Att._J.1_National_Action_Plan_for_the_women_of_Afghanistan.pdf

NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR THE

WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN

(NAPWA)

THE GOVERNMENT’S MAIN VEHICLE FOR IMPLEMENTING

POLICIES AND COMMITMENTS TO ADVANCE THE STATUS OF WOMEN

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

2007-2017

ِِمِ سِ بِ یمِ حِ الرِِّنِ مِ حِ الرِِّاللّ In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

ABBREVIATIONS

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

MINISTER’S MESSAGE

I. ANALYSIS OF CONTEXT

1. OVERVIEW OF WOMEN‘S SITUATION

2. STATE MEASURES TO ADVANCE WOMEN‘S STATUS

II. VISION, MISSION, GOAL AND STRATEGIES

1. VISION

2. MISSION

3. GOALS

4. STRATEGIES

5. OVERVIEW OF SECTORAL STRATEGIES ................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

III. POLICY FRAMEWORK

PILLAR 1: SECURITY 30

IV. SECURITY

1. OVERVIEW

2. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

3. ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS

4. POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

5. PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

PILLAR 2: GOVERNANCE, RULE OF LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS 44

V. LEGAL PROTECTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

1. OVERVIEW

2. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

3. ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS

4. POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

5. PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

VI. LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

1. OVERVIEW

2. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

3. ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS

4. POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

5. PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PILLAR 3: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 69

VII. ECONOMY, WORK AND POVERTY

1. OVERVIEW

2. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

3. ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS

4. POLICIES AND STRATEGIES:

5. PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

VIII. HEALTH

1. OVERVIEW

2. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

3. ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS

4. POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

5. PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

IX. EDUCATION

1. OVERVIEW

2. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

3. ISSUES AND CONSTRAINTS

4. POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

5. PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 105

X. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

1. OVERVIEW

2. THE NAPWA PROCESSES

3. SUSTAINING MECHANISMS

4. ENABLING STRUCTURES

ANNEXES 107

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The advancement of women has always been central to our pursuit of national peace and reconstruction. From the Bonn Agreement to the Constitution, Afghanistan Compact and

Interim Afghanistan National Development Strategy (I-ANDS), we have remained steadfast in our commitment to pursue gender equality and the empowerment of women in all spheres of life.

As articulated in the I-ANDS, it is the goal of Government to eliminate discrimination against women, develop their human capital, and promote their leadership in order to guarantee their full and equal participation in all aspects of life.

It is time to work for the realization of this goal. I endorse the National Action Plan for the

Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) as an initial vehicle of government for implementing its gender commitments in the Afghanistan Compact, I-ANDS and other national and international policy instruments on women. I direct all ministries and instrumentalities of government, including provincial governments, to begin the implementation of this plan by including NAPWA in their ministry/provincial plans and budgets. All government instrumentalities are directed to report their performance on the implementation of this plan to my office every six months through the Ministry of Women‘s Affairs I also enjoin all sectors of society and our international partners to help make the vision of this plan a reality.

Let it not be said that the status of women did not improve considerably under the reign of peace and reconstruction in our country. To the women of Afghanistan, the implementation of this Plan is a sacred pledge that I will unceasingly pursue throughout my term.

SGD. HAMID KARZAI

President

MINISTER’S MESSAGE

The full implementation of the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) is a high level benchmark under the Afghanistan Compact and the I-ANDS.

With this National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan, we are taking I-ANDS one step forward by translating its gender commitments and strategies into operational terms. This is also our vehicle for implementing the gender provisions of the Constitution, the Convention on the

Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that was ratified by our government in March 2003, and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) that is the global framework for promoting the advancement of women. The National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan has benefited from nearly two years of consultations with all ministries, non-governmental organizations, the international community, and other sectors of civil society.

All of our society shapes and is shaped by the lives of women. We appeal to all sectors of society to do their share in identifying measures that they could implement over the short and long term to realize the vision set forth in the NAPWA.

The Ministry of Women‘s Affairs will assist ministries and provincial governments in implementing the actions agreed upon during the NAPWA ministerial planning workshops in

2005. Every action taken to implement this plan constitutes a step forward to a better life for all because what is good for women is good for the nation.

HUSSUN BANU GHAZANFAR

Minister

1. OVERVIEW OF WOMEN’S SITUATION

Women constitute roughly 49% of Afghanistan‘s 23.3 million people1. The development of women‘s human capital is strongly articulated in principle 5 of the Afghanistan Compact (AC) and highlighted as one of the 3 goals of gender equity in the Interim Afghanistan National

Development Strategy (I-ANDS). The importance of this imperative cannot be overemphasized because women constitute an enormous reservoir of human resources that could significantly bolster the government‘s effort to rebuild the nation.

