Constitution explicitly guarantees that men and women have equal rights and duties before the law”. The 2004 Constitution, however, is a complex legal construction with elements from the international principles of the rule of law as well as the principle of the supremacy of Islamic jurisprudence (Shar’ia). The result is a situation of legal and philosophical ambiguity. This ambiguity is not least particularly apparent when scrutinizing the Constitution from a gender perspective. One example is inheritance rights: according to the Constitution’s Article 22, men and women have equal rights but according to Article 3, the Shar’ia has supremacy which means there are different inheritance rights for males and females. See Annex 1 for a short gender analysis of the 2004 Constitution. The Afghanistan Compact The Afghanistan Compact28 is the outcome of the 2006 Afghanistan Conference in London and is an agreement between Afghanistan, the United Nations (UN), donors and international organizations on the development and reconstruction of Afghanistan until 2010. The Com28

http://www.unama-afg.org/news/_londonConf/_docs/06jan30-AfghanistanCompact-Final.pdf

27

pact identifies three critical areas in which activities should be concentrated until 2010. They are: 1) Security; 2) Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights; and 3) Economic and Social Development. Gender equality is part of the second area and the Compact states that “by the end of 2010 the National Action Plan for Women’s Affairs (NAPWA) will be fully implemented; and in line with Afghanistan’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), female participation in all Afghan governance institutions, including elected and appointed bodies and civil service will be strengthened.” The Compact also mentions that ”by end-2010, justice infrastructure will be rehabilitated; and prisons will have separate facilities for women and juveniles” and that ”by end-2010, the number of female-headed households that are chronically poor will be reduced by 20%, and their employment rates will be increased by 20%.” The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) The Afghanistan National Development Strategy29 (ANDS) was adopted during the Paris Conference in July 2008. The strategy has three pillars that corresponds to the Afghanistan Compact’s areas: 1) Security, 2) Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights and 3) Economic and Social Development. Gender equality is addressed as a cross-cutting issue in the ANDS. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is identified by the ANDS as the lead ministry in promoting gender equality. The ANDS also encourages the establishment of women’s Shuras and provides a mechanism where gender will be included in consultative and working groups consisting of representatives both from Afghanistan and the international community. The National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) The National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA)30 is a 10-year plan of action to deliver on Afghanistan’s commitments under the Beijing Platform of Action31. The NAPWA focuses on six sectors: • Security • Legal Protection and Human Rights • Leadership and Political Participation • Economy, Work and Poverty • Health • Education The goals of the Plan correspond to the goals of the Constitution but also to international commitments that Afghanistan has made with the signatures of the MDGs and the CEDAW. The main tool for achieving the Action Plan’s goals is gender mainstreaming and the ministries have a key responsibility to mainstream gender into their policies and actions according to the NAPWA.

29

http://www.ands.gov.af/

30

http://www.ands.gov.af/ands/Provincial_Consultations/details.asp?id=22

31

The Beijing Platform for Action is the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. The Platform aims at accelerating the advancement of women in all spheres of society. All governments have together with the civil society, private actors and international organizations the responsibility to deliver on the commitments and, inter alia, adopt National Action Plans for women’s advancement.

28

The Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) The Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) is a new ministry in the Afghan Government installation and was established in 2001 on an existing organization, the Women’s General Council, which was established in 1978. The Council was mostly delivering vocational training for women. MoWA is unfortunately experiencing a low level of domestic support and is reliant on international support from donors. This is not least apparent by the fact that the Parliament has tried on several occasions to close the ministry down. On all occasions, the international community has put pressure on the Government to refrain from such actions. One of the main challenges for MoWA is to improve its institutional, regulatory and human capacity, which is reported to be low. Interlocutors that were interviewed by the Mission stated that the low capacity is due to a low starting point and a high turnover in personnel, partially because some staff members at MoWA are attracted by better-paid and more prestigious positions at international or donor organizations. There has also been a high turnover among the leadership of MoWA which is illustrated not least by the fact that there has been five different ministers in the last four years. These challenges have been even more demanding when taking into consideration the lack of leadership from the collective Government in promoting gender equality and women’s rights. MoWA has considerable difficulties in persuading line ministries to take more responsibility for promoting gender equality. There is a strong resistance from many institutions towards engaging in mainstreaming gender and one interlocutor even stated to the Mission that: “MoWA has been instructed not to rock the boat and keep the status quo”. MoWA is represented by DoWAs in provinces (Department for Women’s Affairs) which are regional branches of the Ministry. Under the umbrella of these DoWAs are internationally supported Women’s Development Centres (WDC). These centres are mainly implementing projects (on health, education, employment etc.) while DoWAs are more policy and capacity building-orientated and also function as referral centres for women to shelters and other direct service providers. UNIFEM is a key partner of MoWA. The UN agency stated to the Mission that it has a limited capacity to support all MoWA’s departments with a total staff of about 900 and therefore is concentrating its support to the Planning Department. Other donors like USAID (through ASIA Foundation), UNDP, WHO and JICA are also supporting MoWA. There are also donors who support projects directly through DoWAs but most donor attention has been given to central initiatives through MoWA. Civil Service The gender balance in the Government has improved since the fall of the Taliban, from a situation when women were in practice totally excluded from holding public office. Today, women make up approximately 19% of the total civil service.32 The goal in terms of a gender-balanced civil service is to increase the number of women in the civil service to 30% by 2010 (MDG and Afghanistan Compact). As for the local Government, there is a five-year Presidential Strategy for the civil service on the regional level that is implemented by the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) and that states that “by the end of 2013, a

32

Civil Service Commission, 2008.

