Afghan Women Raise Their Voice: Include us in peace negotiations

An Afghan women’s national consensus for peace was held in Kabul, reported the Bakhtar News Agency. Almost 3500 women from across Afghanistan participated in it. Addressing a joint news conference, Zuhra Yousuf, the advisor to First Lady Dr. Rula Ghani, said that the First Lady’s Office had mooted the idea that women should be present in peace talks months ago. It was then shared with and expanded to other departments and ministries, including with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Afghan High Peace Council, civil society organizations and other women’s networks, including in the provinces. Thousands of Afghan women attended the consensus and deliberated majorly on the issues of war, its causes, and solutions.

Threat of non-state actors

The Consensus issued a 15-point declaration which reflected the views, demands, and concerns of almost 15000 women. Acting Minister of Information and Culture Hasina Safi read out the declaration, saying the government, the Taliban, and all other armed insurgent groups are asked to immediately stop war and declare ceasefire without any conditions. A major issue that emerged from all the discussions and interactions was that of the non-state and irresponsible gunmen, who are a major cause of insecurity in the country. The declaration asks the government to legally treat and disarm such individuals, expand the rule of law, and pave the way for ensuring peace and stability throughout the country. The declaration also condemned any attempts by any entity to establish an interim government, and demanded the holding of fair and transparent elections.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani also addressed a gathering of around 2,000 women from around the country. A statement from the Presidential Palace said on Thursday that President Ghani stressed the need for preserving women’s rights in the peace process and for the issue to be given  special attention during the upcoming Loya Jirga on peace in Kabul. He called the event a historic day and said women are a force of positive change in the country.”You are no longer victims of decisions on the future of Afghanistan,” President Ghani reiterated. “No one can impose peace on us. A peace which is not sustainable is rejected.”
President Ghani also stressed the need for holding the upcoming elections and said the polls will prove significant for strengthening a democratic system in the country. The President said Afghans are living as responsible citizens under the Constitution and that the women’s message to Afghan forces was a testimony that they are protecting the Constitution.

Meanwhile the First Lady Rula Ghani said “All Afghans want peace, but we don’t know why conflict drags on; we no longer want war as we are tired of it, The government desires peace and has plans for it……..Women always think no one listens to our voice. That is wrong because we are the key pillars of the community. Our thoughts and concerns are important and should be heard.”

At the end the meeting issued a declaration, saying Afghan women demand Afghan-led peace talks, ceasefire, respecting women’s life, supporting the families of martyred soldiers and holding of transparent elections.

6-point agenda for Moscow talks

Afghan women have long been raising their voices and making their presence felt. Before the Moscow talks began in February this year, the Afghan Women’s Network issued a 6-point agenda for the talks, which looked into their demands and concerns.

These included not changing the political order, which the post-Taliban democracy has created, as it has greatly empowered Afghan women. Public institutions have provided employment to women, educated them, given them skills, lowered their mortality rates and have provided them with relative security. Peace negotiated at the cost of the democratic system, or divisions of state institutions such as ministries between different factions will not be acceptable by the women of Afghanistan. Democracy must not be up for negotiation!

To not compromise law and order: The lawlessness that was created when the Afghan army and police were dismantled in the wake of the Soviet departure in 1989 harmed Afghan women massively. The dissolution of the Afghan armed forces only pleased our adversaries, as Nawaz Sharif famously acknowledged the dissolution of the Afghan armed forces as one of the key achievements of the Pakistani state. Afghan men involved in negotiating peace must be clear that the dissolution of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces is one of the red lines for Afghan women as citizens of Afghanistan, and this red line MUST NOT be crossed.

The ANDSF must not be politicised and it must remain a national institution that contains men and women from all ethnic groups of the country. The present-day Afghan army and police are dedicated, and tax-payers of many nations have invested in giving them skills, their efforts and sacrifices must not be erased.

Afghan women must be brought to the table: Some women are involved in the peace talks lately, which we support and see it as part of Afghan women’s achievements. However, we want women’s representation to be meaningful. There is a strong women’s movement in Afghanistan that represents all strata of the society. These women should be involved in the peace talks. Women’s involvement in the talks must not be reduced to party politics; it should be a true inclusion.

