Newsgroup: it.cultura.religioni.cristiani
Titolo: xche' siamo andati in Afghanistan?

 AVV di oggi a pag.14 titola: DONNE AFGHANE: e' l'inferno, COME PRIMA
cita qs. rapporto di Human Right Watch:
Afghanistan: Women Still Not "Liberated"
Police Abuse, Forced Chastity Tests, and Taliban-Era Restrictions in
Herat  
(New York, December 17, 2002) - Afghan women and girls have suffered
mounting abuses, harassment and restrictions of their fundamental
human rights during 2002, Human Rights Watch said in a new report
released today.
 
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Related Material
"We Want to Live As Humans": Repression of Women and Girls in Western
Afghanistan 
HRW Report, December 17, 2002 
"ALL OUR HOPES ARE CRUSHED: Violence and Repression in Western
Afghanistan" 
HRW Report, November 5, 2002 
Afghanistan's Bonn Agreement One Year Later 
HRW Background Report, December 5, 2002 
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"Many people outside the country believe that Afghan women and girls
have had their rights restored. It's just not true. Women and girls
are still being abused, harassed, and threatened all over Afghanistan,
often by government troops and officials." 
Zama Coursen-Neff
Co-author of the report and counsel to the Children's Rights Division
of Human Rights Watch 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
The 52-page report, "We Want to Live As Humans": Repression of Women
and Girls in Western Afghanistan, focuses on the increasingly harsh
restrictions on women and girls imposed by Ismail Khan, a local
governor in the west of Afghanistan who has received military and
financial assistance from the United States. Human Rights Watch said
that the situation in Herat was symptomatic of developments across the
country, and that women and girls were facing new restrictions in
several other regions as well.
"Many people outside the country believe that Afghan women and girls
have had their rights restored. It's just not true," said Zama
Coursen-Neff, the co-author of the report and counsel to the
Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "Women and girls are
still being abused, harassed, and threatened all over Afghanistan,
often by government troops and officials."
Human Rights Watch found that women's and girls' rights in Herat had
improved since the fall of the Taliban, noting that many women and
girls have been allowed to return to school and university, and to
some jobs. But the report found that these advances were tempered by
growing government repression of social and political life. Ismail
Khan has censored women's groups, intimidated outspoken women leaders,
and sidelined women from his administration in Herat. Restrictions on
the right to work mean that many women will never be able to use their
education.
The Human Rights Watch report said that the Herat government has even
recruited schoolboys to spy on girls and women and report on so-called
un-Islamic behavior.
In some instances, police under Ismail Khan's command have questioned
women and girls seen alone with men, even taxi drivers, and arrested
those who are not related. Human Rights Watch said that men caught in
such circumstances are usually taken to jail; women are brought to a
hospital, where police force doctors to conduct medical exams on the
women to determine whether they have had recent sexual intercourse, or
if unmarried, whether they are virgins.
"Ismail Khan has created an atmosphere in which government officials
and private individuals believe they have the right to police every
aspect of women's and girls' lives: how they dress, how they get
around town, what they say," said Coursen-Neff. "Women and girls in
Herat expected and deserved more when the Taliban were overthrown."
Human Rights Watch said that problems for women and girls were growing
worse in many parts of the country outside of the capital, Kabul.
Throughout 2002, girls' schools in at least five different provinces
have been set on fire or destroyed by rocket attacks.
Human Rights Watch said that reports from around the country indicate
that government troops and officials regularly target women and girls
for abuse, often invoking vague edicts on dress and social behavior.
In many areas, local police and troops are enforcing Taliban-era
restrictions, including banning music and forcing women and adolescent
girls to continue wearing burqas.
Human Rights Watch said that many of these local forces have received
weapons and assistance from the United States and other countries
during 2002. Human Rights Watch called on all countries involved in
Afghanistan to cease military assistance to local commanders and to
coordinate all future aid through Kabul's central government.
Human Rights Watch urged the Afghan Transitional Administration in
Kabul to prohibit harassment and abuse targeted at women, and to
appoint new civilian governors in provinces in which serious abuses
against women and girls are occurring. Human Rights Watch also called
on the international community to support the Afghan government in
these efforts. It urged international donors to support the work of
Afghan women, inside and outside of the government, for example, by
supporting women's groups throughout the country.
Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA) to expand human rights monitoring efforts and to
continue efforts to strengthen the Afghan Human Rights Commission, in
order to help protect all Afghans seeking to speak openly and
challenge abusers. 
Noting that efforts to improve security and human rights protection
would require an increased presence of international peacekeepers,
Human Rights Watch urged the United States, Germany, and the
Netherlands to lead efforts to expand international peacekeeping
forces in Afghanistan, which are currently stationed only in the Kabul
area. Germany and the Netherlands will take joint command of the
peacekeeping forces in early 2003. Human Rights Watch urged the United
States, European Union nations, and NATO, as well as Pakistan, Iran,
and other countries bordering Afghanistan to contribute logistical and
intelligence support necessary for international peacekeeping to
expand.
"The U.S.-led coalition justified the war against the Taliban in part
by promising that it would liberate Afghanistan's women and girls,"
said Coursen-Neff. "In fact, by supporting repressive warlords, the
international community has broken that promise and forsaken women's
rights."
The Human Rights Watch report is the second of two reports on Herat.
In November, Human Rights Watch released a 51-page report, "All Our
Hopes Are Crushed: Violence and Repression in Western Afghanistan,"
documenting abuses by Ismail Khan's forces against political
opponents, detainees and ethnic minorities. 

The Wedding-guest sat on a stone:he cannot choose but hear; and thus
spake on that ancient man, the bright-eyed  Pietro Buttiglione .  
#  AVV di oggi a pag.14 titola: DONNE AFGHANE: e' l'inferno, COME PRIMA
Visto che sapete l'inglese:
Dal sito 
http://www.raginggrannies.com/
AFGHAN SMART BOMBS
 (tune: Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay)
Heard the war news on TV?
Smart bombs fill the air you see,
Target only military
With their pinpoint accuracy.
            Afghan go boom de ay!
            Bombs never go astray.
            Some folks get in the way,
            But that's the price you pay.
'Cause our bombs are so precise
We hit only what's not nice--
Just a careful warlike slice,
Though we miss it once or twice.
            We love Afghanistan!
            We're after just one man,
            And evil Taliban.
            At least that is the plan.
Just as we did in Iraq,
Claim our smart bombs are on track.
Propaganda herds the pack-
That won't bring the children back!
            Afghan go boom de ay!
            Smart bombs will win the day-
            Or that's the game we play.
            Afghan go BOOM!
(Monica Zucker)
YELLOW SUBMARINE
(About Bangor, Washington, home of Trident)
In the town where we reside
There are certain things we'd like to hide.
Yes, our harbor's very quaint,
But at times it seems like what it ain't.
All the tourists walk around
Thinking this is such a pretty town.
It's so clean and safe and pure,
Nothing dangerous, that's for sure.
            What about those Trident submarines,
            Trident submarine, Trident submarines?
What about those Trident submarines,
Trident submarines, Trident submarines?
Politicians like to say,
"We'll look into this right away.
Nukes are not our favorite toys,
But we can't offend the other boys.
Ladies, please, don't be alarmed.
We can guarantee you won't be harmed.
Now, let's smile like we agree
For our photo opportunity.
            We don't want those Trident submarines,
            Trident submarine, Trident submarines!
            We don't want those Trident submarines,
            Trident submarines, Trident submarines!
(Victoria Grannies)
--
Kaě egápesan oi ánthropoi mâllon tň skótos č tň fôs (Gv III,19)