29

transparent and gender-sensitive national appointment mechanism will be fully implemented for all appointments…”. As in most countries around the world there is noticeable horizontal and vertical gender segregation. The horizontal segregation is apparent when comparing the different ministries in terms of gender balance. The highest female participation is, not surprising, in MoWA where 67% of the civil servants are women. The only other ministry with a female majority of civil servants is the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled. Approximately half of the ministries have less than 10% female staff members. Table 9: Regular Government employees by ministries and departments, excluding police and armed personnel, 2006 Ministries and departments

Female,%

Male,%

Ministry of Women’s Affairs

67

33

Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs

56

44

and Disabled Ministry of Education

25

75

Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation

4

96

Ministry of Counter Narcotics

3

97

Ministry of Interior Affairs

2

98

Total

22

78

The table presents the three ministries with the highest and lowest female representation. Source: Afghan Statistical Yearbook, 2007

Vertically, women predominantly hold clerical positions; 49%33 of all civil servants in clerical positions are women. In managerial positions, grade 2 and above, men are predominant with an overwhelming 91%34. A number of line ministries have established Gender Units (GU), which are support centres for gender mainstreaming within the respective ministries. The GUs are supported by GTZ and MoWA with technical assistance and capacity building. The GUs are still too weak, however, to have any real impact on the civil service. The policy and coordination authority for the civil service is the Civil Service Commission (CSC), which has employed gender advisor who is seconded by the UNIFEM. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) was established pursuant to the Bonn Agreement in December 2001. The AIHRC is meant to be independent even though the Afghan President appoints the High Commissioner and its budget is processed by the Cabinet. But, as the Commissioner for Women’s Rights stated to the Mission, 90% of the budget comes from foreign donors and the Afghan Government is formally not allowed to criticize AIHRC’s reports. There are nine Commissioners in the AIHRC, of which one focuses on women’s rights. Apart from monitoring and reporting, the Commission is also reviewing individual complaints and providing training on human rights issues.

33

Civil Service Commission, 2008.

34

MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.

30

Donor Community and Coordination There is a donor coordination group for gender issues which is convening monthly. Most donors are represented at the meetings but interlocutors that the Mission met said that the representatives are often junior and not in decision-making positions in their respective organization or embassy. The meetings are meant for information-sharing but also for coordinating communication with the Government. Communication with the Government should take place in consultative group meetings between the international community and the Government, which then should feed into the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board mechanism. However, these meetings on gender and human rights have not taken place for some time and the UN Special Representative to Afghanistan is currently reviewing the mechanisms for consultation to find ways for making improvements.

31

4. Overall Economic Situation

Macro-economic Situation Afghanistan has experienced considerable economic growth since 2001, largely driven by good harvests and foreign investments in reconstruction and development. Opium poppy production has also contributed to growth. GDP growth in 2002 was nearly 29% and has slowed down to a more moderate growth of 5.3% in 2006. This growth is however neither sustainable nor healthy and is largely explained by the extremely low GDP during the civil war, massive foreign assistance in recent years and the illegal opium economy.35 The real GDP is estimated by the IMF to be USD 8.6 billion for 2008 and is expected to fall to USD 8.4 billion in 2009. 2009 will most likely be the first year after the NATO-led invasion in 2001 with a regression.36 The Government has issued a number of policies and programmes to stimulate a domestically driven private sector growth. Some of the key reform areas are mapped out in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) and include reconstruction of infrastructure, legal and regulatory reforms and an enabling private sector environment. There are considerable challenges to implement these reforms mainly because of the security situation. Some areas have however shown impressive achievements lately as for example the expansion of mobile telecommunications. The ANDS recognizes the importance of increasing gender equality to stimulate economic growth. Women’s increased access to markets in combination with better health and education should lead to higher productivity and earnings which should in turn reduce poverty and lead to economic growth. Inflation in Afghanistan has for the last three years (2006–2008) been steady at around 16%.37 The inflation is estimated to be continuously high and consumer prices are expected to drop. Consumer prices are estimated at 19.622 for 2008 and 9.200 for 2009.38 Afghanistan is experiencing a severe imbalance in foreign exchange. In 2005 the export amounted to USD 755 billion while the import was USD 3,280 billion, which in turn resulted in a negative balance of payments and increased foreign debts. Opium production is however not included in these figures and is a multi 35

World Bank, 2008.

36

IMF, World Economic Outlook 2008.

37

IndexMundi, 2008.

38

IMF, World Economic Outlook 2008.

32

billion-dollar export commodity. Public expenditure on health in 2004 was only 0.07% of GDP while private spending was 3.07%. As around 40% of all health facilities lack female medical staff, women has less access to the services which are financed by the state and families themselves.39 Military expenses amounted in 2005 to 9% of GDP.40 Agriculture accounts for 52% of the GDP and products include wheat, corn, barley, rice, cotton, fruit, nuts, karakul pelts, wool and mutton. The industry contributes an estimated 26% of the GDP and products are small-scale production for domestic use of textiles, soap, furniture, shoes, fertilizer, and cement; hand-woven carpets for export; natural gas, precious and semiprecious gemstones.41

39

World Bank, 2008.

40

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

41

U.S. Department of State, 2008.

33

5. Socio-economic Situation

Human Development, Gender Development and Empowerment In terms of human development Afghanistan is one of the least developed countries in the world. The country scored 0.346 in 2007 on the UN Human Development Index (HDI) which placed Afghanistan fourth from the bottom on the HDI-ranking. All countries that ranked below Afghanistan were African sub-Saharan countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Sierra Leone and Niger). But however difficult the situation was in 2007, two human development indicators had nevertheless improved since 2001 due to economic growth and the “back-to-school campaign”. The latter initiative has improved the situation for women and girls as their attendance at schools and higher education was practically non-existent during the Taliban rule and was also considerably limited before the Taliban, particularly in rural areas. The GDP per capita was USD 1,490 in 2007 and has more than doubled since 2002 when it was only USD 683.42 The gross enrolment ratio has risen to approximately 60% of school-aged children. However, the number of girls attending school is still considerable lower than boys at 30%.43 Life expectancy at birth has been relatively steady in the last couple of years; for men 44.04 years and for women 44.39 years.44 The biological gender difference in life expectancy is not present in Afghanistan, mainly because of a dire health situation for women, especially in terms of reproductive health and lack of accessible health services for women, but also because cultural constraints where women’s health is considered less important than men’s. Gender-based violence is also a factor when considering the low life expectancy of women but there is no reliable data on the impact of gender-based violence on women’s life expectancy. The conflict also has an impact on the life expectancy, particularly men’s life expectancy, partly because traditional patriarchal norms are obliging women and girls to stay closer to their homes45 and partly because men have been more frequently involved as soldiers and insurgents in the armed conflict. The Human Poverty Index (HPI) also places Afghanistan as among the most impoverished nations on earth. The probability of surviving the 42

IMF, 2008.

