Women have suffered deeply during Afghanistan’s 40 years of war. Violence against women remains one of the most serious human rights issues in Afghanistan. Shivani Sharma explores the challenges that Afghan women face in the context of the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations and the possible implications on achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan

Sharma, Shivani

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Shivani Sharma April 15th, 2021A just  ght for women’s rights in Afghanistan0 commentsEstimated reading time: 3 minutesWomen have suffered deeply during Afghanistan’s 40 years of war. Violence againstwomen remains one of the most serious human rights issues in Afghanistan. ShivaniSharma explores the challenges that Afghan women face in the context of the ongoingintra-Afghan negotiations and the possible implications on achieving lasting peace inAfghanistan.With the signing of the US-Taliban peace deal, Afghanistan embarked on a new chapter toput an end to its longstanding war with a desire to achieve lasting and sustainable peace.To realise its goal and guarantee a smooth transition to a peaceful society, thegovernment in Afghanistan must work for a just, gender-equal, and inclusive society tobring Afghanistan closer to its goal of achieving durable peace in the country.However, the composition of the Afghan government’s negotiating team for the intra-Afghan talks raised considerable questions around the inclusivity of the peace table andoverall, on the status of women in Afghanistan. The delegation which was meant to berepresentative of the society it serves kept women’s participation in the peace processremarkably low. Out of the 21-member team negotiating with the Taliban at the intra-Afghan talks, only  ve female members of the Afghan government have a place on thetable. Moreover, the absence of representation of women from civil society as well asfrom local levels also risks some of the critical issues of these women being leftunaddressed or under-represented in the peace dialogue.By only accounting for a proportion of the State’s population, the continued lack ofrecognition of women’s rights and their exclusion from the institutional structures ofdecision making are quite likely to impede Afghanistan’s path to realising peace. Anyagreement reached without the active participation of women is a disregard of their basichuman right to decide on their future, and the future of the state in which they reside asequal citizens.The representation of women in the peace dialogue is vital as women are not onlyaffected by war and violence but also act as a ‘catalyst’ of peace and change. Havingsuffered the most from war and militarisation, women stand up against war and adoptnon-violent approaches rooted in cooperation, dialogue and trust. They also act as criticalallies in implementing and ensuring the sustainability of the peace agreements bycreating public awareness, working across different strata of society, and by helpingvarious groups reconcile. According to UN data, women’s inclusion in the peace processincreases the chances of agreements lasting at least 15 years by 35 per cent.A new joint report by Oxfam, Cordiad, and Inclusive Peace in September 2020 concludedthat nearly 80 per cent of Afghanistan’s past peace meetings since 2005 had left womentotally out of the peace process. Despite several legislative, and institutional safeguards,and the adoption of the National Action Plan (NAP) under the UN 1325 resolution,Afghanistan has failed to provide relief and recovery services to women from/withincon ict-affected communities and address the many challenges that Afghan womenface.Any agreement reached without the activeparticipation of women is a disregard of their basichuman right to decide on their future, and the future ofthe state in which they reside as equal citizens.The State’s commitment under the NAP to hold space for women by prioritising theirparticipation in the peace process, and in the drafting of strategies and policies on peaceand security also remains largely unful lled. While women have fought hard for theirrights and freedom over the years, many of their concerns and challenges remainunaddressed.Erosion of women’s rights: Impact of armed con ict on Afghan womenHistorically women in Afghanistan enjoyed an empowered status having access to equalrights in many areas of life. The right to education, the right to vote and to run for politicalo ces were a few rights enjoyed by women. However, with time as the countryencountered coups, military con ict, and then the Taliban rule, many of the rights enjoyedby women were rolled back.Under the Taliban regime, women in Afghanistan were not only excluded from the publicsphere but subjected to a suppressive regime against women’s rights. Having created anenvironment of pervasive fear, the Taliban imposed compulsory and heavy veiling forwomen, opposed education and employment for girls and women, and restricted theirmobility as women were only allowed to go outside of the houses when accompanied bymale relatives or risk severe punishment.Despite this, many Afghan women remained resilient and continued to  ght by secretlyrunning home-based schools to impart modern education to girls. Habiba Sarabi, one ofthe  ve women peace negotiators in the intra-Afghan negotiations was one of them.However, with the end of the Taliban regime in 2001 and the signing of the BonnAgreement women received national and international support for a gender-sensitivegovernment in Afghanistan. With the establishment