There can be no peace without human rights: Afghan women would not accept peace bought at the cost of their hard-gained freedoms. We believe that any peace that threatens Afghan women’s rights, freedoms and gains will not be sustainable. Temporary restrictions on women’s rights in the name of peace and security are utterly unacceptable. Therefore, on conclusion of any peace agreement, women’s rights to life, education, healthcare, freedom of movement, right to engage in political and economic activities and so on must be guaranteed.

Be direct about women’s rights: It is important that all Afghan men on the negotiating table are vocal about the need for not negotiating away women’s rights in any peace process. Afghanistan is an Islamic country and Afghan women live their lives within an Afghan and Islamic culture. There is no need to reinterpret Afghan women’s lives. Where reinterpretation is needed is around respect for human life and dignity. You do not have to be a woman to defend women’s rights! We are your partners in the development of the country, as such you have to use your male privilege to fight for our interests too.

Do not cut off Afghanistan from the international community: Despite significant progress made in the last fifteen years, Afghanistan remains aid dependent. As a nation we have to eradicate polio, lower maternal mortality further, deal with the repercussions of having the highest population growth rates in the world and manage natural disasters such as the ongoing drought. We need the support of the international community to be able to achieve these goals. Afghanistan has made huge progress in building trade links within and beyond the region. Do not make any compromises that would make future economic sanctions against us a possibility, pushing us further into economic poverty.

Memory of atrocities

More recently, on the eve of the Doha round of talks between US representatives and the Taliban, the Afghan Women’s Network once again issued a statement reiterating the same demands.

The statement reiterated their wholeheartedly support for peace talks between all parties to the conflict. However, any peace deal that excludes a firm guarantee of their rights, that they have won through hard fought gains to access and exercise in the last seventeen years, will be absolutely unacceptable.

The statement insisted on trust building measures from the Taliban in order that they show their goodwill towards protecting women’s security and women’s rights as are within the framework of Islam and laid out in our laws and constitution. Trust building measures include re-opening girls schools in Taliban controlled areas, protecting women’s NGO offices from attack, ensuring female health workers from doctors to vaccinators have access to their place of employment at households, protecting journalists, etc…

They noted that their collective experiences as women under the Taliban rule, whether in urban centres or rural villages, had left them ‘with bitter memories of oppressive measures towards women in health, education and employment making it impossible for women to flourish and reach their full potential.’

In the last decade and half, the urban and rural women of Afghanistan, have come together and led a nationwide movement towards their emancipation and the attainment of their human rights. This movement encompasses their individuals acts of resistance and activism, thier development work, theur political participation, their self-development through employment, education, sports and arts. The network reiterated that ‘We have changed our reality drastically. While we are not a homogenous group, we believe that the democratic system has been the most conducive to our growth, and empowerment. Now that various parties are talking with the Taliban, we fear the loss of our hard gains.’

The Taliban have time and again said that they have changed,  women’s experiences from the provinces and communities where insurgencies continue contradicts such claims to these changes. The statement further urged ‘all sides to commit to an immediate ceasefire, we do emphasize a ceasefire should pave the way for real change in behaviour of ruling parties in respective communities.’  News of forced displacement, infliction of indiscriminate violence on civilians, stoning of men and women without regard for the Islamic principal of justice, closing of schools – 1200 in the last count -, and erasure of women from public life are some of the most common experiences that come out of Taliban controlled areas. These are all areas that need  real redress and change to justify the change we are all looking for.

The declaration called on all sides of conflict  ‘to respect International Human Rights Law and  prioritize civilian protection in all operation.  Unfortunately civilian causality is on the rise where attacks have specifically targeted schools, mosques and public gatherings.’ In 2018 alone, 279 aid workers, more than 80 journalists and media workers, 60 healthcare workers were threatened, kidnapped, attacked, injured or killed, and 1200 schools remained closed.   The insecurity results in 1.9 Afghans becoming internally displaced, and 4.2 million people in need for humanitarian assistance.

Afghan women’s voices need to be heard far and wide and they have to be given a seat at any peace negotiations concerning Afghanistan. They are more than half the population and they wore the worst brunt of the post-Soviet war internecine fighting and then during the years of Taliban rule. The rights of Aghan women are non-negotiable and no peace conference or negotiation will be complete without their presence.

Aditi Bhaduri

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