43

UNICEF, 2008.

44

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

45

This is, inter alia, having relevance for who become victims of land mines. Roughly 90% of land-mine victims are male.

34

age of 40 is 0.419 and adult literacy stands at 43% while literacy for women is as low as 14%.46 Approximately 68% of the population lacks access to water and 50% of children under five are underweight.47 The Gender Development Index (GDI) is 0.310, which means that only Niger ranks lower in the world. Women’s lack of access to education, employment and health care are the main reasons behind the dire GDI. The Gender Empowerment Measurement (GEM) has not been calculated for Afghanistan because of a lack of data.48 Employment The unemployment rate in 2005 was estimated at 8% of the labour force and the female unemployment rate was 125% of the male unemployment rate during the same year.49 Approximately 67% of the work force was employed in agriculture in 2003.50 Women play an important role in agricultural production including opium production. In some regions women’s time spent equals men’s time spent in the agricultural sector. The total participation of women (older than 15) in the labour force has been estimated by the WB to be 36%. Women are mainly involved in non-monetized labour in the agricultural sector and contribute in the growing and marketing of dried fruits, opium, fuel wood, dairy products and handicrafts.51 The level of women’s employment in the non-agricultural sector is considerably lower and is mainly noticeable in the health and educational sector. The percentage of female civil servants in the educational sector was in 2007 approximately 22%.52 Women’s wages in agriculture are considerably lower than men’s. The NRVA found in 2003 that the wage ratio were 51% for planting, 61% for harvesting and 50% for other farm work. The earnings for paid work were in 2007 estimated to USD 478 for females and USD 1,428 for males.53 Women also make a considerable contribution through unpaid work. A number of geographically limited surveys have been conducted that indicate gender specifics in domestic work. One survey from the Badakhshan province indicated that women carried out 37% of household work, men 15%, girls 27% and boys 21%.54 This survey is however limited in scope and the findings might not be representative in other parts of Afghanistan. Child labour is high in Afghanistan. According to UNICEF, in 2007 nearly a quarter of the children between 7 and 14 were working. The number of girls working is reported by UNICEF to be even higher. According to the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), 94.4% of all business in Afghanistan in 2004 were run by men. Demographics The population of Afghanistan is ethnically and linguistically mixed, with the Pashtun population being the largest ethnic group. It is estimated that approximately 42% of the population are Pashtun, 27% Tajik, 9% Hazara, 9% Uzbek, 4% Aimak, 3% Turkmen, 2% Balosh and then a number of minorities with a population of less than 4%. Most Afghans 46

MISC, 2003.

47

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

48

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

49

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

50

World Bank, 2007.

51

World Bank, 2005.

52

CSO, Statistical Yearbook, 2007.

53

UNDP, NHDR, 2007.

54

World Bank, 2005.

35

are Sunni Muslim (80%,) while 19% are Shia Muslim and approximately 1% have another denomination. The ethnic and religious fabric of Afghanistan is an important factor when analysing the gender situation in the country. Gender norms and roles differ between ethnic groups, religious denominations and social classes. As mentioned above these differences are far too many and complex to cover in this context. The population is estimated at between 30 and 35 million in 2008. There is, however, a great deal of uncertainty about the size of the population as there are weak population registration systems in place in Afghanistan. The population growth is estimated at 2.6% in 2008; according to estimations by the UNDP the growth will continue to increase and reach 3.05% in 2015. The fertility rate is 6.58 children born per woman. The rate was as high as 8.0 in 1990. The fertility rate is high in all provinces, ranging from 5 to 8 live births per woman.55 The high fertility rate contributes to several development problems for Afghanistan. With the low life expectancy, the population has become extremely young. It was estimated in 2005 that 47% of the population was under 15.56 The high fertility rate prevents women from taking part in education, productive work, community work as well as leisure activities. Also, the young population combined with the poverty forces children to be engaged in different forms of labour at a higher rate than would be the case with an older population. The use of contraceptives has increased in recent years to 10%.57 At the beginning of the 1970s, it was approximately 2%.58 Infant mortality is estimated at 154.67 deaths/1,000 live births.59 Maternal mortality is the second-highest in the world (Sierra Leone is the highest) with 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births.60 There are large differences between urban and rural areas. In one of the most rural areas in Badakhstan (Ragh District), the maternal mortality was in 2006 estimated by UNICEF as high as 6,500 while more moderate 400 deaths per 100,000 live births in urban Kabul. Perinatal conditions were in 2002 the number one cause of death, contributing to nearly 13% of all deaths.61 Health The health situation is extremely challenging in Afghanistan, especially for women and children. As mention above, maternal and infant mortality is among the highest in the world. Mortal diseases that contribute to the low life expectancy include cholera, malaria, pulmonary tuberculosis and measles. UNICEF has supported the national programme of immunization and it is estimated that approximately 73% of one-year-olds are fully immunized against tuberculosis and 64% against measles.62 The majority of deliveries are carried out in the home without trained personnel. Trained personnel attended only about 14% of deliveries in 2003.63

55

UNICEF, 2008.

56

UNICEF, 2008.

57

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

58

World Bank, 2005.

59

U.S. Department of State, 2008.

60

MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.

61

World Health Organization, 2008.

62

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

63

World Health Organization, 2008.

