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In 2001 Afghanistan became the centre of global attention.

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Shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, the US and the Allied Forces invaded Afghanistan, ousting the Taliban and promising a new era of freedom and democracy.

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Women especially were promised an end to the oppression they had suffered under the Taliban and equality with men.

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Since 2001 there has been a great deal of investment in the country.

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With new buildings springing up and in some places a social and economic resurgence.

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And women's rights have been written into the constitution, with new opportunities for social and political inclusion. For the first time in many years they are re-entering education and the workplace.

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But 25 years of war and oppression are not so easy to wipe away.

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And for many people the promises of a new era are not being fulfilled.

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Afghanistan is still one of the poorest countries in the world and signs of poverty are everywhere. Unemployment is high, educational attainment is low and the average life expectancy is only 45.

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Out of the majority of women life has simply not improved. For them especially the hopes brought by the international community have begun to fade.

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During the Taliban regime women have been deprived from their whole human rights. And after the 11^th September floor has been opened for women participation in the social life in Afghanistan.

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Najia Haneefi

Director, Afghan Women's Education Centre(AWEC)

At the beginning it was good, everyone was entrusted to work on women's rights and also the high authorities in Afghanistan were ready to add the contribution to women in power.

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If you compare the Taliban time and this time we get success in our work. That time women could not work, they could not go to school and also hospitals.

Zainab

Project Manager, Afghan Women's Education Centre(AWEC)

They could not go out alone. But now when women come to our centres now they are allowed to study, they are allowed to go to hospital they can work.

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In the last five years, there have been some positive changes in women's affairs.

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Women have stood for election, and taken decision-making posts.

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Suraya Sobrang

Afghan International Human Rights Commission(AIHRC)

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There are opportunities to study and travel in Afghanistan and abroad

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Women demanded change and became aware of their rights

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They established bodies to protect their rights

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An Afghan woman is not what she was five years ago

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She is aware of her rights and to some extent, found her place in society

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We should build on this and take it one step further

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Nancy Dupree

Archaeologist

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You have women sitting in the parliament and they are sitting there with the men. They have been involved in the Loya Jirga, the Constitution Jirga, and the Presidential Elections and the General Elections for the parliament.

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And the numbers are really quite substantial when you look at just for instance the ordinary women out in the provinces who has for the first time voted.

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The parliament of Afghanistan has 248 seats according to the constitution

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Sabrina Saqeb MP

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Of these 248 seats 68 seats are reserved for women from all provinces of Afghanistan

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Our constitution is one of the best in the region

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Nooria Haqnagar

Women's Activist

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If it was implemented, women would feel it in their day to day lives

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But because it is not implemented we might be better of not having it at all

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The changes were not fundamental changes, because Afghanistan is a traditional society and bringing change into the life of women or human beings here needs a long time.

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There was an opportunity due to the existence of, due to the presence of the international community and their focus to the women issues but still it was not enough.

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We see that there is lesser trust for women's rights empowerment in Afghanistan especially in the new cabinet we only have 1 woman as minister of women affairs and we were expecting to have women in the justice system, and have women in the cabinet of Afghanistan but it didn't happen and no-one listened to us.

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Problem is that however we have legitimate rights or equal rights based on the constitution our authorities don't believe in the constitution that they signed themselves.

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One day at a vote in Parliament my male colleague raised his green card in favour

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And I raised my red card against because it is the right of an MP. He said "don't raise your red card"

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"raise your green card, and  I will give you chewing gum"

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It happened again,  and I was afraid that it would happen the third time so I said to him

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I am not a child for you to be talking to me in this kind of manner. You should be careful who you are talking to, and what you say to them.

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He told me he was just joking but I said this is not a place for jokes.

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Since that day he hasn't spoke to me. He would not even reply me when I greet him.

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Despite constitutional equality women are facing violence wherever they try to claim their rights.

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Education is under relentless attack and women aid workers are being murdered.

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In September 2006, Safia Ama-Jan a well known activist was murdered in Kandahar.

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Sima Samar

Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission(AIHRC)

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She was well respected in the society that's why they were calling her Ama-Jan, Ama-Jan means Dear Aunt, so she was very respected here within the society and she was representing the Ministry of Women's Affairs. She was the head of the department over there.

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Her crime was to work for women and create some job opportunities for women and do some skill training for women, in order to support their economy.

