>> Dawn

RIGHTS OF AFGHAN WOMEN HIGHLIGHTED

The plight of women in Afghanistan and Algeria brought their European sisters out onto the streets on Sunday for International Women's Day, created by the United Nations in 1977. From Belgium to Bosnia, women turned out to take part in an initiative led by the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Emma Bonino, to raise awareness about Afghan women living under the Talibans' hardline rule. Around 50 women gathered in front of United Nations headquarters in Brussels, some of whom wore the full-length gown covering the entire head and body, known as "burqa," which Afghan women are obliged to wear. Speaking on RTBF state television, Bonino said Afghanistan's women had been "reduced to shadows and phantoms," a condition which "is an abuse of power." Her "A flower for the women of Kabul" initiative was joined by women's groups in Sarajevo, Paris and in the Afghan capital itself, although these were low-key events held by foreign aid organisations. Under Taliban rule, women have been barred from education and from employment except in the medical field under strict segregation. A Taliban official dubbed Bonino's campaign as "anti-Islamic" and accused the commissioner, who last year was arrested for filming women in Afghanistan, of courting confrontation to further her own political career. Bonino's description of the Taliban rule as a "reign of terror," made just after her arrest, prompted aid workers in Kabul to distance themselves from her campaign. Leading a Parisian rally in support of Afghan women was Danielle Mitterand, the wife of the late former French president Francois Mitterand. The Afghan women's plight "is the worst example of oppression in the world, " she told 150 women gathered on a square in central Paris, but she noted that women in Tibet, Iran, Turkey and Algeria were involved in similar struggles. Two unveiled Afghan women attending that rally spoke of their status back home. "We can no longer work to keep our children alive, we cannot get medical treatment or go to school, we have no social life, we are beaten if we step outside," they said. Another gathering on Paris's Place de la Bastille called for solidarity with Algerian women.

Segnala questa pagina