36

In 2007 there were 514 government-employed midwives.64 The number of physicians per 10,000 population was estimated in 2005 to be 2.0, of which about 22% were women65 and the number of female health care workers is 49.3% of all health care workers.66 The Taliban demanded that women and men should be treated in separate medical facilities. Most Afghans today accept combined facilities but demand that female personnel should treat women. Many medical facilities lack female medical staff despite a significant increase in female health workers since the fall of the Taliban, through the Government-initiated Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS).67 The lack of female staff has serious consequences for women’s health, as travelling long distances in Afghanistan is difficult and because women are restricted in their freedom of movement because of the security situation but also because of traditional norms. The outreach of primary health care in rural areas is poor but has improved since the launch of the BPHS. It is estimated that 82% of the population has access to the Basic Package of Health Services.68 Education The low level of education is a major challenge for Afghanistan. The literacy rate is only 11% among women and 32% for men.69 The lowest literacy rate are among the Kuchi nomads who in 2006 were reported to have a literacy rate for 6 year-old and above of 4% for women and 8% for men.70 The highest literacy rate is in Kabul where about 48% of women and 66% of men are literate (over 6 years old).71 Nevertheless, primary and secondary education has enrolled considerable more children since 2001 than during the Taliban. During the “back-to-school campaign” after 2002, an estimated 3-4 million children were enrolled in primary and secondary education. Table 10: Number of girls and boys in primary and secondary education in Afghanistan, 2005. Grade

Girls

Boys

Total

No.

%

No.

%

1

346338

38.7

548256

61.3

894594

2

339101

38.9

532774

61.1

871875

3

334178

37.3

562797

62.7

896975

4

322098

35.6

582877

64.4

904975

5

113143

28.5

284409

71.5

397552

6

73947

25.7

214147

74.3

288094

7

50984

25.0

153254

75.0

204237

8

32915

26.3

104563

76.1

137478

9

29115

26.3

81749

73.7

110864

10

19502

23.9

62250

76.1

81752

11

10785

19.8

43682

80.2

54467

12

7762

20.6

30006

79.4

37771

Source: Ministry of Education, 2007 64

Ministry of Health, 2007.

65

WHO and Ministry of Health, 2008.

66

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

67

UNDP NHDR, 2007.

68

UNDP, NHDR, 2007.

69

NRVA, 2005.

70

NRVA, 2005.

71

Ministry of Education, 2007.

37

The distance of schools from home is important when attracting girls to education since Purdah norms and the security situation often make it impossible for girls to move longer distances from home. Girls are also only allowed by most parents to attend schools with female teachers. Often parents demand a separating wall around the schools with girl students to protect them from insight. There is a serious lack of teachers, especially female. UNICEF estimates that there is a shortage of 4050,000 teachers. Approximately 72% of teachers in 2007 were men and there were large discrepancies between the provinces, with nine provinces having less than 10% female teachers.72 Families tend to prefer boys’ education. One of the reasons for male preference is that males stay in the family after marriage and contribute to the families’ income while females join another family after marriage. Girls have a higher dropout rate than boys, especially since many parents do not allow girls to attend school after they reach puberty because of the increased risk for violent attacks on girls and the fear that the girls will attract “improper attention” from men. The Ministry of Education gives preference to female teachers in a system of affirmative action. If no female or male teacher can be found, Mullahs are often trained and employed as community teachers.73 There are about 5,000 formal schools in Afghanistan and 3,700 communitybased schools. Foreign donors often support the latter. Teacher training is extremely rudimentary in Afghanistan. Teachers are required to have 12 years of education and complete a teacher training (called TEP 1 and 2) that normally lasts 13 days. Teachers without these qualifications are only employed on temporary one-year contracts. To increase the outreach of education, the Ministry of Education is implementing accelerated education which normally means that two classes are taught in one year.74 Politically motivated attacks on schools that enrol girls have become more frequent. Attacks are particularly common in the southern and eastern provinces. Between July 2005 and February 2007, a total 192 schools were attacked, looted, burnt down or destroyed.75 Interlocutors that the Mission met said that the motives for attacks on schools were not always connected with resisting girls’ education but were also attempts to attract funds for new school premises. Attacks against schools and against female students make parents afraid to send their daughters to school and are thereby a barrier to girls’ education. There are 19 institutions of higher education in Afghanistan from which approximately 7,000 students graduate annually. Approximately 23% of graduates are female.76 The proportion of women varies between universities. The most balanced situation can be found at Badakhshan University and Faryab University where about 50% of students are female. At Paktia and Khost Universities there are no female students at all.77

72

Ministry of Education, 2007.

73

UNICEF stated to the Mission that an advantage with Mullah teachers is that even conservative families tend to allow their daughters to be taught by a male Mullah.

74

UNICEF, 2008.

75

Ministry of Education, 2007.

76

MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.

77

MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.

38

HIV/AIDS Reliable data on HIV prevalence in Afghanistan is sparse. UNAIDS and WHO estimate that there could be between 1,000 and 2,000 Afghans with HIV. Unsafe injection practices, drug trafficking and usage, unsafe injection practices and blood transfusion are the main risk factors for the spread of HIV. Recent studies have revealed that HIV prevalence among IDUs in Kabul is three percent. So far 478 HIV positive cases have been reported from different sources.78

78

MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.

39

6. Socio-cultural Situation

There are significant variations in the family structure between different ethnic and tribal groups as well as between urban and rural families. However, all groups are characterized by their patrilineal structure, low instances of divorce and high birth rates. In Afghanistan patrilinearity79 is more important than economic and political divisions. There is a basic acceptance of polygamy in the society but the frequency varies throughout the country. The Afghan constitution allows a man to have up to four wives simultaneously. While certain conditions apply to multiple marriages, such as the equal treatment of spouses, these are not always observed in practice. As the social prestige of a divorced woman is very low, a woman is more likely to agree to be a second or third wife than a divorcee, even if her husband treats her unfairly. There are also instances when women are not opposing to be a second wife or that the husband married a second wife as the women have wanted to work and another women in the house would make their burden of household shores less heavy. Families in Afghanistan are either nuclear, extended, fraternal or compound. Most families are nuclear and headed by a senior male. Female-headed households are rare, but they have increased since the conflict started in the 1970s as many women become war widows. Women’s and girls’ influence in the families vary considerably. For example a mother with many daughters and son-in-laws can have a strong position, particularly over the lives of the younger women while a girl who has come into the family as the result of an exchange for a debt (Baadal) can be treated more or less like a slave.

