For Your Information: Status of Women in Post-Conflict Societies (UNHRC Topic A)
The war in Afghanistan has inundated the
nation with relentless air raids and conflicts on land, and if that’s not enough
suffering – its grievances
continues to deepen with the plight of their women. The United Nations
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that there had been a 20
percent increase in the casualties of women and girls in 2012 — the figure includes
more than 300 women killed and over 560 who were injured, according to Reuters.
Medical services and the most basic sanitation are still lacking, leading to
more than half of the women between the ages of 15 and 49 dying from
complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Female literacy lingered at around
18% according to statistics from 2010, whereas male literacy was more than its
double at 42%. The list of inequities for the women of Afghanistan continues
and places the nation on the U.N. list of “worst
places on globe for women’s health,” with education and
economic issues still yet to be dealt with.
The
decade of conflicts has destroyed much of the needed infrastructure in
Afghanistan, and it is imperative that the necessary medical services are
provided to the women under an organized system. The life expectancy for women in
Afghanistan is regrettably low at 44 years (a number lower than that of males
in the country), largely due to health-related causes. Over half of the children
that are born fail to be reared with the proper maternal care, and the problems
of child malnourishment and micronutrient deficiencies are prevalent across the
country. The failure to secure health and safety for the women of Afghanistan thus
leads to such destructive cycles of poverty for the entire population.
Not
only are women physically more at risk to armed attacks and diseases, it has been tragically
noted by Amnesty International and other experts that women and girls often
become specifically targeted. Those whose political views are more liberal are “targeted by their
partners, relatives and armed groups, including the Taliban,” living under a
constant threat and leading lives contrary to the ideals of “bringing freedom
and democracy for Afghan people” that the United
States and its allies initially put forth with their invasions.
The
education for women had in fact been largely secular before the Taliban took power, with the lives
of its women resembling that of the western culture by the 1980’s. Kabul was deemed
“a cosmopolitan
city,” where “women studied
agriculture, engineering and business at the city’s university” and “held government
jobs.” Criticisms have
arose in 2001 that the CIA-sponsored education in Afghanistan has been
non-secular, resulting in an increase in the number of religious schools “from 2,500 in 1980
to over 39,000 in 2001.”
The
obstacles that women in Afghanistan face seem formidable, and they may require years — or decades — of reconstruction
efforts along with aids worth millions of dollars to resolve. Yet it is
essential to improve the health conditions, literacy rates, and overall
economic, social, and political freedoms of the Afghan women in order to ensure
a sustainable development for the entire population. With the gradual departure
of the U.S. troops, it is now left to the people of Afghanistan and its
concerned allies to promote a successful restoration of the country — and especially the
status of its women — to the prewar conditions.
by Seoyoon Choi
Photo courtesy of http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/aug/14/afghanistan-womens-rights-rape