The current situation of women in the country presents a serious challenge to human development. The women of Afghanistan are among the worst off in the world, both in comparison to Afghan men and with women of most countries. Their situation is particularly poor in the areas of health, deprivation of rights, protection against violence, economic productivity, education and literacy, and public participation. The average

Afghan woman has a life span of 442 years, around

20 years short of the global average. While in general, women around the world live longer than men, women in Afghanistan die at a younger age than men. And despite the high level of male casualties during the 25 years of war, men still outnumber women by significant levels in the contemporary era, with an average ratio of 104 men to 100 women for all ages.

It is the unusually harsh realities for women in Afghanistan that circumscribe women‘s situation and consequently shorten their life. It should be noted, however, that such realities cannot be viewed in isolation from the circumstances that the country experienced during the past decades of conflict or from harmful traditional practices that have shaped the current position of women in the family and society.

Pre-census 2004 results; Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Afghanistan National Development Report 2004: Security with a Human Face, Challenges and

Responsibilities; 2004, UNDP Report

ANALYSIS OF

CONTEXT

The women of Afghanistan are among the worst off in the world, both in comparison to Afghan men and with women of most countries.

Their situation is particularly poor in the areas of health, deprivation of rights, protection against violence, economic productivity, education and literacy and public participation.

The low life expectancy of women may be partly explained by recent data. For instance, underage marriages are reportedly high among girls, precipitating a high fertility rate which stands at 6.63 children per woman. This is remarkably high, considering the global average of 2.65 children per woman in 2002-2005, and the average of 5.02 children per woman for least developed countries4

Early marriages and frequent births contribute to an extremely high incidence of maternal mortality which is estimated to be 1,600 to 1,900 per 100,000 live births, which equates to almost one maternal death every 30 minutes, one of the highest in the world. Almost half the deaths among Afghan women in the reproductive age group are from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, 87% of which are reportedly preventable.

Afghanistan ranks among the lowest in the world in human development (173 rd of 177 countries) and human poverty indices (3 rd poorest). Thus, poverty and human deprivation are predictably experienced by the majority of the population. Widespread poverty, overall insecurity and harmful traditional practices affect women disproportionately and seriously limit their access to services, opportunities, and resources that are needed for the full development of their human potential and exercise of their rights. Currently, health services remain inadequate, substandard, or inaccessible to women. This may be partly attributable to low public expenditures in health.

Compared to South Asia‘s average of 4.7%, Afghanistan spends only 0.6 percent of its Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) on its public health program, and its per capita health expenditure is only $1 compared to the region‘s average of $21. Afghan culture prohibits treatment of women by male doctors, yet nearly 40 percent of the basic health facilities have no female health workers and basic reproductive health services are available only in 17 percent of health facilities in the country. Anemia is prevalent among women, occurring among 71% of pregnant women and 89% of non pregnant women5 . The incidence of tuberculosis is also high for women, with three times as many women as men recorded as suffering from tuberculosis in the 25-34 year age group

Restrictions to female mobility in seeking care and choosing their own treatment independent of male approval are also among the factors that prevent women from accessing quality health services.

Investment in education, especially for women, is important to human development. However, due to insecurity, inadequate facilities, lack of female teachers and lack of motivation to send girls to school, the status of women in education remains a matter of concern. The general lack of protection of schools from attacks, inadequate and distant facilities with few female teachers result in lower enrolment and higher drop out rates among girls. Early child and forced marriages are among other factors contributing to higher drop out rates among girls. Afghan women have one of the lowest literacy rates in the world and the worst disparity with men. The adult literacy rate in Afghanistan is estimated at 36% while for adult women, it is estimated at being 21%7. The literacy rate of Afghans between 15-24 years old is 34%, and can be broken down into 50% literacy for men and only 18% for women. Furthermore, the gross enrolment rate for females at

Best Estimates of Social Indicators for Children of Afghanistan; May 2006, UNICEF

World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision Highlights; United Nations Secretariat, Department of

Economic and Social Affairs Afghanistan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS2) Volume 1. Situation Analysis of Children and

Women in the East of Afghanistan; September 2001, UNICEF

6 TB Control in the Face of Conflict (Ahmadzai, H.); November 2006 Afghanistan: National Reconstruction and Poverty Reduction: The Role of Women in Afghanistan’s

Future; March 2005, The World Bank the primary school level was 54% in 2004, while the total gross enrollment rate was 94%8. Thus, boys are currently benefiting more from education than girls. Boys are twice as likely as girls to complete primary school, and this difference widens at the secondary school level, and widens further still in higher education9.

Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Discrimination against women manifested in imposition of limited social, economic and political roles makes women more susceptible to poverty and exacerbates the way women experience poverty. Local studies show that skewed power relations within the family result in uneven sharing of the hardships of poverty among members of the household. For example, female household members get a lower quality and quantity of food than male members10 and the percentage of girls aged 7-14 who work without pay tends to be higher than boys of the same age.11 A measure of disparity in women and men‘s economic status in Afghanistan is provided by the comparison of the female-male Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) calculated on the basis of Purchasing Power Parity-adjusted per capita

GDP. This was estimated at $402 for Afghan women and at $1,182 for men in 200212. It means that men are approximately 3 times more economically well off compared with women in

Afghanistan. The inadequate living amenities such as roads, transportation, power and water impede improvement in health and livelihoods of citizens, especially of rural women who are involved in mostly unpaid productive activities in addition to the routine reproductive and care duties they are undertaking.

The combined effects of poverty, dire state of health, and limited education seriously impair women‘s access to the paid economy. Afghan women‘s productive contributions in agriculture and livestock management are underestimated and underpaid, and limited access to economic resources such as capital, market, information, and technology hinders women‘s entry to the paid economy. Gender based wage discriminations were also found to be prevalent, particularly in harvesting, construction, commerce, and weaving13, and control over income by women is generally frowned upon in the country. Land, which is a highly valued economic capital, especially in an agricultural economy like Afghanistan, is generally owned by men. The loss of women‘s inheritance entitlements to male relatives upon the death of a husband is another reason why very few women own land, a factor that reinforces the economic vulnerability and dependency of women, especially those who are heads of households.

All these are linked to the subordinate status of women which in turn leads to the political disempowerment of women in the family and in society. The last three years has witnessed increasing participation of women in politics and public life. However, the conditions under which Afghan women exercise political rights remain constrained by social prejudices, violence, ―Ed Stats. 2006‖ World Bank Group Web site. http:// devdata.worldbank.org/edstats/cd5.asp, accessed

September 2006 Millennium Development Goals, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Country Report 2005: Summary Report;

2005, UNDP

Alingar, Laghman: a case study of rural livelihoods; Kerr-Wilson, A. and Pain, A., 2003, Afghanistan

Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)

Afghanistan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2003: Progress of Provinces; May 2004, CSO and

UNICEF

Afghanistan Statistical Yearbook/ Issue No. 24; September 2003, Central Statistics Office, Kabul

Women at Work: Gender, Wealth, Wages and Employment in Rural Afghanistan, 2002-2003 (Maletta, H.); November 2003, Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Information Management and Policy

Unit, Government of Afghanistan and are otherwise subject to the control of men. For example, a report14 found that 87 percent of those surveyed believe that women needed the permission of their husband or the (male) head of family before they could vote. Of the men surveyed nationally, 18% said that they would not allow their wives to vote at all.

One area in which the new Government has supported women successfully has been in ensuring strong involvement of women in national institutions, including the civil service and the National

Assembly. The 20% female representation in the Constitutional Loya Jirga led to significant advancements for women in Articles 83 and 84 of the Constitution, guaranteeing seats for women in the upper and lower houses. Some of these formal gains were realized in the elections, where, according to one report15, 19 women representing 7.6% of the seats in the lower house would have been elected without quotas, and affirmative action provisions in the Constitution allowed women to win an additional 49 seats. In the provincial elections, the results were similar. Out of the 124 seats reserved for them, women won 29 seats outright. In the civil service, 17.9% of the total posts are occupied by women,16 though many observe that they are largely consigned to traditional and marginal positions. At the community level, the government has mandated the

National Solidarity Program (NSP) to ensure women‘s participation as actors and beneficiaries in the program. The concrete impacts of this policy to women‘s leadership and political participation remains to be determined.

The growing involvement of women in non-domestic activities and constant advocacy for equality with men may be fuelling increased violence in the home and public spaces. However, women‘s low status within society, disempowerment and the pervasive culture of female subordination remain the leading causes of violence against women (VAW). Forced marriage, especially for underage girls and widows, as well as physical, sexual and verbal abuse are rampant but the lack of formal reporting, recording and analysis of cases hinder the adoption of measures to address them. Domestic violence, perpetrated largely by intimate partners,17 is still a hidden phenomenon that necessitates education and legal measures such as improved family law, protection for women at risk, counseling, and support for the economic autonomy of survivors of violence. Public violence, assaults and verbal harassment that are specifically motivated to undermine women‘s advancement18 systematically deny women their rights to participation in

Afghan society.