79

Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one’s father’s lineage; it generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well.

40

7. Media and IT

The position and importance of the media has to be understood in the overall development context of Afghanistan. Because of illiteracy and poor road infrastructure, printed media plays a limited role in Afghanistan and most Afghans receive their news from radio and, to a lesser extent, from TV.80 Internet use in Afghanistan is marginal81 and mainly benefits young and relatively well-off people in urban areas. There were no gender-disaggregated statistics identified by the Mission on the use of media and IT. There are few female journalists in Afghanistan. The main reasons for the lack of female journalists are education and security. It is estimated that less than 5% of all journalists are women. The number of female journalists varies, however, from province to province. In Kabul it is estimated that as many as 20% of journalists are women.82 In 2007, MoWA reported that the number of female staff members in the state media sector was 23.3%. There are fewer women in the private media sector. The portrayal of men and women in the media is extremely stereotypical; i.e. women are targeted with programmes about recipes, fashion, household matters, the raising of children and very seldom about women as decision-makers in public or private affairs. Also, women are often portrayed as victims of different forms of violence and abuse. Female journalists face serious security threats because of their gender and there are regular reports about assassinations of female journalists which are believed to be connected with the gender of the journalist.

80

USAID, 2006.

81

580,000 Internet users as of March 2008; 1.8% of the population, according to International Telecommunication Union.

82

MoWA, 2008.

41

8. Conflict

Women and conflict has been receiving increased attention in the last decade, particularly after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000 and UN Security Council Resolution 1820 with the same name in 2008. The Resolutions call for attention to the consequences of war on women’s lives and the importance of women’s place at the decision-making table and their contribution to conflict prevention and conflict resolution. While Resolution 1325 and 1820 are not specifically referred to in key documents that guide the reconstruction and peace-building process in Afghanistan, their provisions are nevertheless echoed in many of these documents, such as the Berlin Declaration83 and the Afghanistan Compact. Afghanistan is a challenging environment for the implementation of 1325 and 1820 because of the historic oppression of women, violent wars and the pervasive lack of security, which leave many Afghans – both men and women – traumatised, and in need of psychosocial counselling. While some awareness of 1325 and 1820 exists among the international community in Afghanistan, coordination for the Resolution’s implementation is only just beginning. In order to effectively implement 1325 in Afghanistan, all stakeholders will have to work clearly and explicitly within its framework and ally this with strong political will from all stakeholders. Landmines have had a severe impact on the people of Afghanistan since the start of the conflict; particularly men and boys. UN reports suggest that approximately 90% of those who are either injured or killed by landmines are male and almost half of them are under the age of 18. The main reason that most of the landmine victims are young males is that women and girls stay more close to their homes because of traditional patriarchal gender norms.

83

http://www.ag-afghanistan.de/berlindeclaration.pdf

42

9. Girl-children

Child labour is a serious problem in Afghanistan, not least because of the young population; almost half the population being under 18 years of age. Afghan law requires workers to be at least 15 years old, but there are provisions for 13- and 14-year-olds to work as apprentices, provided they only work 35 hours per week. According to UNICEF estimates, at least 20 percent of primary school age children undertake some form of work and there are more than one million child labourers under the age 14. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated in 2002 that 23.8 percent of children ages 10 to 14 years in Afghanistan were working. Children are predominantly being involved in shop-keeping, workshops, street retailing, tailoring, farming, carpet weaving and household work.84 Girls are particularly vulnerable since they drop out of school earlier than boys, are forced into early marriages and are often recruited into labour by their families and mostly as free labour force inside the families. A survey by AIHRC in 2006 revealed that household work impedes access to school more than employment outside the household and thus makes girls more vulnerable. Child labour has a serious impact on access to education and it is estimated that around 3 million children in Afghanistan are being denied education as a direct consequence of child labour.85 A girl is considered to be a woman once she is married despite her actual age. As a consequence, – who are married are according to Afghan custom regarded as women. The civil law sets the minimum marrying age for females at 16, but it permits a father to give his daughter in marriage at 15 if he chooses. MoWA and UNICEF estimate 60–80% of all marriages to be forced marriages. According to the UNICEF, 57 percent of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls below the legal age of 16. The vast majority of Afghans do not officially register their marriages. To counter this, MoWA has launched a marriage registration awareness campaign to boost the number of legally registered couples.

84

AIHRC, 2006.

85

Policyinnovation.org, 2008.

43

10. Resources and Further Readings

AIHRC, Annual report, Kabul 2007 Afghan Women’s Network, Report of the NGOs regarding the implementation on CEDAW in Afghanistan, Kabul 2007 AREU, Afghanistan’s health system since 2001, briefing paper, Kabul 2006 AREU, Moving to the mainstream: Integrating gender in Afghanistan’s national policy, working paper, Kabul 2008 AREU, Looking beyond the school walls: Household decision-making and school enrolment in Afghanistan, Kabul 2006 AREU, A place at the table, Afghan women, men and decision-making authority, Kabul 2005 Global Rights, Living with violence: A national report on domestic abuse in Afghanistan, Kabul 2008 ICG, Afghanistan: Women and reconstruction, Brussels and Kabul 2003 IMF, World Economic Outlook, 2008 IndexMundi, http://www.indexmundi.com/afghanistan/, 2008 MoWA and UNIFEM, Women and men in Afghanistan, baseline statistics on gender, Kabul 2008 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MISC) for Afghanistan, 2003 National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment, 2005 Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Human Rights in Afghanistan (Swedish report), Stockholm 2007 UNDP, Afghanistan Human Development Report, Kabul 2007 UNICEF, http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_statistics. html, 2008. U.S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5380.htm, 2008 U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Person report and IOM Trafficking in Persons report, 2008 WB, National reconstruction and poverty reduction – the role of women in Afghanistan’s future, Washington and Kabul 2005 WB, http://go.worldbank.org/EFM25VVX70, 2008 World Food Programme, http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/indexcountry.asp?country=004, 2008 44

Annex 1: Gender Specifics of the Afghan Constitution

Gender Related Provisions in the 2004 Afghan Constitution Article

Text

Gender issue

3

“No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of

The Supreme Court (Article 121) has the right to

the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan.”

review whether any law is in contradiction with the Shar’ia. This is a serious limitation on positive statutory law and raises concerns on how the Supreme Court and lower courts interpret the Shar’ia, particularly when it comes to gender equality.

