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BUILDING WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP IN AFGHANISTAN
Convened by UNIFEM and the Government of Belgium
Brussels, 10 - 11 December 2001
Afghan women have been convening in numerous venues in the past two months
to discuss and analyze how peace building and reconstruction in Afghanistan
can take women's talents, skills, contributions and rights into account.
Through a series of discussions, panels and workshops including the
UNDP/World Bank and ADB Meeting in Islamabad, the United Nations Conference
on Afghanistan in Bonn, the Civil Society Meeting in Bonn, the Afghan
Women's Summit for Democracy in Brussels, Afghan women have been setting out
their expectations for future government, the international community, of
each other and of themselves.
UNIFEM and the Government of Belgium convened a roundtable on Building
Women's Leadership in Afghanistan in Brussels 10 - 11 December 2001. The
roundtable brought together a diversity of Afghan women from different
backgrounds and political beliefs, from within and outside Afghanistan to
engage in a dialogue with major donors, UN agencies and the World Bank on
Afghan women's participation in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Recognizing the present opportunity to put in place mechanisms for
supporting Afghan women's leadership in shaping the future of their
country, Afghan women attending the Roundtable called for immediate and concrete
action to ensure women's participation in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
The Brussels Action Plan makes specific recommendations to the international
community, United Nations bodies and the Interim Administration of
Afghanistan. It calls for security guarantees, without which women's
participation in political and socio-economic development cannot be ensured.
Afghan women underscored the need for tolerance and freedom to be principles
guiding the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Recognizing, historically, the
situation of women in Afghanistan, and taking gender issues into account,
the following Action Plan identifies immediate priorities for the
reconstruction of Afghanistan.
We, the Afghan Women present at this Meeting, have determined the following
priorities for Afghanistan and request support from the international
community, donors, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and
key players in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan to
assist us in implementing them:
-Assess the Situation of Women and Gender Issues in Afghanistan
- Conduct a situation analysis and needs assessment of women and gender
issues, building on the 1989/1990 Reconstruction Plan for Afghanistan
-Guarantee Women's Protection and Security
- Consistent with Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and
security, deploy a United Nations Peacekeeping Force with a robust mandate
to protect civilians with special attention to the security and protection
of women.
- Enhance and accelerate gender-sensitive mine action to the Afghan
community inside and outside Afghanistan, with a special emphasis on mine
clearance, mine awareness, assistance and rehabilitation.
- Establish an International Human Rights Commission for Afghanistan to
monitor the human rights situation of women in Afghanistan as well as in
refugee camps in neighboring countries. The Commission will monitor and
report on compliance with the Bonn Agreement of 5 December.
- Recognize the moral responsibility of the international community in the
23 years of armed conflict in Afghanistan and establish national/international trials to bring to justice those who have committed
serious war crimes and crimes against humanity, including gender based
violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual violence.
- In planning for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, consider
the different needs of female and male ex-combatants and take into account
the needs of their dependents, including through long term training,
education and economic employment opportunities.
- Prevent the trafficking of women and girls, provide assistance and
remedies to survivors of these and other related violations.
Support Women's Leadership and Governance
- Ensure women's equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for
the maintenance and promotion of peace and security in Afghanistan and
increase their role in decision making in the negotiation and implementation
of the peace process
- Support local women's peace initiatives and indigenous processes for
conflict resolution.
- Building on Afghanistan's 1964 Constitution, adopt measures to ensure the
protection of and respect for human rights of women and girls, particularly
as they relate to the constitution, the electoral system, the police and the
judiciary.
- Establish a timeline for the full implementation of the constitution
throughout Afghanistan and initiate an inclusive process for re-establishing
the Afghan legal justice system that supports women's access to justice
- Ensure that women's participation in the interim/provisional and permanent
governance structures is proportional to the population.
- Fund and establish a Commission of Afghan women, which will provide names
of Afghan women around the world to the interim/provisional government, to
ensure women's participation in all aspects of governance. The
interim/provisional government of Afghanistan must recognize this commission
officially. This process also includes the creation of means of access to
and communication with Afghan women in all parts of Afghanistan (vehicles,
computers, telephones etc).
- Create and implement educational awareness programs for women's rights.
- Adopt a system-wide policy among international actors and UN agencies and
NGOs, to ensure that Afghan women be appointed to senior positions,
including leadership and advisory roles.