2. STATE MEASURES TO ADVANCE WOMEN’S STATUS

2.1 Progress during the era of Bonn implementation

Following the end of over two decades of armed conflict, Afghanistan worked with the international community to adopt the Bonn Agreement which served as a framework for the establishment of democratic governance in the country. The implementation of the Bonn

Voter Education Planning Survey: Afghanistan 2004 National Elections; 2004, The Asia Foundation

―The recent elections showed some surprising gains for women‖ by Wahidullah Amani and Salima

Ghafari, (ARR No. 195, 15 Nov. 05) Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Afghanistan Statistical Yearbook/ Issue No. 24; September 2003, Central Statistics Office, Kabul

Counted and Discounted: A Secondary Research Project on Violence Against Women in Afghanistan;

May 2006, UNIFEM

―The Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan‖, Report of the Secretary General, United Nations

Economic and Social Council, Commission on the Status of Women, 48 th

Session; March 2004

Agreement resulted in the adoption of a national Constitution, and the reinstitution of the government apparatus with its executive, legislative and judicial bodies.

The Bonn process laid the foundation for increasing women‘s involvement in government and for more concerted action to advance the role of women in the country. The Agreement called for specific attention to the role of women, and established the Ministry of Women‘s Affairs to act as lead ministry for the advancement of women‘s status. The participation of women was deliberately ensured throughout the Bonn process, establishing a precedent for increasing women‘s involvement in decision-making and political life in the country. Women comprised around 6 out of 60 delegates to the Bonn negotiations held in November 2001, and during the emergency loya jirga, 12% of the participants were women. Furthermore, 20% of the seats in the

Constitutional Loya Jirga were reserved and filled by female delegates.

Under Article 22, the national Constitution enshrined the policy of non-discrimination and equality in rights and duties between women and men. The democratic processes that were laid down by the Bonn Agreement also saw unprecedented levels of involvement of women as they made up 40% of the registrants for the presidential election and filled 27% of the seats in the

National Assembly. The government ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of

Discrimination against Women, adopted gender mainstreaming as the strategy for advancing women‘s status under the Berlin Plan of Action, and positioned gender as a cross-cutting perspective in the national development framework. The era also witnessed developments in the lives of Afghan women as they joined the electoral and civil service reform processes and returned to economic, political and social fields that have been unjustly closed to them for over two decades. Girls and women went back to schools and government started to look into areas where women‘s rights are most seriously violated. The government established a Commission on the Elimination of Violence against Women, composed of 9 government ministries and institutions which were tasked to initiate policy and program measures that would strengthen the government‘s response to VAW.

2.2 Developments after the completion of the Bonn Agreement: The National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan

With the completion of the terms of the Bonn Agreement in 2005, the new Islamic Republic of

Afghanistan and the international community signed the Afghanistan Compact during the

London Conference of 31 January to 1 February, 2006. This event marked the continuation of partnership between Afghanistan and the international community to restore peace and reconstruct the country, building upon the gains of the past 5 years.

The Afghanistan Compact seeks to pursue an agenda for restoring peace and rebuilding the nation under the pillars of (a) Security, (b)

Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights, and (c) Economic and Social Development. Under this compact, the Afghan Government commits itself to building peace and prosperity while the international community commits to providing support for the realization of human development objectives.

Afghanistan Compact and ANDS

Benchmark on Gender

By Jaddi 1389: the National Action Plan for

Women in Afghanistan will be fully implemented; and in line with Afghanistan’s

MDGs, female participation in all Afghan governance institutions, including elected and appointed bodies and the civil service, will be strengthened.

To concretize this commitment, Afghanistan and the international community is developing the

Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS). The ANDS embodies an analysis of the priority problems affecting Afghan women and men and sets out policies, outcomes and benchmarks for measuring progress in the next four years. The Interim ANDS is currently being subjected to multistakeholder consultations nationwide and is expected to be finalized by 2008.

It is within this context that the development of the National Action Plan for the Women of

Afghanistan (NAPWA) became a reality. Both the Afghanistan Compact and I-ANDS reiterate a commitment to implement the Constitutional guarantees of non-discrimination and equality of women and men in rights and duties. Within the Afghanistan Compact‘s principles of cooperation, both the Afghan Government and the international community committed to “recognize in all policies and programmes that men and women have equal rights and responsibilities” and to “build lasting Afghan capacity and effective state and civil society institutions, with particular emphasis on building up human capacities of men and women alike.”

The I-ANDS positioned gender at the core of the national development agenda by recognizing it as a cross cutting theme and adopting a three-pronged goal for promoting gender equity as follows: (a) eliminating all forms of discrimination against women; (b) developing women‘s human capital; and

(c) ensuring women‘s full participation and leadership in all aspects of life in Afghanistan. The

I-ANDS also included 8 gender specific-benchmarks in various sectors and created within the I-

ANDS structure three gender-specific mechanisms that would ensure the implementation of gender benchmarks and promote the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the rest of the sectoral benchmarks.