22

“Any kind of discrimination and distinction between

Article 22 stands in contradiction with how the

citizens of Afghanistan shall be forbidden. The

Government interprets the Shar’ia. For example, the

citizens of Afghanistan, man and woman, have equal

new Family Code, which is currently being drafted, is

rights and duties before the law.”

establishing inheritance rights according to Shar’ia, which is, typically, directly discriminating against women and girls. According to the Governments interpretation of the Shar’ia, daughters inherit half of what sons inherit and widows inherit 1/8 from the husband.

44

“The state shall devise and implement effective

The de facto situation is that Government pro-

programs to create and foster balanced education for

grammes support gender-segregated education

women, improve education of nomads as well as elimi-

where education is still more accessible for boys.

nate illiteracy in the country.”

Cultural stereotypes, family poverty and security are impediments that hinder girls’ and women’s access to education. The Kuchi nomads are the least educated in the country with a literacy rate for those aged 6 and above is 4% for women and 8% for men

45

“The state shall devise and implement a unified

The curricula have to be based on Islam and adapted

educational curricula based on the tenets of the

to the different Islamic sects of Afghanistan. In

sacred religion of Islam, national culture as well as

practice this statute will easily encourage religious

academic principles, and develop religious subjects

stereotypes about gender and the roles of women

curricula for schools on the basis of existing Islamic

and men.

sects in Afghanistan.” 53

“The state shall guarantee the rights of pensioners, and shall render necessary aid to the elderly, women without caretaker, the disabled as well as poor orphans, in accordance with provisions of the law.”

45

54

“Family is the fundamental pillar of the society, and

This provision reinforces the family as a fundamental

shall be protected by the state. The state shall adopt

pillar of the society in which Purdah and Namus norms

necessary measures to safeguard the physical and

are central.

spiritual health of the family, especially of the child and mother, upbringing of children, as well as the elimination of related traditions contrary to the principles of the sacred religion of Islam.” 58

“To monitor respect for human rights in Afghanistan

See more above on AIHRC.

as well as to foster and protect it, the state shall establish the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan. Every individual shall complain to this Commission about the violation of personal human rights. The Commission shall refer human rights violations of individuals to legal authorities and assist them in the defence of their rights.” 83

“The elections law shall adopt measures to attain,

At least 68 delegates (two from each province) must

through the electorate system, general and fair

be women.

representation for all the people of the country, and proportionate to the population of every province. On average, at least two females shall be the elected members of the House of People from each province.” 84

“Members of the House of Elders shall be elected and

There are 420 seats in the provincial council of which

appointed as follows: (…) 3) The remaining one third

124 are earmarked for women. However, there were

of the members shall be appointed by the President,

not enough women candidates in the 2005 election to

for a five year term, from amongst experts and

fill the 124 seat and thus there are three vacant seats

experienced personalities, including two members

despite the fact that a woman candidating for that

from amongst the impaired and handicapped, as well

seat would automatically be eligible for a seat.

as two from nomads. The President shall appoint fifty percent of these individuals from amongst women.” 121

“At the request of the Government, or courts, the

The Supreme Court has the right to review whether

Supreme Court shall review the laws, legislative

any law is in contradiction with the Shar’ia. Read this

decrees, international treaties as well as international

Article together with Article 3.

covenants for their compliance with the Constitution and their interpretation in accordance with the law.” 130

“If there is no provision in the Constitution or other

The Hanafi school is the oldest of the four schools of

laws about a case, the courts shall, in pursuance of

thought (Madhhabs) or jurisprudence (Fiqh) in Sunni

Hanafi jurisprudence, and, within the limits set by this

Islam.

Constitution, rule in a way that safeguards justice in the best manner.” 131

“The courts shall apply the Shia jurisprudence in

The new Family Code is being drafted in two varia-

cases involving personal matters of followers of the

tions: one for Sunni and one for Shia Muslims. The

Shia sect in accordance with the provisions of the law.

legal age of marriage is lower in the Shia version (13

In other cases, if no clarification in this Constitution

years for Shia girls and 16 for Sunni girls).

and other laws exist, the courts shall rule according to laws of this sect.”

46

Annex 2: Sida Generic Terms of Reference

Generic Terms of Reference for Country Gender Profiles

These generic terms of reference for Country Gender Profi les are intended to guide the development of Profi les in specific countries. More context-specific terms of reference need to be developed for some countries which take into account the specific problems, potentials and processes of change in that particular context, need to be developed for some countries. These generic terms of reference should provide information on background purpose, scope, methodology, choice of consultants and dissemination in relation to the production of SidasSida’s Country Gender Profi les. 1. Background and Overall Framework The Country Gender Profile aims to facilitate the development of knowledge on gender equality in partner countries which should facilitate the implementation of the overall objectives of Sida. During the 1990s Profi les on the gender equality situation were prepared by Sida in many of Sida’s partner countries. The purpose of these, so called, Country Gender Profi les (CGP) was to provide a short and concise summary of the gender equality situation in partner countries, which could be utilized as the basis for development of country strategies, development of projects and programmes and policy dialogue at different levels. In most countries there is wealth of information available on gender equality but it is not always compiled and sometimes difficult to access. Therefore experts are required to compile and analyse this information. Developments which have taken place during the 1990s and the beginning of 2000 makes it necessary to update and revise the existing Profi les, and for the countries that does not have Profi les already new ones needs to be produced. For example the impact of the increased attention to gender equality within areas such as sexual and reproductive rights, violence against women and gender based violence, girl’’s education, human rights, and conflict needs to be better investigated and further understood. The increased knowledge of, and attention to, the linkages between gender equality and growth should also be further taken into account in SidasSida’s Country Gender Profi les, as well as the increasing focus on gender stereotypes in efforts to promote gender equality. Another area with increasing problems and needs is the area of gender- based violence, both at societal level and at the domestic level. 47

