European Parliament resolution on the situation of women in Afghanistan
Date: 1999-12-16
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Afghanistan, equal treatment, humanitarian aid, position of women, torture, women's rights

C 296/204

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.10.2000

Thursday 16 December 1999

13. Human rights: Women in Afghanistan

B5-0343, 0346, 0371, 0378 and 0384/1999

European Parliament resolution on the situation of women in Afghanistan

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Afghanistan,

(cid:1) having regard to the common position of the Council of 26 January 1998 on the situation in Afgha-

nistan and the conditions facing women in Kabul,

(cid:1) having regard to the common position adopted by the Council on 15 November 1999,

A. whereas the Taliban Government in Kabul has put into place a system of permanent and broad ran-
ging repression of women in Afghanistan, such as the denial of employment and of access to most
hospitals,

B. having regard to the ‘International Day for the prevention of Violence to Women’ on 25 November

1999,

C. whereas, only a few days before this date, the first public execution was held in Afghanistan in front
of 4000 people, the victim being Mrs Zaarmena, the mother of seven children, accused on insufficient
evidence of having killed her husband, and from whom, according to humanitarian organisations, a
confession was extracted under torture,

D. whereas since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996 women have been subjected to extreme
forms of psychological and physical repression, for example compliance with harsh dress codes, in
addition to which they are not allowed to work, receive education or obtain medical assistance from
general hospitals and suffer from numerous other forms of discrimination,

E.

having regard to numerous statements from NGO field workers and others involved in social aid work
in Afghanistan; having regard to the extremely alarming increase in the number of cases of depression
and suicide among women,

F. whereas the Taliban have refused to allow NGOs to distribute aid to the Afghan people on a basis of

equality of the sexes and have expelled them from Kabul,

G. whereas the Taliban regime has been recognised by the Governments of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and
the United Arab Emirates, and whereas Pakistan in particular has been an active supporter of the
Taliban,

H. having regard to the common position of the Council of 15 November 1999, stating that aircraft
belonging to the Taliban will not be allowed to fly to or from the European Union and that for as
long as the Taliban regime affords its protection to Osama bin Laden, its foreign assets will be frozen,

Vigorously condemns the Taliban regime which is imposing a policy of discriminatory violence

1.
against Afghan women, infringing their most fundamental rights;

2.
Expresses its concern at the situation in a country where men have absolute power of life or death
over the womenfolk in their family, subjecting them to brutal forms of punishment with the endorsement
of Taliban law;

Rigorously condemns the execution of Mrs Zaarmena and reiterates its opposition to capital punish-

3.
ment;

Expresses its shock at reports that torture is being used by the Taliban regime to obtain confessions

4.
leading to execution;

Stresses that the gender-apartheid imposed by the Taliban runs contrary to both the principles of

5.
Islamic society an the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

18.10.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 296/205

Thursday 16 December 1999

6.

Calls on the UN to consider more active measures at international level to assist Afghan women;

7.
Is disappointed that the refusal of the Taliban government to extradite bin Laden has provoked a
stronger reaction from the European Council than the appalling human rights violations against the mil-
lions of women in Afghanistan and urges the Council to maintain the adopted restrictive measures, irre-
spective of the outcome of the bin Laden case, for as long as the Taliban regime continues its policy of
unacceptable discrimination against women;

Calls on the Member States to continue to withhold recognition from the Taliban regime until it

8.
respects human rights and ends discrimination against women;

Reiterates its call on the States that have recognised the Taliban regime to isolate it diplomatically

9.
and to withdraw any kind of support to it;

10.
Calls on the Taliban to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to Kabul without restrictions on the
basis of gender, so as to enable the return of NGOs and Commission humanitarian aid to the Afghan
capital, whose population has to endure particularly arduous conditions during winter;

11.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the United Nations
Secretary-General, the governments of the United States, Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Uni-
ted Arab Emirates, Tadjikistan, Russia and India, and to the Northern Alliance and the Taliban.

14. Human rights: Prison conditions of political prisoners in Djibouti

B5-0348, 0372, 0385 and 0392/1999

European Parliament resolution on the conditions in which political prisoners are detained in Dji-
bouti

The European Parliament,

(cid:1) having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Djibouti, and in particular its resolution of

6 May 1999 (1),

A.

alarmed by the mission report (August 1999) of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues
on prison conditions in Djibouti which describes the inhuman conditions of detention, in particular
the lack of proper hygiene and medical care,

B.

concerned that as many as 80 % of the prisoners are detained under the notorious National Preventive
Detention Act of 1991 and that they have not appeared in court since their arrest,

C. whereas a great number of the detainees claim to be political prisoners,

D. whereas the political prisoners have begun hunger strikes on several occasions to protest at their
conditions of detention and to ask for access to medical care and for their release for lack of a fair
trial,

E. whereas two detainees have died as a result of the hunger strikes,

F. whereas the sick prisoners include Mohammed Kaadami Youssuf, representative in Europe of the
FRUD (Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy), who was unlawfully extradited from Ethio-
pia in 1997 and who is at risk of going blind,

(1) OJ C 279, 1.10.1999, p. 424.