UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities

Fiftieth Session

3 - 28 August 1998

Agenda item 5

The implementation of the human rights of women

Statement by the Transnational Radical Party

NGO in general consultative status

13 August 1998

Delivered by Olga Cechurova

Mr Chairman,

Since its establishment, the United Nations and its bodies have clearly and firmly declared numerous times that all the practices and customs violating the human rights of women are inconsistent with the principles of the UN Charter.

We are celebrating this year the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 5th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. However, the standards adopted in these and other important documents, still continue to be severely violated, despite all the efforts of the United Nations, its agencies and inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Only when we concentrate on the question of violence against women during the times of armed conflict, there are currently more than 25 countries, where those violations are taking place. Some of the most serious violations of this kind are considered crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, established last month in Rome. We appreciate that in the Statute of the ICC agreed in Rome a very satisfying gender balance - both concerning jurisdiction and procedural matters - was achieved. The Transnational Radical Party strongly supports the International Criminal Court and urges the international community, particularly the United Nations and its Member States, to do their utmost in order that the International Criminal Court starts working effectively without delay.

We would like to draw your attention to the situation of women in Afghanistan, where the most serious violations of human and political rights and humanitarian law are committed. The right to life, liberty and security of person, freedom of opinion, expression, religion and association is severely oppressed, particularly regarding women, who are denied even the access to basic education, access to health care, employment and training and their effective participation in political, economic, social and cultural life.

As reported by Ms. Coomaraswamy, the Commission's Special Rapporteur on violence against women (E/CN.4/1998/54), "though the Taliban in Afghanistan have taken the denial of human rights of women to new lows, laying down rule after rule denying women their basic human rights, all warring factions in Afghanistan are responsible for violations of women's human rights." This year's session of the Commission furthermore urged all the Afghan parties to bring to an end without delay all violations of human rights of women and girls and to take urgent measures to ensure their rights (Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/70).

However, the situation have further deteriorated, so that the European Commission have decided 3 weeks ago, after several month of repeating that the minimum conditions from a human rights point of view were not being respected, to suspend European humanitarian aid due to the discrimination exercised by the Talibans regarding Afghan women, as well as pressure applying to NGOs. Later on, the European Communities' Humanitarian office was closed in Kabul and also several NGOs have left Kabul.

The ruling Taliban declares to restore Islamic purity and fundamentalism and uses a particular interpretation of Islam as a pretext for its unprecedented discrimination against women. This interpretation is rejected by a large proportion of the Islamic world, for a simple reason: Islam in theory has given men and women equal rights in every aspects of life, and also the same spiritual status. Therefore shooting a woman death just for showing her ankles, as witnessed this year in Kabul, has absolutely nothing to do with Islam, but with a criminal ideology attempting a sort of ethnic cleansing of an entire gender from a country.

The Qur'an obligated Muslim men and women to acquire knowledge and education (Qur'an Sura 35 Verse 28: "Those truly fear Allah, among His Servants, who have knowledge"), and emphasised the crucial role of the women as the mother as the early socializer and educator of the children and that this role has a long lasting effect on the behaviour, character and attitudes of the future generations of Muslims.

The Taliban, as well as all the other totalitarian repressive rulers, appears to be very well aware of the importance of education and information. It completely denies it. The role of the international community, with the United Nations heading it, must be to provide and spread the information and education, both inside the country concerned, and on the international level about the country.

The issue of the implementation of human rights of women is obviously closely inter-linked with all the other fields of human rights, from the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms to the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights and administration of justice, and with the international, regional and national policies.

Members of the international community have provided support to the warring factions. Unfortunately, even a body of the UN, the United Nations Drug Control Programme, concluded an agreement with the Taliban on considerable amount of money for the eradication of poppy straw in Afghanistan. Apart from the questionable efficiency, this step risks to provide legitimacy of the regime in Afghanistan.

It is a duty of the members of the international community to ensure that those who received their assistance protect women's rights and human rights.

The international community and the United Nations has yet to take concerted action to ensure the protection of women's rights in Afghanistan, possibly through the promotion of an intra-Afghan dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations.

The Transnational Radical Party is convinced that all the aid and co-operation programmes (except for humanitarian aid) should be suspended until the government in Afghanistan shows respect for the human rights of both men and women.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.