Since women and men are not homogenous groups it is important to consider other socio-cultural criteria (or intersectionality) such as power structures linked to ethnicity, race, class, sexual orientation and age. The document should highlight the inter-related causal factors which contribute to the present situation while providing an analysis of the trends and forces contributing to ongoing changes. Furthermore the Profi les needs to take the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) aspects into consideration, highlighting the specific problems and constraints (as well as opportunities) that face people who does not conform to the hetronormative norms and values that often structure societies. International and national frameworks and steering document

It is still a priority for Sida to give special attention to the implementation of the Platform for Action and Beijing Declaration 86 from the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. This international platform for promoting gender equality was endorsed by 189 member countries of the UN including many of SidasSida’s partner countries. Attention should be given to the 12 Critical Areas of Concern identified in the Platform for Action; poverty, education, health, violence, armed conflict, economy, power and decision-making, human rights, media, environment, girl-child as well as institutional mechanisms. In the follow- up conference to the Beijing Conference (in 2000 and 2005) countries have been required by the General Assembly and the international community to follow up their national plans of action in line with the Beijing Platform for Action. Since these plans should be the basis of the collaboration between Sida and partner countries on promoting gender equality, there is a need for information on the priorities and initiatives included in these plans of, in the Profi les. The Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) should also be an instrument in the dialogue between development cooperation agencies such as Sida, and their partner countries. Therefore knowledge on the ratification and follow-up of, reservations to and implementation of CEDAW by partner countries needs to be further outlined and analysed by the Profi les. The national reports that every country should produce (with a four- year interval) is also a very useful input to the Profi les. The national priorities of partner countries should be the focus and outline the framework, of the Profi le. These will vary from country to country and between regions. This meansimplies that the Profi les will differ in issues and areas, although the basic structure of these documents should be the same (see division of chapters below). National and regional policies, strategies, institutional mechanisms, national machineries and NGOs as well as other resources and partners of the society, such as research groups, should therefore be used in the mapping and collection of data and information. SidasSida’s revised policy Promoting Gender Equality in Development Cooperation (October, 2005) hastakes its starting point in the overall goal of poverty reduction, its perspectives and (eight) central component elements of the Swedish Development Policy (Government Bill 2002/03:122). These areas together with the overall goal of poverty reduction should form thebe used as starting points for the Profi les. The increased focus ofin the Swedish Development framework on the 86

Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration, Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1995

48

overall goal of poverty reduction and the two perspectives:; the perspective of the poor, and the rights perspective, areis also in need of better understanding and further study.87 2. Purpose of the Gender Profile The Country Gender Profi les should facilitate development of genderaware country strategies, programmes and projects, as well as be a relevant party to the dialogue. By providing brief but comprehensive information on the comparative situation and status of women and men, girls and boys, with particular reference to poverty and other economic, political, legal, socio-economic and socio-cultural factors. Country Gender Profi les should be useful instruments in briefing theof consultants undertaking assignments in SidasSida’s partner countries as well as when briefing of Sida personnel. In the past SidasSida’s Country Gender Profi les have also been found very useful by partner countries and other international actors, not least because they are, and should be, short and concise. The Country Gender Profi les should not describe SidasSida’s policies or programmes. The nature and size of these profi les also prohibits more detailed attention to the sector areas in which Sida is involved. The profi les aim to provide an overall background on the gender equality situation in the specific country. Detailed analysis of SidasSida’s work, and recommendation to Sida, should be done in other contexts. 3.

Country Gender Profile Outline

Outline of content – chapters one by one!

The following chapters and content should take the overall framework, outlined above, into consideration. 1) National framework and policy National policies, strategies (including sector-specific strategies) and mechanisms for promoting gender equality, including the specific plans for the implementation of the Platform for Action should be included in the analyse. In addition information should be provided on the priorities and initiatives of NGOs, civil society, women’s organizations and networks, men’s groups, academia, media groups, etc. should be provided. Information should be included on the capacity of these national actors to work with a gender equality perspective and opportunities for competence development should be included. 2) Overall economic situation Economic policies and reforms – including debt, balance of payment, inflation, public revenue, public expenditures (and reviews), public investment, production (tradables and untradeables), social sector spending, user charges policy, welfare subsidies, employment and labour in both the formal and informal sectors, trade unions. And as far as possible gender-specific impact of macro-level policy on microlevel should be highlighted as far as possible. 3) Socio-economic situation General poverty situation, income distribution, livelihoods, food security, demographic situation, provision and access to/use of services and resources, water, forestry, infrastructure, health (including HIV/AIDS), LGBT issues, education, disability, human settlements, 87

“Shared Responsibility-Sweden’s policy for Global Development”, Government Bill 2002/03:122; “Perspectives on Poverty”, Sida, October 2002.

