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Afghan women call for equal rights<br><br>
Friday 19 December 2003 8:31 AM GMT <br><br>
<b>Women attending the meeting to discuss Afghanistan's draft
constitution want the statute to specifically enshrine equality for
women.<br><br>
</b></font><font size=2>Article 22 of the draft says the "citizens
of Afghanistan have equal rights and duties before the law", but
does not explicitly state that women have the same rights.<br><br>
That article should be changed to "Afghan men and women have equal
rights and duties before the law", Nadira, a female delegate from
the northern Balkh province, said on Thursday.<br><br>
"We want the explicit mention of 'women and men' in every article
where the words 'Afghan citizens' are used," said fellow delegate
Noorya Wisal from southeastern Ghazni.<br><br>
Under the Taliban regime, women and girls were denied education and
barred from public life.<br><br>
Some 100 women are among the 502 delegates taking part in the historic
loya jirga (grand assembly) in Kabul to debate and ratify the draft
constitution which will pave the way for the country's transition to
democracy at elections scheduled for June 2004.<br><br>
<b>Mujahidin outraged<br><br>
</b>The convention plunged into crisis on Wednesday when Malalai Joya, a
woman delegate from the western Farah province, criticised the powerful
mujahidin (former anti-Soviet fighters) calling for them to be
tried for plunging the country into years of civil war.<br><br>
Several angry mujahidin delegates rushed towards the stage demanding Joya
be expelled and soldiers had to intervene to maintain order. <br><br>
Other women delegates at the meeting later mounted a protest and
prevented Joya from being expelled.<br><br>
"She should have observed the sensitivity of the session and not
used strong offensive language but still we supported her and didn't
permit her expulsion," said Wisal.<br><br>
The outburst shows the level of distrust and sharp differences that have
emerged since the meeting was opened on Sunday by former king Muhammad
Zahir Shah.<br><br>
<b>Deep divisions<br><br>
</b>Delegates are divided between those who support the strong
presidential system laid down in the draft and those, including some
mujahidin factions, who would prefer some form of prime minister or at
least a parliament with real power.<br><br>
"They will have to work very hard to reach consensus," said UN
spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva.<br><br>
"You are coming from so many years of violence, so many years of
destruction where your institutions were eroded, it is quite a challenge
to try to overcome all this so quickly by defining your
constitution," de Almeida e Silva said.<br><br>
He was nevertheless optimistic that the loya jirga would agree a
constitution "that responds to the aspirations of the majority of
the people".<br><br>
<br>
</font><font size=3><b>By AFP<br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F3416BF5-3053-46A1-A064-578EB2F39914.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F3416BF5-3053-46A1-A064-578EB2F39914.htm</a>
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