Afghan women for major future role

UN: Champions of the Afghan women’s rights demanded on Wednesday to take part in talks about the future of their country, on occasion of the international conference on the issue to be held in London tomorrow.

Their claim appears in a declaration distributed at the UN headquarters in New York by the Afghan Women Network supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

The document says that women constitute half of the Afghan population and therefore it is impossible to achieve peace without them.

It asks the London meeting to secure the women’s representation in the peace process in a proportion of 25 percent and in all levels of local and national discussion.

The text adds that reconciliation in Afghanistan has to include the issue of the protection of women and their rights and establish a responsible gender policy.

It says that currently Afghanistan is the country where women’s rights are more at stake and denounces the violence suffered by this segment of the population.

The situation of Afghan women is one of the worst worldwide, with 87 percent of them suffering home abuse, besides being denied of participation in any solution to the conflict and in the processes of reconstruction and recovery.

There cannot be national security without women’s security, nor can there be peace when their lives are loaded with violence, their children cannot go to school and they cannot walk the streets out of fear of being attacks with acid, a female leader said.

The London meeting on Afghanistan was called by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and is expected to be attended by the Afghan Government, the UN and the countries which make up the international military force (about 100,000 troops) deployed in the Asian country.

United Nations, Prensa Latina