There
can be no sustainable peace in Afghanistan if women are not at the
negotiating table, former United States Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton told ambassadors and activists at UN Headquarters on Tuesday.
Mrs.
Clinton delivered the keynote address at the meeting of the Group of
Friends of Women in Afghanistan, held barely two weeks after the signing
of a peace deal between Washington and the Taliban.
The agreement calls for the insurgent group to participate in
intra-Afghan peace talks which were to begin that day. It also covers a
timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
“Women must be included, and women’s rights respected, as part of any peace negotiation in Afghanistan”, said Mrs. Clinton.
“Women are essential to combating corruption, building economic
growth and ensuring the longevity of any agreement that is reached. If
women are sidelined, the prospects for sustainable peace are slim. If
society is torn apart and women pushed to the margins, it is more likely
that terrorists will find a haven. There can be no sustainable peace
without women’s participation and rights”.
‘Bitter memory’ of Taliban rule
First Lady Rula Ghani said her “brave, resilient Afghan sisters” fear negotiations could upend hard-won gains.
In a video message, she spoke of their “bitter memory” of the Taliban’s five-year authoritarian rule from 1996 to 2001.
“To this day, they remember how they would be whipped in public for
the slightest infraction; how they were kept secluded and deprived from
going to school, seeking medical services, or interacting socially, and
how they had to endure cruel punishments such as stoning decreed by
outlaw courts. In addition, quite a few of them lost their closest and
most dear relatives to Taliban acts of violence: an occurrence that
unfortunately continues until today”, she said.
Twenty years ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a
resolution reaffirming women’s important role in preventing and
resolving conflicts. Resolution 1325
calls for women’s wider inclusion in peace processes, and for gender
perspectives to be incorporated in all UN peace and security efforts.
Numerous studies back this up, according to Dr. Adam Lupel, Vice President of the International Peace Institute.
“Women’s substantive involvement in peace processes increases their
potential for success and durability…because if women meaningfully
participate, peace processes are less likely to be simply a negotiation
about power among men with guns, and more likely to include broader
issues about how to build a sustainable, peaceful society”, he said.
World Bank/Graham Crouch
A midwife at a medical health clinic in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, checks the blood pressure of a 22-year-old woman. (file)
A seat at the negotiating table
The Group of Friends of Women in Afghanistan was established last
November to highlight the central role women have in the country’s
future.
Co-chaired by Afghanistan and the United Kingdom, it is comprised of
women representatives to the UN and senior officials from the global
organization.
Afghanistan’s UN Ambassador Adela Raz praised the partnership, joking
that the coronavirus threat had not deterred members from attending the
meeting.
“We need our allies, international partners and supporters to elevate
the strides of my fellow Afghan sisters for not only having a seat at
the negotiating table but for a comprehensive peace agreement that
protects the constitutional rights of every Afghan woman”, she stated.
“Because women’s rights are human rights – said by none other than our keynote speaker for today”.
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Despite constraints imposed by the new
coronavirus disease, activists for gender equality gathered at UN
Headquarters on Monday for the latest session of the Commission on the
Status of Women (CSW), to reinforce the message that women’s rights are human rights.
On Saturday the United Nations called for
further reductions in violence in Afghanistan, and for the conditions
for intra-Afghan peace talks to be met, following the announcement of an
agreement between the United States and the Taliban.
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