of the Afghanistan IndependentHuman Rights Commission and the Ministry of Women Affairs at the Bonn Conferenceand the implementation of a new constitution in Afghanistan in 2004, several legislative,and institutional advances were made towards the restoration of women rights.Constitutional guarantees such as those mentioned in Articles 22, 83, and 84 of theAfghan Constitution, legal legislation such as the Law on Elimination of Violence AgainstWomen (2009), and international assistance contributed signi cantly to improving thestatus of women in Afghanistan.Many women’s organisations representing civil society also worked hard towards therestoration of women’s rights in the areas of education, health and civic education. Muchof the lobbying for women’s rights came from non-pro t NGOs led by Afghan women andthe Afghan women’s network that worked extensively at the grassroots level workingtowards bringing a community-level change.Despite advances made by women in managing con ict and the assurances andguarantees of the national government, challenges for women continue to exist. Forexample: many of the commitments from the country’s NAP remain to be implemented.Challenges such as the lack of cooperation between ministries, the absence of fundingand the aggravated insecurity situation in the country have hampered the implementationof the plan.The two-decade war on terrorism and the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistanwith the rise in suicide attacks has also acted as one of the major deterrents for Afghanwomen to step out to receive education and thereby diminished their employmentopportunities resulting in high rates of illiteracy and unemployment. Moreover, internallydisplaced women and women living in con ict-affected communities were, and remain,particularly more vulnerable to gender-based violence, and women who are vocal abouttheir rights risk becoming victims of assassination attacks.The recent attacks and death of a 24-year-old girl Fatima Khalil, a strong advocate forwomen’s rights and a donor liaison o cer at Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, inJune 2020, and the assassination attempt by unknown gun-men on Fawzia Koo , one ofthe woman negotiators in the peace talks, clearly projects how women participating inpublic roles continue to be of a prime target. Whilst this continues peace and stablegovernance seems unachievable.The proposal of the now ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations too received a mix bag ofreactions from the Afghan women. While most of the Afghan women are encouraging ofthe peace talks, many worry about the return of the Taliban and the prospective loss oftheir hard-won freedom.Women in Afghanistan have also shown their disappointment with the US administrationover their failure to ensure or safeguard women rights during their negotiations with theTaliban. The US which once vowed to liberate Afghan women from the draconianrepression of the Taliban, made no efforts in safeguarding women rights during theirtalks with the Taliban, calling it an internal matter to be resolved through the intra-Afghannegotiations.The question of women’s rights and status remains a topic of hard bargain between theAfghan leadership and the Taliban as the two hold different views on the matter. TheTaliban deliberately projected an ambiguous position on women’s issues by stating thatwomen be allowed to work and be educated but only within the boundaries of Islamic lawand Afghan culture. Such a perspective reduces the matter to a set of variousinterpretations around religious norms.However, despite the present impasse in the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations, the hopeis that the intra-Afghan negotiations be more than just a power-sharing arrangementbetween the male power-brokers and that women’s issues or their rights are not tradedoff or side-lined. Sustainable peace is achievable only when inclusivity is achieved.Women’s representation in the peace process shouldn’t be tokenistic and must hold anequal right to drive the narrative and establish a peace framework.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of theauthor(s) only, and do not necessarily re ect LSE’s or those of the LSE Centre for Women,Peace and Security.Image credit: Sohaib Ghyasi on UnsplashAbout the authorPosted In: PeacebuildingDr. Shivani Sharma is a PhD holder from the Centre for South Asian Studies, Schoolof International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her thesis titled, ‘Securitisationof Threats: The State and Internal Security Challenges in Pakistan, 2001-2016’ isfocused on understanding the internal security challenges of violent extremism andterrorism in the state of Pakistan. She is a research fellow at the South AsiaDemocratic Forum, a think-tank based out of Belgium. She has previously taught atthe Hindu College and Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi. Shivaniholds a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Political Science from Hindu College andwas awarded an Academic Excellence Award for securing University position in herMasters Program. She also has an M.Phil in South Asian Studies from theJawaharlal Nehru University. Her main areas of research includes Security politics,terrorism studies, peace and con ict resolution.Shivani Sharma

A just fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan

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A just fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan

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