NOVEMBER 2002 - Issue 8

Rights & Democracy's Online Bulletin

In this edition:

Nigeria: Ayesha Imam to Visit Canada in December

Ayesha Imam, founding executive director of BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights of Nigeria, will travel to Montreal on December 9 to accept the John Humphrey Freedom Award at a ceremony to be held at the Salle du Gesu on Bleury Street in Montreal from 5 to 7 p.m. The Nigerian Community of Montreal and the Montreal Intercultural Choir will also participate in honouring Ms. Imam and BAOBAB for their work in the promotion of women's rights, and particularly for their work against the discriminatory application of the new Sharia laws in some of the states in northern Nigera.

On December 10 at Rights & Democracy, Ms. Imam will lead a panel of experts in a discussion on the promotion and protection of women's rights under muslim, customary and secular laws and the importance of international solidarity and support in cases such as Amina Lawal and Zara Yacoub. Ms. Imam will also travel to Toronto from December 2 to 4 and to Ottawa on December 11 as part of her visit to Canada, where she will meet with government officials, human rights groups, students and the media.

Afghanistan: Rights & Democracy sets-up Women's Rights Fund

The city of Kabul is in ruins, and women are still largely absent from its pot-holed streets. After 23 years of war, the countryside is littered with anti-personnel mines. Weapons are widely available, and there is no demobilization programme in practice for the numerous militias that fought for the different warlords. These were some of the observations of Ariane Brunet and Isabelle Solon-Helal, of Rights & Democracy's Women's Rights Programme, on their return from their September trip to set up the Women's Rights Fund in Afghanistan.

The year-long project financed by the Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA) Peacebuilding Fund will assist local organizations focusing on women's rights, advocacy, networking and women's legal rights.

"In many ways, the situation for women is more difficult under the Northern Alliance than it was under the Taliban," said Ariane Brunet, coordinator of the programme. "Sexual harassment is rife and men stare at women, waiting for them to lower their eyes in submission."

Despite the departure of the Taliban, the fundamentalists and warlords still have important roles in government - having already forced the departure from the cabinet of long time women's rights advocate Dr. Sima Samar--recipient of the 2001 John Humphrey Freedom Award and now head of the Human Rights Commission.

The notorious Taliban-created Vice and Virtue Department still exists, and Rights & Democracy staff were astonished to see this department still in action on a nightly television programme in which Afghan women trained in Iran and in Saudi Arabia preach a discriminatory and conservative version of the Koran.

The government of Hamid Karzai has also as yet failed to repeal a number of decrees that deny women's rights, including those that bar access to education for girls and women, prohibit children from playing with kites and women from riding in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, beside a male driver.

Although in Kabul many women and girls have started school, in more remote areas of the country, the Taliban edicts are still in practice. In recent weeks several girls' schools have been the targets of bombings or arson in the northern provinces of Jozjan and Sar-i-Pul and in the southeastern province of Zabulhave.

Moreover, in more remote areas, women are often still being made to carry out prison sentences for crimes their husbands, fathers and brothers have committed.

Despite the serious constraints, women have nonetheless started what is sure to be an exceptionally arduous struggle to have their voices heard. Women jurists from throughout the country, for example, want to play a role in the Constitution-making process to ensure that women's rights will be enshrined in the new Constitution of Afghanistan.

The Rights & Democracy team also found there is a very serious absence of a genuine reconstruction programme in the country. While there are currently 360 international NGOs, donor countries-who pledged millions last year at the Tokyo meeting to help the Karzai government rebuild the country-have not followed through on their commitments.

Ariane Brunet and Palwasha Hasan, in Kabul.

Although foreign women hold key positions in international NGOs, Rights & Democracy is the first international organization to hire an Afghan woman. Palwasha Hasan will be the Coordinator of the Women's Rights Fund in Kabul. She was until recently director of the Afghan Women's Education Centre (AWEC) in Peshawar, Pakistan.

"The hiring of a woman coordinator is part of our strategy to affirm Afghan women's capacity to carry out an important role in public life, participate in civil society and to be part of the decision making in the reconstruction of the country," Ariane Brunet said.

Libert@s is the electronic newsletter of Rights & Democracy that is sent by e-mail every two months to our friends, supporters and partners throughout Canada and the world, offering immediate updates on Rights & Democracy's work.

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Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development) is a Canadian institution with an international mandate. It is an independent organization, which promotes, advocates and defends the democratic and human rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights. In cooperation with civil society and governments in Canada and abroad, Rights & Democracy initiates and supports programmes to strengthen laws and democratic institutions, principally in developing countries.

Rights & Democracy focuses its work on four thematic priorities: Democratic Development, Women's Rights, the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Globalization and Human Rights; and two special operations: International Human Rights Advocacy and Urgent Action and Important Opportunities.

Jean-Louis Roy (President)
Kathleen Mahoney (Chairperson)
John Fryer
Suzanne Laporte
Sofia Macher
David Matas
Vitit Muntarbhorn
Willy Munyoki Mutunga
Michèle Rouleau

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