49

urbanization, informal sector, information, energy, communications, land and other resources, environment. 4) Socio-cultural situation Ethnic and racial groups, family structure (including female-headed households), LGBT issues, children (with a focus on girl children), youth, migration, traditional customs and laws (including where relevant female genital mutilation where relevant). 5 Legal situation and human rights Relevant areas to be included in this section are inheritance, land tenure, housing rights, family law, labour laws, gender based violence, customary vs. civil laws, CEDAW, sexual orientation and LGBT issues. The presentation should focus on legislation, law enforcements, access to justice, and administration of the law and legal literacy. 6) Political situation Areas that requireto further analysise here are the constitution, parliament (representation and participation), political parties, gGovernment, elections (participation and representation), representation and participation at other levels – regional/provincial, district and local gGovernment levels. 7) Media and IT Freedom of expression, representation and participation in media (including management levels), gender images in media, access to, utilization and control of IT and modern communication methods. 8 Conflict Where relevant, gender-specific information on causes, prevention, resolution, and rehabilitation. 9) Girl children Information on the specific constraints and problems faced by girl children. 10) Key problems and opportunities This section should identify specific areas of concern and constraints and areas where there is potential for moving forward. 11) Resources and further reading In this last final chapter the Profi le should outline the resources that has been used and analysed in its production as well as outline research, literature, books and other sources of information available on the country within the area of gender equality. 4. Methodology The profi les should be prepared as desk-studies by consultants. No new research is involved in the development of the profi les. They should build entirely on existing materials and interviews with key actors in ministries. NGOs, civil society organizations, etc. The profi les can point to the need for further research in strategic areas. (see above chapter 10. Key problems and opportunities) The profi les should be no longer than 40 pages. Additional information can be provided in annexes, such as sgenderex-disaggregated statistics, reading lists, etc. Particular attention should be given to providing sexgender-disaggregated statistics in all areas covered. Where such disaggregated statistics is not available this should be clearly pointed out. Information should be obtained from Government ministries, parliament, political parties, NGOs, civil society organizations, women’s groups and networks, men’s groups (where relevant), academic institu50

tions and groups, statistical offices, private sector, including law firms, etc.etc, donors and other international organizations. 5. Choice of Consultants Preferably a team88 of consultants could be utilized for the Profi le as it is strategic to engage local consultants together with an external consultant to complement each other. Where the local resource base is weak it is suggested that an external consultant with good knowledge of the country should be teamed with external. This supports local capacity- development while at the same time ensuring adequate access to local knowledge and networks. Since the production of Country Gender Profi les requires the coverage of a broad range of issues it is not always possible to find one consultant with expertise in all the required areas required. An organisation could also be used for the purpose of producing the Profi le. It is recommended, but not demanded, that a reference group of local experts be set up to review the draft produced. It is also recommended that the embassy staff is actively involved in the review process to ensure maximum effect of the process. 6. Dissemination and Further Development The Country Gender Profi les should be disseminated both within the country and in Stockholm. Seminars can be organized at embassy level for embassy personnel, consultants and other partners, using the consultants involved or other local experts as resource persons. Regional Departments within Sida should be responsible for dissemination of the profi les to relevant consultants. The prime focus for the Profi les should be as instruments to the production and outline of SidasSida’s Country Cooperation strategy in order to ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality.

88

The team could consist of two members only. T, the key is to have one local and one external consultant active in producing the Profile.

51

Annex 3: Meeting Schedule for the Mission to Afghanistan

Name/ Organisation Saturday

Arrival of Mr. Per Larsson and Ms. Anita Klum

23 August

at 10 am to Kabul

Contact/ Address

Anita

Per

Klum

Larsson

Arrival

Arrival

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Sunday 24 August Mette Sunnergren

Tel: +93 (0) 700 166 944

First Secretary, Development

+93 (0) 798 444 002

Embassy of Sweden

[email protected]

Section for Development Co-operation Kabul, Afghanistan 14–14.30

Sara Rezogali Italian Embassy

16.30

Vincent White GTZ

Monday 25 August 9.00

Wazhma Frogh; Global Rights Afghanistan,

Kabul Office:Chaharohi

Country Director; [email protected];

Ansari, Street 3; #200- Op-

www.globalrights.org;

posite German Clinic;Shahre-

Cell: (+ 93) 0797-753-955

Now, Kabul.;Tel# (+93) 070-269-035;Digital# (+93) 020-220-37-67

11.00

Anders Fenge, Ahmed Farid, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan

13.00

Fazel Jalil, Save the Children Sweden-Norway

H # 134, Charhai Shaheed,

Programme

close to British Cemetery,

Ms.Fawzia Habibi, MoWA

Ministry of Women’s Affairs,

Kabul. 15.00

798 152 471 17.00

52

Nabila Wafeq, Medica Mundial

Tuesday 26 August 10.00

Ermelita Valdeavilla, UNIFEM

13.00

Pernille Mortenssen, 1st Secretary, Danish

[email protected] Danish

x

x

x

Embassy Kabul

Embassy, Wazir Akbar Khan,

x

x

x

Carol le Duc, EU

x

x

10.00

Manizha Naderi, Women for Afghan Women

x

x

14.00

Calister Mtalo, UNICEF

x

x

15.00

Mette Sunnergren, Swedish Embassy

x

x

Friday

Departure of Mr. Per Larsson at 2 pm

Kabul MOBILE +93 797 888 103 PHONE +93 (0) 20 2300 968/WWW.AMBKABUL.UM. DK/EN Wednesday 27 August 13.00

Charlemagne Sophia Gomez (Gender and

Gender Mainstreaming

elections), UNDP, Rosanita Serrano Gender

Specialist United Nations

Project Manager; charlemagne.gomez@undp.

Development Programme

org; [email protected]

Kabul, Afghanistan Tel+ 93 (0) 20 212 4124 Mob +93 (0) 700 289 317

15.00 Thursday 28 August

x

29 August 09.00

Revolutionary Association of Women of

x

x

Afghanistan 13.00

Jean MacKenzie, International War and Peace

x

Reporting Saturday 30 August 13.00

Soraya Sobhrang, AIHRC

x

Sunday 31 August 09.00

Paula Kantor, Reserach and Evaluation Team

0799608495 paula@areu.

x

12.30

Jamila Afghani, Noor education center

x

16.00

Mette Sunnergren, Swedish Embassy

x

Monday 1

Departure of Ms. Anita Klum at 2 pm

x

org.af

September

53

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