European Parliament resolution on women in Afghanistan
Date: 2001-12-13
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Afghanistan, gender equality, position of women, social situation, women's rights

C 177 E/310

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

25.7.2002

Thursday 13 December 2001

1.
Calls upon the CCW States Parties to declare an immediate moratorium until an international agree-
ment has been negotiated on the regulation, restriction or banning of the use, production, and transfer of
cluster munitions under the CCW, including air-dropped cluster munitions and submunitions delivered by
missiles, rockets, and artillery projectiles;

2.

Underlines the responsibility of users of cluster munition systems for the cleaning of affected areas;

Recommends that CCW Review Conference establish a group of government experts to examine the
3.
issue of explosive remnants of war, and in particular the problems caused by cluster bomb submunitions
both during and after an armed conflict; experts from mine-clearance and other relevant organisations
should be permitted to participate in the group’s work;

Urges all states possessing and/or using cluster munitions to undertake other measures, such as
4.
improving the reliability of fusing mechanisms by way of dual-event fuses and incorporating self-destruct
or self-neutralising mechanisms into munitions, in order to reduce the threat that these weapons pose to
civilian populations;

5.
Urges all states not party to the Convention to become so, and states parties to the CCW Convention
who have not already signed up to the amended Protocol II and/or Protocol IV to do so as soon as
possible;

6.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments of
the Member States, the UN Secretary-General, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and all States
Parties to the Convention.

20. Human rights: Women in Afghanistan

B5-0763, 0766, 0776, 0784, 0790 and 0802/2001

European Parliament resolution on women in Afghanistan

The European Parliament,

0 having regard to its previous resolutions on Afghanistan and, in particular, on the situation of Afghan
women and the Declaration of the Afghan Women’s Summit held in Brussels on 4/5 December 2001,

0 having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

0 having regard to the measures taken by the Afghanistan Support Group in Bonn on 5/6 December

2001 for the coordination of the humanitarian and development efforts for Afghanistan,

A.

stressing that the Taliban regime has perpetrated the most deliberate form of violation of women’s
rights in recent history, imposing an apartheid based on sex that has denied women’s identity itself,

B. whereas there are almost 5 million Afghan refugees abroad, mostly in Pakistan and Iran; whereas the

majority of these refugees are women and children,

C. having regard to the high mortality rate among women and children,

D. whereas it is estimated that less than 5 % of Afghan women can read and write, while the literacy rate
for girls reaching school age during the period of Taliban rule is substantially lower, standing at
approximately 1 to 2 %,

25.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 177 E/311

Thursday 13 December 2001

1. Welcomes the agreement reached at the UN talks on Afghanistan in Bonn on 5 December 2001 and
the fact that the transitional government thereby created will include, at least for the time being, two
women, one of them as deputy prime minister;

2.
Calls for women’s rights to be fully guaranteed by the new Constitution; calls on the interim Afghan
authority to implement as quickly as possible measures making provision for free movement, education
and health care for women and allowing them to work, and to adopt laws recognising equal rights for
men and women in all areas;

3. Warmly welcomes the planned establishment of a Ministry for Women’s Affairs within the new
Government, as well as the announcement that the special commission provided for under the agreement
for the organisation of a Loya Jirga will ensure the presence of a significant number of women at the
constituent assembly to be held in six months’ time;

4. Welcomes the request made by the participants in the UN talks on Afghanistan to the UN Security
Council to consider authorising the early deployment of a UN-mandated force to Afghanistan, which
should assist in the maintenance of security for Kabul and the surrounding areas and could, as appropriate,
be progressively expanded to other urban centres and areas of the country;

5.
Suggests that the UN appoint a woman rapporteur for gender equality with the task of supervising
compliance with the undertakings entered into concerning women during the transition and reconstruc-
tion process in Afghanistan;

6.
Calls on all the political forces to recognise the role of women, in particular by instituting specific
programmes encouraging women to take part in political activity, both as voters and as candidates in
elections at all levels;

7.
Reiterates its belief that the interim authority and the other bodies set up must make formal provi-
sion for the inclusion of local civil organisations, especially women’s organisations, and must respect the
rights of the person and international humanitarian law;

8.
Calls for girls and women to have full access to programmes for education, health care, jobs and job
training and housing, and stresses that these programmes must reach women in disadvantaged rural areas,
widows, and women who are disabled, displaced or illiterate;

Calls for the granting of international aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan to be made con-

9.
ditional on the participation of women in decision-making and in the use of such aid;

Calls on the donor countries and, in particular, the EU to ensure that Afghan women are the direct

10.
beneficiaries of between 25 % and 30 % of the economic aid provided for reconstruction in Afghanistan;

11.
Calls on the Afghan authorities and the international organisations to take rapid steps to set up
medical structures which can meet the specific medical needs of women and children in Afghanistan and
in the refugee camps;

Calls on the authorities concerned to ensure that widows and women without family can benefit

12.
from the future programmes for the construction of shelters and housing;

Recommends the establishment of specific programmes for women who have been the victims of

13.
violence;

Recommends that the new Afghan authorities consider setting up education programmes for young

14.
men who were enlisted in combatant groups at a tender age and have never known family life;

Calls on the neighbouring countries to actively secure the Afghan refugee camps and to isolate and

15.
bring to justice the extremists who violate women’s fundamental rights;

C 177 E/312

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

25.7.2002

Thursday 13 December 2001

Insists that the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity which have been committed in Afgha-

16.
nistan, especially against women, have to be brought to justice;

17.

Proposes that International Women’s Day 8 March 2002 be declared ‘Afghan Women’s Day’;

18.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments
and parliaments of the Member States and the candidate countries, the UN Secretary-General and the
interim government of Afghanistan.

21. Human rights: Indonesia

B5-0762, 0767, 0783, 0791, 0798 and 0803/2001

European Parliament resolution on Papua (Irian Jaya) and Sulawesi in Indonesia

The European Parliament,

I. On Papua (Irian Jaya)

0 having regard to its previous resolutions on Indonesia, Timor and the Moluccas,

0 having regard to the democratisation process which was launched two years ago following the general

elections in June 1999 in Indonesia,

0 having regard to the ratification of the international human rights conventions by the Indonesian

government,

0 having regard to the recognition by the European Union of Indonesia as a unitary and democratic
state in which human rights have to be respected, the safety of the population has to be protected,
democratic principles have to be guaranteed and freedom of expression has to be safeguarded,

0 having regard to the statement by the Council Presidency, expressing its deep concern following the

assassination of Theys Eluay,

A. whereas on 10 November 2001 the assassination took place of Theys Eluay, a Papuan leader and
tribal Chief who, in stating the wishes of the Papuan people, had opted for a peaceful dialogue with
the Indonesian government,

B. whereas it is feared that further assassinations are being planned and that this might give rise to a
situation which could be exploited by other elements, such as Jihad fighters, to cause more chaos, as is
still happening in the Moluccas and now also on Sulawesi,

C. whereas the peaceful co-existence and safety of the people of Papua is still being threatened by the

army, special Kopassus units and the Indonesian mobile police,

D. whereas, during Indonesia’s administration of Irian Jaya (Papua), no human rights violation has ever
yet been punished; welcoming, however, the fact that the Indonesian government is to set up a special
court for human rights abuses which will start its work no later than January 2002,

E.

having regard to the commercial interests of the Indonesian army in Papua,

F. whereas Papua is currently a rich province which has a very poor population and whereas, of the

17 000 workers currently employed, less than 10 % are Papuans,