The NAPWA is a central component of Afghanistan‘s effort to implement its commitments to women in an organized, systematic, coordinated and sustainable way. It aims to bring together short and long term measures that Government and its partners will pursue to advance women‘s status. The full implementation of the NAPWA is the main measurable benchmark through which government seeks to realize its three-pronged goal on gender equity and thus address the difficult situation of women that was described above.

The NAPWA vision of a peaceful and progressive country where women and men enjoy security, equal rights and opportunities in all aspects of life is linked with the overall effort to restore peace and reconstruct the Afghan nation. NAPWA has been conceptualized within the context of the national vision of a better life for all and its implementation will therefore be pursued within the same context. Its full implementation is not only about fulfilling the benchmark of the

Afghanistan Compact and ANDS. It is about attaining a better life for all – women and men alike.

The NAPWA is a central component of

Afghanistan’s effort to implement its commitments to women in an organized, systematic, coordinated and sustainable way. It aims to bring together short and long term measures that Government and its partners will pursue to advance women’s status.

The full implementation of the NAPWA is the main measurable benchmark through which government seeks to realize its three-pronged goal on gender equity and thus address the difficult situation of women …

NAPWA is a policy framework with a ten year timeframe that ensures continuity and consistency of Government‘s efforts to protect women‘s citizenship rights in Afghan society. NAPWA is a major vehicle for consolidating Afghanistan‘s gains over the past five years and using them as a foundation for institutionalizing a more coherent and comprehensive strategy to advance the status of women in Afghanistan for the benefit of all Afghan society. The Government of

Afghanistan‘s NAPWA vision, mission, goals, and strategies are presented in this chapter.

1. VISION

NAPWA envisions that “Afghanistan will be a peaceful and progressive country where women and men enjoy security, equal rights and opportunities in all aspects of life.‖

This vision captures the three main themes of the United Nations

Decade for Women - peace, development, and equality. Since the International Women‘s Year of 1975, these themes have underlined the development of international policy instruments on women, including the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing

Platform for Action. The themes are inextricably interlinked and are meant to be pursued in a holistic way. Inarguably, peace and equality are preconditions for development; and without equality, development and peace would not be sustainable.

2. MISSION

As articulated in the I-ANDS, it is the ―collective responsibility of all sectors, institutions and individuals to include women or gender concerns in all aspects of government work – from policies, to budgets, programs, projects, services and activities, including recruitment, training, promotion and allocation of benefits and opportunities‖19

The mission of NAPWA is to actively promote institutions and individuals to be responsible implementers of women‘s empowerment and gender equality by providing clear focus and direction, coordinated action, and shared commitment to the Government‘s vision.

Afghanistan National Development Strategy: An Interim Strategy for Security, Governance, Economic

Growth and Poverty Reduction; 2006, Government of Afghanistan: p.153

VISION

Afghanistan will be a peaceful and progressive country where women and men enjoy security, equal rights and opportunities in all aspects of life.

VISION, MISSION,

GOALS AND STRATEGIES

This mission will be pursued at all levels of state apparatus, with the executive branch of government playing implementing and enabling roles under the leadership of the Ministry of

Women‘s Affairs, which will continue to be the government‘s lead ministry for the promotion of women‘s advancement.

3. GOALS

NAPWA will pursue the twin goals of women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Gender equality is a condition where women and men fully enjoy their rights, equally contribute to and enjoy the benefits of development, and where neither is prevented from pursuing what is fair, good, and necessary for living a full and satisfying life.

Women‘s empowerment, on the other hand, is a condition where women take control and determine the direction of their lives, develop their full potential, make enlightened decisions, and exert positive influence over processes, mechanisms, and decisions that affect their well-being.

4. STRATEGIES

Women‘s empowerment and gender equality can only be attained through participation, support, and partnership between and among women and men. The NAPWA goals will be pursued through a three-pronged, interlocking gender equity strategy that has been adopted by the Government under the

Afghanistan Compact and the I-ANDS, which is ―to eliminate discrimination against women, develop their human capital, and ensure their leadership in order to guarantee their full and equal participation in all aspects of life”20. The first two strategies are preconditions to women‘s empowerment, and can be effectively pursued through partnership between women and men. The last is both an outcome and a facilitating factor for Government‘s goals of women‘s empowerment and gender equality. All three strategies are discussed in more detail below.

4.1 Elimination of discrimination against women

The Government of Afghanistan recognizes that discrimination against women is a major obstacle to women‘s empowerment and gender equality. It violates the constitutional provision of equality of rights and respect for human dignity, and constrains women from accessing the means to improve their capacities and well-being.

