105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 97

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Whereas the legacy of the war in Afghanistan has had a devastating impact on the civilian population, and a particularly negative impact on the rights and security of women

and girls;

Whereas the current environment is one in which the rights

of women and girls are routinely violated, leading the Department of State in its 1997 Country Report on Human

Rights, released January 30, 1998, to conclude that

women are beaten for violating increasingly restrictive

Taliban dress codes, which require women to be covered

from head to toe, women are strictly prohibited from

working outside the home, women and girls are denied

the right to an education, women are forbidden from appearing outside the home unless accompanied by a male

family member, and beatings and death result from a

failure to observe these restrictions;

Whereas the Secretary of State stated, in November 1997 at

the Nasir Bagh Refugee Camp in Pakistan, that if a society is to move forward, women and girls must have access to schools and health care, be able to participate in

the economy, and be protected from physical exploitation

and abuse;

Whereas Afghanistan recognizes international human rights

conventions such as the Convention on the Prevention
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and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against

Women, and the International Covenant on Economic,

Social, and Cultural Rights, which espouses respect for

basic human rights of all individuals without regard to

race, religion, ethnicity, or gender;

Whereas the use of rape as an instrument of war is considered a grave breach of the Geneva Convention and a

crime against humanity;

Whereas people who commit grave breaches of the Geneva

Convention are to be apprehended and subject to trial;

Whereas there is significant credible evidence that warring

parties, factions, and powers in Afghanistan are responsible for numerous human rights violations, including the

systematic rape of women and girls;

Whereas in recent years Afghan maternal mortality rates

have increased dramatically, and the level of women’s

health care has declined significantly;

Whereas there has been a marked upswing in human rights

violations against women and girls since the Taliban coalition seized Kabul in 1996, including Taliban edicts denying women and girls the right to an education, employment, access to adequate health care, and direct access

to humanitarian aid; and

Whereas peace and security in Afghanistan are conducive to

the full restoration of all human rights and fundamental

freedom, the voluntary repatriation of refugees to their

homeland in safety and dignity, the clearance of mine
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fields, and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

2 concurring), That Congress—

3 (1) deplores the continued human rights viola4 tions by all parties, factions, and powers in Afghani5 stan;

6 (2) condemns targeted discrimination against

7 women and girls and expresses deep concern regard8 ing the prohibitions on employment and education;

9 (3) strongly condemns the use of rape or other

10 forms of systematic gender discrimination by any

11 party, faction, or power in Afghanistan as an instru12 ment of war;

13 (4) calls on all parties, factions, and powers in

14 Afghanistan to respect international norms and

15 standards of human rights;

16 (5) calls on all Afghan parties to bring an end

17 without delay to—

18 (A) discrimination on the basis of gender;

19 and

20 (B) deprivation of human rights of women;

21 (6) calls on all Afghan parties in particular to

22 take measures to ensure—
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1 (A) the effective participation of women in

2 civil, economic, political, and social life through3 out the country;

4 (B) respect for the right of women to

5 work;

6 (C) the right of women and girls to an

7 education without discrimination, reopening

8 schools to women and girls at all levels of edu9 cation;

10 (D) respect for the right of women to

11 physical security;

12 (E) those responsible for physical attacks

13 on women are brought to justice;

14 (F) respect for freedom of movement of

15 women and their effective access to health care;

16 and

17 (G) equal access of women to health facili18 ties;

19 (7) supports the work of nongovernmental orga20 nizations advocating respect for human rights in Af21 ghanistan and an improvement in the status of

22 women and their access to humanitarian and devel23 opment assistance and programs;

24 (8) calls on the international community to pro25 vide, on a nondiscriminatory basis, adequate human-
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1 itarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan and

2 Afghan refugees in neighboring countries pending

3 their voluntary repatriation, and requests all parties

4 in Afghanistan to lift the restrictions imposed on

5 international aid and to cease any action which may

6 prevent or impede the delivery of humanitarian as7 sistance;

8 (9) welcomes the appointment of Ambassador

9 Lakhdar Brahimi as special envoy of the United Na10 tions Secretary General for Afghanistan, and en11 courages United Nations efforts to produce a dura12 ble peace in Afghanistan consistent with the goal of

13 a broad-based national government respectful of

14 human rights; and

15 (10) calls on all warring parties, factions, and

16 powers to participate with Ambassador Brahimi in

17 an intra-Afghan dialogue regarding the peace proc18 ess.

19 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL ACTION BY PRESIDENT.

20 It is the sense of Congress that the President and

21 Secretary of State should—

22 (1) work with the United Nations High Com23 missioner for Refugees and the international com24 munity to—
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1 (A) guarantee the safety of, and provide

2 international development assistance for, Af3 ghan women’s groups in Pakistan and Afghani4 stan;

5 (B) increase support for refugee programs

6 in Pakistan providing assistance to Afghan

7 women and children with an emphasis on

8 health, education, and income-generating pro9 grams; and

10 (C) explore options for the resettlement of

11 those Afghan women, particularly war widows

12 and their families, who are under threat or who

13 fear for their safety or the safety of their fami14 lies;

15 (2) establish an Afghanistan Women’s Initia16 tive, based on the successful model of the Bosnian

17 Women’s Initiative and the Rwandan Women’s Ini18 tiative, that is targeted at Afghan women’s groups,

19 in order to—

20 (A) facilitate organization among Afghan

21 women’s groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan;

22 (B) provide humanitarian and development

23 services to the women and the families most in

24 need; and

25 (C) promote women’s economic security;
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1 (3) make a policy determination that—

2 (A) recognition of any government in Af3 ghanistan by the United States should depend,

4 among other things, on the human rights poli5 cies towards women adopted by that govern6 ment;

7 (B) the United States should not recognize

8 any government which systematically maltreats

9 women; and

10 (C) any nonemergency economic or devel11 opment assistance will be based on respect for

12 human rights; and

13 (4) call for the creation of—

14 (A) an international commission to estab15 lish a record of the criminal culpability of any

16 individual or party in Afghanistan employing

17 rape or other crimes against humanity consid18 ered a grave breach of the Geneva Convention

19 as an instrument of war; and

20 (B) an ad hoc international criminal tribu21 nal by the United Nations for the purposes of

22 indicting, prosecuting, and imprisoning any in23 dividual responsible for crimes against human24 ity in Afghanistan.
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1 SEC. 3. REPORT.

2 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State

3 should submit a report to Congress not later than 6

4 months after the date of the adoption of this resolution

5 regarding actions that have been taken to implement this

6 resolution.

Passed the Senate July 29, 1998.

Attest:

Secretary.
105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 97

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress concerning the

the women and girls of Afghanistan.human rights and humanitarian situation facing