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And its sending a signal that how unsafe women are in this country, I'm not sure that if my daughter goes to school she comes back safely, I'm not sure if I'm coming to my office, I'm safe on the way nobody is killing me, nobody is attacking me. I'm not safe when I go back from the office to home, I'm not safe even sitting at home.

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This bad security situation in the last 2-3 months made us hopeless and disappointed all women activists around Afghanistan and this is making people or families not let their women go have their activism or add their contribution in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

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When I leave the house, until I get to the institute, I am very scared

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Latifa Popal

Midwifery Student

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Because it is very dangerous, especially in Kandahar

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Because a few days earlier Safia Ama-Jan was killed.

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She was the head of the women's shora in Kandahar

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And this upset all women and made them afraid. We feel under threat

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Her death is a tragedy not only for her family, not only for her circle of friends, not only for civil society but for the nation as a whole.

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As well as a lack of security, women also find themselves un-protected by a legal system which still regards them as second class citizens.

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Unfortunately the justice system is one of the systems which violate the most against women in Afghanistan. Because the system is a very old system, and the people who are functioning there, working there, performing there they are very conservative people they always consider women as a 2^nd sex. So how can they solve their problems? Because when you are women in this country, sometimes in remote areas you are not considered as a human, and all the laws, all the legal systems are in the favour of men.

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Just a small example. On the criminal age for boys and girls the law has just passed in the parliament. For the boy they chose the age 18 but for the girls they chose the age 17, and why? Nowhere in the world this kind of discrimination is happening

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When women, are going to apply for a divorce or for a land dispution they have, when they're widows. Judges are asking for sexual relations with them to solve their cases. If they are facing domestic violence if they go to the police they will be abused by the police, if they go to the justice system they will be abused by them. They don't have any kind of protection from the government side and they don't have any kind of protection from their families.

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They come to the ministry and get refused shelter that we are running. After that we take them to a course for proceeding their cases, we have extreme problems like when we go to a judge they are *** that a woman who comes out of her home she is a criminal.

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Noor Marjan

Afghan Women's Skill Development Centre

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So she doesn't deserve to be supported

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Women's shelter, Kabul

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My husband was killed 3 years ago in the fight against the Taliban.

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Zahra

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I stayed 3 months at my brother-in-laws. My oldest brother-in-law asked me to marry him

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I said no I don't want to marry again, just want to look after my children. But he said "I will get you by force"

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One night he covered his face, and he had a gun, then he sat on my chest.

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My children were very scared. But I said "you can't marry me by force"

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Women don't have judiciary and protecting bodies

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Courts, judges and tribunals do not believe in gender equality

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They don't use the law equally for both genders

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Whenever women around the country go somewhere for help

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They are just told to go to the ministry of women's affairs

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At a local level the police and judiciary fail to investigate cases involving women and girls.

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In September 2006, in a district of Kabul. 5 year old Fauzia was attacked by a 28 year old neighbour.

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He called her from behind the wall, and when she went over he grabbed her

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Zahra Hassan

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She said he slapped her face, put his hand over her mouth and carried her to his garden

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He raped her. She was half conscious afterwards. She couldn't speak for a week

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The police refuse to investigate, so Fauzia's father took action himself.

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I saw his footprints by the garden. They led to our neighbours door

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Even though the family know who committed the crime, the police at first refused to arrest the man.

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I went to the Human Rights Commission two or three times

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Mohamed Hassan

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I went to the Parliament, the House of Justice and the Provincial Government

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I pleaded for justice

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They told me I needed four witnesses. But for God's sake, I didn't open a whorehouse

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If there were witnesses, they would never have let this happen to a 4 year old girl

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She recognises her own enemy

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Then his relative came to my house. They warned me that they would kill me

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They said they would pay to get him free, that they knew people in government

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Women are particularly vulnerable in their own homes. Domestic violence is common, and so called honour killings are actually on the rise.

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Women's Shelter, Kabul

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And without access to education and financial independence women have little option but to stay with their abusive husbands and families

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The women who are coming here, they have lots of problems, family problems, violence problem. For example if a woman wants to come to this centre and their family isn't allowing them to come here, and also they ask where are you going? Or which kind of centre is this?

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Here we have a few girls studying here. They don't have the right to get married because they have some problems with their families, cousins. They say that if you want to marry us, you can marry us if not you are not allowed to marry other people.

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It's been 9 years since I got married and for 7 years I was with my husband.