CEDAW, one of the international conventions to which Afghanistan is a party, defines

‗discrimination against women‘ as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or ibid: p.91

STRATEGY

To eliminate discrimination against women, develop their human capital, and ensure their leadership in order to guarantee their full and equal participation in all aspects of life.

any other field”21. Elimination of discrimination against women is a principle that is contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which “affirms the principle of the inadmissibility of discrimination and proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, including distinction based on sex”22

Consistent with these, we affirm that the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women is a legal obligation of the Government of Afghanistan. In meeting this obligation, we will work towards dismantling individual and institutional biases and patterns of inequality, and will reform laws, policies, practices and beliefs that directly and indirectly result in women‘s disadvantage. We will also adopt suitable sanctions, establish enforcement mechanisms, and develop capacities to report and deal with cases of discrimination, especially against women.

In the security sector, we will do a major assessement of security policies and programs to eliminate provisions that could result in discrimination against women. In all other sectors, we will undertake a comprehensive reform of laws, including commercial, criminal, family, and labour and trade laws to bring them into conformity with the Constitution. We will also enable justice institutions to efficiently deal with crimes against women and will ensure that women who are in conflict with the law receive legal support, fair trial, and humane correctional conditions.

Since inequality in representation is considered a form of discrimination, affirmative action will be introduced in areas where women‘s disadvantage is most serious. To create an environment that fosters non-discrimination, the government will initiate and support advocacy and public education campaigns in all levels.

4.2 Development of women’s human capital

The Government of Afghanistan believes that the full realization of human potential is the right of every woman and man, and is essential to the development of a dynamic and progressive nation. The Government is mindful of its obligation to provide its citizens with the environment and means to develop human potential.

The development of human capital is also an imperative of nation building. Being half of the country‘s population, Afghan women constitute a great reservoir of human resources waiting to be tapped and strengthened. Investment in women‘s human capital will have ripple effects on the well-being of families and Afghan society.

We, the Government of Afghanistan, recognize that the development of women‘s human capital is currently challenged by severe depletion of women‘s intellectual resources resulting from decades of exclusion and constraints, exposure to violence, and disadvantage in many spheres of life. We will therefore invest more on programs that will prolong their life expectancy; raise their health and educational status; develop economic skills, sharpen their political leadership and decision making capacities, increase their mobility, and promote a change of people‘s attitudes regarding women and men‘s roles in society, among other benefits. We will also eliminate

Article 1, Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women; 1979, United

Nations

Preamble, Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women; 1979, United

Nations barriers to opportunities and give preferential access to women in trainings, exchange programs, hiring and promotion.

Moreover, we acknowledge that the development of human capital does not start or end with trainings or capacity building interventions. We will pursue the development of women‘s human capital throughout their life cycle and in all spheres of life. The government will build partnerships to create and expand innovative and sustainable opportunities for women in which their knowledge and skills can flourish and be optimized.

Through NAPWA, we will equalize access to health, education, training, and employment and improve the infrastructures and capacities that support the delivery of services for women in these areas. We will also address issues of safety and security for women in both domestic and public spaces and provide support to the performance of their reproductive duties. Strategies to obtain family members‘ support for the development of women‘s human capital will also be vigorously pursued.

4.3 Promotion of women’s leadership

We acknowledge that the low status of women in Afghan society largely stems from unequal gender relations, with power tilted heavily in men‘s favour. Inability to decide for themselves and influence decision making robs women of self-confidence, weakens their self-image, and subjects them to practices that stunt the development of their full potential as human beings. The promotion of women‘s leadership in Afghanistan is bound to encounter resistance from those who are unaccustomed to women‘s exercise of leadership and power. The poor quality of women‘s human capital, coupled with insecurity, restrictions to mobility, multiple burdens and weak support systems are also going to be a great challenge to the implementation of this strategy.

The Government of Afghanistan is aware of these problems and remains committed to promoting women‘s leadership in both public and private sectors. It recognizes that women‘s leadership is both a means and an end in itself. The Afghan government is also mindful that promoting women‘s leadership constitutes one of the prerequisites for building a governance system that is responsive to interests and wellbeing of the citizenry, recognizing that such a governance system cannot be built if half of the population is excluded from taking part in it.