- Establish a UNIFEM Fund for Afghan Women in order to support and promote
capacity building for women leadership.
-Ensure Women's Food Security
- Ensure food security for women by involving women in the design and
distribution of food and water programs, including women and their
families in the rural areas and in camp situations.
-Support Women's Health
- Provide urgently needed medical equipment and medicines to Afghanistan.
- Provide immediate support for women's psycho-social health care,
disability, emergency and reproductive health needs, including those
related to HIV/AIDs.
- Provide refresher and new courses at village and neighborhood level to
train women in health services, including health-education, child-delivery
and mother-child health-care.
- Provide scholarships and specialist training for women physicians in the
field of gynecology, internal disease and surgery.
Support Education for Women and Girls
- Provide massive and immediate teacher training courses to ensure the
reopening of schools on 22 March 2002.
- Prioritize the rebuilding of girls' schools and build new schools equipped
with all necessary supplies, tools and material, including provision of
school feeding.
- Revise existing primary, secondary and high schools textbooks from a
gender-perspective and ensure the printing and distribution of primary,
secondary and high school textbooks.
- Provide scholarships and support to university departments of Islamic
studies to promote progressive and enlightened Islam teachings.
- Support scholarships and education in foreign languages in order to enable
Afghan women to use their existing skills more effectively in the
reconstruction of Afghanistan.
- Provide computer equipment, national and international network facilities,
as well as advanced relevant training for women.
- Provide kindergartens, playgrounds and mother-child-care centers to enable
mothers to take up and enjoy employment opportunities.
Support an Independent Media and Confidence Building Measures
- Re-establish the media infrastructure, including repair of technical
facilities and equipment, including printing press, as well training of
women media professionals in all related fields.
- Establish a women radio-station for national and international
broadcasting to convey peace messages, human rights awareness, gender issues
and information on reconstruction, rehabilitation and political
developments, as well as cultural and religious awareness raising
programmes for children, youth and families.
- Support the transfer of archives and libraries created by Afghans abroad
to Afghanistan, including the establishment of a national library and
archive to preserve the research and data (which will facilitate the
research capacity within the country).
Strengthen Women's Community Based Organizations
- Conduct a survey to identify the problems and solutions to women and
girls, who have been forced into prostitution and trafficking as a result of
war, poverty and an oppressive regime.
- Assist community-based women's organizations by identifying their
weaknesses and responding with adequate support to strengthen them.
- Provide vocational skills training in management and leadership for women
and young girls at the Community Based Organization, Non-Governmental
Organization level and government departments.
- Provide vocational skills training relevant to women activities, including
entrepreneurship and loan-programs, economic opportunities, marketing,
child-rearing (e.g. enhance mothers ability to provide adequate support to
disabled children).
- Identify the needs of the Afghan family unit, including women, men and
children.
- Establish a Coalition of Afghan Women to ensure interaction and
coordination of all humanitarian and development activities carried out by
Afghan women inside and outside Afghanistan.
- Provide housing for widows and female-headed families and disabled women.
- Formulate a national policy of action to meet the special needs of women
rendered vulnerable by the conflict for various reasons (e.g. victims of
war, disabled, single mothers).
Guarantee Safe Repatriation and Return
- Ensure that repatriation of refugees to Afghanistan is voluntary and based
on conditions conducive to return.
- Ensure the protection and safety of women refugees and internally
displaced persons.
- Provide and continue the existing resettlement program for those who are
unwilling to return to Afghanistan.
Increase Resources for Afghan Women's Leadership in Peace building and
Reconstruction
- Establish a multi-donor gender consortium that will support a country-led
strategy for integrating women into all aspects of nation building on a
sustainable basis. This committee must be co-chaired by an Afghan woman.
- Ensure the transfer of best practices from international experience on the
integration of women into development processes and monitoring of donor
programs to ensure full mainstreaming of gender issues and the provision
of women's specific programs.
- Ensure that the budget allocation for the recovery and development of
Afghanistan is gender-sensitive.
- Condition international funding for the rehabilitation and reconstruction
of Afghanistan on the restoration of women's human rights.
- Request UNIFEM to follow up on the Brussels Plan of Action, formulated by
the Afghan women at the roundtable in Brussels.
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