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Zainab

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My husband always listened to his mother, who was very abusive

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After 7 years, my father became very ill and he wanted to see me before he died.

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I asked my husband to take me to see him, but he refused.

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I came here to forget about life's troubles, and to ease the pain a little.

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When I am at home, sometimes I feel as though someone is choking me.

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For me one of the problems that women are facing in this country is lack of education 1^st and  2^nd their economic dependency to the male member of the family, either husband or father or brother or brother-in-laws. In the cases of the widows

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And unfortunately the bad practice of tradition in this country really causes a lot of problems and restriction on women's ability and mobility.

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And you know the men in this country when they come back from work to their home even if their child cries and the children fight among each other the mother is responsible for that, and the mother faces violence from the husband because the children are fighting.

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We have a strong domestic violence because patriarchal minds are still ruling in the community. Even the educated women are beaten by their husbands. Still there is violence by women against women. Like by mother-in-laws and sisters-in-law against women.

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There is lots of reaction against women rights in Afghanistan. When we are talking about women's rights men are reacting against that and they are saying it's all western ideas. They never considered human rights as a human idea they are always considered modern values.

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Even the term of violence against women are considered as a western term. They are saying it's not violence it's the rights of women to be applied. Women if they are doing something wrong they should be punished they should be beaten.

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We should have a stability in the family they are not considering justice in the families. They are pro stability which is ruling by a man, a family ruled by a man. But they are not considering justice

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We've been researching traditions in Afghanistan that cause abuse of women

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Suraya Sobrang

Afghan International Human Rights Commission(AIHRC)

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In Faryab for example, there is forced marriage and selling of girls is very common in the north.

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In the south, baad is more common

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There are similarities in traditions, but forms of abuse are specific to different regions.

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My problem is that I need to find my husband

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He should divorce me or take me to live with him

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Farida                                                                   Nooria Wasel

                                                                              AIHRC

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Are you prepared to live with him?

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Yes, but he doesn't agree. He says he has another wife and children

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He says he was fooled into marrying me, but he won't divorce me

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Why don't you live with your family instead of your uncle?

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A family said they wanted to marry their girl and boy to a girl and boy in my family

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My mother went to a Mullah for advice. He told her I brought bad luck to the household

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because my husband won't have me. Unless I was out of the house,

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the weddings would not go ahead. So I was given 1 week to leave the house.

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Since the awareness has been raised in the last four years it has also created a kind of problem because women have been aware but they haven't had the chance to apply it or to implement it. You know that there is self-immolation in Herat. People are burning themselves because they are aware of their rights, but they do not have any facilities to apply their rights.

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About 90% of marriages here are forced

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There are different types of forced marriage. For example, a baby girl who is not even born

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She can be engaged to a man of 20 or 30

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In many cases a girl is given in baad, which is another form of forced marriage

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Where there is a murder for example, a girl can be given as "payment" for the crime

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Even if she is 2 or 3 years old, she can be given to a 50 year old man

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It is still nearly impossible for a woman to get a divorce. So bad is the situation that statistics suggest that hundreds of women every year are attempting suicide by setting themselves alight.

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Naheed a hairdresser from Kabul was forced into marriage with a man she didn't know was already married

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Naheed

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I don't know what he wants. He beats me up, he swears at me.

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I brought fuel with me today

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I decided to set myself alight outside the Human Rights Commission office

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90% of marriages are forced. They are common all over the country

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but occur more regularly in the south west.

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Research shows that one of the main causes of self burning is forced marriage

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So we have the international community with us, the international community also if we succeed or if we fail. It is the direct involvement of the international community.

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And I believe that we cannot bring democracy, peace and security only with fighting, with bombing, with killing, with military means. The respect for human rights should be in the centre of any policy.

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Respect for human rights for me, the women's right issue is very important and essential because women in this country should be counted as human beings.

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Security and improvement of the economy in Afghanistan is the priority for building the government in Afghanistan and we hope that our international friends do not leave us in this crisis.

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I feel we are like a child learning to walk. We may fall over 2 or 3 times,

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but there should be someone like a father or mother to hold our hand and help us to walk

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until we can walk steadily and find our own way.

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My wish is that people don't forget Afghanistan, or forget the women of Afghanistan

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It's the obligation of the international community to finish the job in Afghanistan. It was one of the reasons that the international community interfered in Afghanistan, it was respect for human rights, women's rights, and where is it?

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CREDITS