We will therefore vigorously work for the attainment of the Afghanistan Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) target of thirty percent representation of women in elected and appointed bodies at all levels of government by 2020. Thirty percent is deemed the minimum acceptable level of women‘s representation, recognized as a ―critical mass‖ that may be capable of changing the status quo in a given context. This is based on a United Nations Economic and

Social Council endorsed ―target of having 30 percent of women in positions at decision making levels by 1995‖23 . Considering that women‘s leadership is a necessary input to the promotion of women‘s advancement, we will fast track the attainment of thirty percent representation of women in the civil service, preferably within the next ten years. This will be done by adopting and implementing an affirmative action policy by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) within the framework of the Priority Reform and Restructuring (PRR) program of government. It will be

Aide Memoire for Expert Group Meeting ―Equal participation of men and women in decision-making processes,‖ United Nations, 22 September 2005 implemented by the national appointments mechanism for senior level appointments to the government which is a high level benchmark of the Afghanistan Compact. The same will be done in other priority sectors like commerce, justice, finance, public administration, foreign relations, and agriculture. Identifying the brightest among Afghan women, providing them with enough training, and deploying them in the above mentioned sectors is a strategic step that the government will take to promote women‘s leadership. Moreover, leadership trainings will be started early among girls and young women to build a critical mass of potential women leaders for subsequent generations. NAPWA will pursue a comprehensive leadership and capacity building strategy for women. It will promote partnership building between and among women and men and increase opportunities and mechanisms for women‘s leadership and participation in communities and formal institutions.

As the Government of Afghanistan, our commitments to our women constituents are embodied in many legal instruments and international treaties to which we are a party. This section briefly summarizes the binding obligations and frameworks that shape the Afghan Government‘s gender policies, and how the NAPWA draws from and synthesizes into one framework all women-specific commitments made by the government under the Constitution, MDGs, CEDAW, BPFA and the benchmarks and strategies outlined in the Afghanistan Compact and I-ANDS.

Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women:

Signed by President Hamid Karzai in January 2002, this declaration provides that there be equality between men and women, equal protection under the law, institutional education in all disciplines, freedom of movement, freedom of speech and political participation and the right to wear or not to wear the burqa or scarf.25

The Bonn Agreement: This agreement served as a foundation for the establishment of sustainable and democratic governance in Afghanistan, and recognizes that the participation of women and attention to their rights and status are both a requirement and a vision of the national peace and reconstruction process.

The Afghan Constitution: Article 22 of the Constitution26 outlaws discrimination and declares that women and men are equal in rights and duties. This article guarantees that the entire Constitution and all its provisions apply to both women and men on equal terms. In addition, it recognizes that the means and opportunities for women to benefit from all Constitutional guarantees may be less than that of men. This provision therefore serves as a constant reminder that equality and non-discrimination are

Please see ―Key References‖ in the Annexes for full bibliographic details of the documents discussed in this section.

For the full text of the Declaration, visit http://www.feminist.org/afghan/declarationtext.asp

―(1) Any kind of discrimination and privilege between the citizens of Afghanistan is prohibited. (2) The citizens of Afghanistan - whether man or woman - have equal rights and duties before the law.‖

Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2004 (unofficial English translation).

POLICY

FRAMEWORK

DECLARATION OF THE

ESSENTIAL RIGHTS OF AFGHAN

WOMEN

Section III

The fundamental right of Afghan women, as for all human beings, is life with dignity, which includes the following rights:

1. The right to equality between men and women and the right to the elimination of all forms of discrimination and segregation, based on gender, race or religion.

2.The right to personal safety and to freedom from torture or inhumane or degrading treatment.

3. The right to physical and mental health for women and their children.

4. The right to equal protection under the law.

5. The right to institutional education in all the intellectual and physical disciplines.

6. The right to just and favorable conditions of work.

7. The right to move about freely and independently.

8. The right to freedom of thought, speech, assembly and political participation.

9. The right to wear or not to wear the chadari

(burqa) or the scarf.

10. The right to participate in cultural activities including theatre, music and sports.

mandatory principles that have to be observed in the interpretation and application of every provision of the Constitution, and in certain circumstances, affirmative measures need to be adopted for women‘s rights to be upheld on equal terms with men. Furthermore, by outlawing discrimination, the State makes it clear that violators can expect to be punished and women and men could count on the support of their government in the event that they are discriminated against.

In addition, the Constitution contains provisions that explicitly recognize the right of women without caretakers and seek to correct severe gender disadvantage in the areas of education, family, and policy and decision making. Article 53, section 2 provides that “The State guarantees the rights and privileges of pensioners and disabled and handicapped individuals and as well renders necessary assistance to needy elders, women without caretakers, and needy orphans in accordance with the law.” This policy underscores that women-headed households are entitled to certain assistance from the State. More importantly, it acknowledges that with some assistance, women have the capacity to take care of themselves and their dependents and to live independently as individuals in their own right.

Women‘s right to education was given emphasis under Article 44 in which the State committed to

―devise and implement effective programs for balancing and promoting education for women, improving of education of nomads, and elimination of illiteracy in the country.” This recognizes the disproportionately low representation of women in all levels of education and the

Government‘s concern to redress this imbalance. It also reflects the value that Government gives to female education, both as a right and as a requirement of development, the same value that underlines the requirement for compulsory education up to the intermediate level (Article 43).

The implementation of this policy requires that the importance given by the State to female education be shared and supported by families and all sectors of society, along with potential sanctions for violations of the policy on compulsory education. It also includes addressing the obstacles that constrain women from accessing educational opportunities on equal terms with men. In addition, the State commits to eliminate illiteracy in the country, a move that will primarily target women since they constitute a larger percentage of the country‘s illiterates.

The government‘s commitment to support upbringing of children and mothering roles is expressed in Article 54, section 2, which provides that “the State adopts necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological well-being of the family, especially of child and mother, upbringing of children and the elimination of traditions contrary to the principles of sacred religion of Islam.” This policy articulates the high regard accorded by the State to the well-being of women and children and its readiness to assist in the upbringing of children. This is a necessary guarantee considering that for the effective implementation of Article 22 (equal rights and duties of women and men), traditions that are harmful to women, children and the family‘s well being need to be abolished. This Article will be interpreted along with Article 16, item D of

CEDAW, which states that responsibilities of parenting are equal between women and men. In an ideal situation, therefore, the State will promote shared parenting along with providing child rearing support to any parent, woman or man alike. This article will also be interpreted along with Article 2, item (f) of CEDAW in which State signatories commit to ―…take appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women.”

The importance of women‘s representation in policy and decision making is highlighted in

Articles 83 and 84 which recognize that the participation and contributions of women are essential in national decision making. They further acknowledge the need to level the political playing field so that women can compete and win elective posts on equal terms with men. These provisions are by far among the most significant affirmative action policies ever adopted and the

Social Protection section of the I-ANDS commits to implementing it in the civil service.

Gender and the MDGs: The Afghan

Government has agreed to pursue 9 major goals under the MDG framework up to the year 2020, approximately 13 years from the adoption of NAPWA. These include women-specific targets in the fields of education, economics, health, and political participation.

These were used as the basis for framing the benchmarks of the I-ANDS.

The MDG serves as a framework but does not impose a limit to government priorities. Thus, NAPWA liberally picks up all the women-specific commitments of the MDGs and positions them within a broader set of priorities that it seeks to achieve in the next ten years. While the I-ANDS takes a five year slice of the MDG targets, NAPWA either doubles the I-ANDS targets or attempts to shorten the period through which they are supposed to be attained.

The Way Ahead: Workplan of the Afghan

Government: The document was adopted in the 2004 Berlin Conference and reiterates the

Constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination with respect to women‘s participation in the civil service and in the elections as voters and candidates. It reinforces the

MDG goal on education by declaring the need for Government to ensure that ―all girls and boys complete compulsory education (9 years) and have opportunities to continue at higher levels with special attention to the inclusion of girls who have been prevented from access to education.” It further asserts that government will ensure that gender is mainstreamed within all sectors, programs, and policies. The first National Development Framework of Afghanistan also adopts gender mainstreaming as a strategy as it provides that, ―all programs must pay special attention to gender” and that “Afghanistan has to engage in societal dialogue to enhance the opportunities of women and improve cooperation between men and women.”

Gender equity in the Afghanistan Compact and the I-ANDS: Two principles of the Afghanistan

Compact directly support the vision of NAPWA. Principle 5 states that the Afghan Government and the international community will “build lasting Afghan capacity and effective state and civil society institutions, with particular emphasis on building up human capacities of men and women alike.” Principle 7 also provides that both parties will ―recognize in all policies and programs that men and women have equal rights and responsibilities.‖ Its benchmarks and timelines declare that the National Action Plan for Women in Afghanistan will be fully implemented and in line with the Afghanistan‘s MDGs female participation in all Afghan governance institutions, including elected and appointed bodies and the civil service, will be strengthened.

WOMEN-SPECIFIC MDG

TARGETS

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

- Ensure that by 2020, children everywhere, boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

- Eliminate gender inequality in all levels of education no later than 2020

- Reduce gender disparity in economic areas by 2020

- Increase female participation in elected and appointed bodies at all levels of governance to 30% by 2020

- Reduce gender disparity in access to justice by 50% by 2015 and completely by 2020

Goal 5: Reduce by 50%, between 2002 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio, and further reduce the MMR to 25% of the 2003 level by 2020

The I-ANDS goal on gender equality is to “eliminate discrimination against women, develop their human capital, and ensure their leadership in order to guarantee their full and equal participation in all aspects of life.”27 NAPWA adopts the three components of this goal as strategies as was elaborated in section II, Vision, Mission, Goals, and Strategies.

Gender in the I-ANDS is both separately discussed in a distinct section and tackled as a cross cutting theme…