On International Human Rights Day women say little has changed

“We thought that that the fall of Taliban will herald new changes, but all the warlords and Jihadis have returned to power,” Hammasa Maiwandi told IRIN on Tuesday in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The 35-year-old Afghan refugee was protesting against the rise to political power of Afghan warlords, many of whom have been accused of human rights abuses. The demonstration was called to mark International Human Rights Day and was organised by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). While chanting slogans against human rights violations, many of the hundreds of Afghan men, women and children participating in the procession had similar stories. "The children you see here are mostly fatherless like my son," she maintained. "We want the world to listen to us today not to the warlords as they have been doing over the past year," she added. Founded in 1977 RAWA is an Afghan women’s political organisation working to promote freedom and democracy in the country. As a long-time member of RAWA, Maiwandi fled the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad in 1996 when the Taliban took over the city after months of fighting. Although the Taliban's harsh regime ended a year ago she is still reluctant to go back to Afghanistan. "If they can kill innocent university students where do other people stand?" she asked, refering to demonstrating students killed by security forces last month in Kabul. The marchers said the fall of the Taliban had just replaced one set of tyrants with another. "Human rights are trampled over around the world but it is worse in Afghanistan," RAWA spokeswomen, Tehmina Faryal told IRIN. "Our major concern is the return of the fundamentalists - mainly the Northern Alliance - who are more bloody and hostile to human rights." Faryal maintained that women were not safe in post Taliban-Afghanistan. "With warlords controlling the country, assaults on women continue and the religious tyrants are reasserting themselves," she said, adding that the UN should take practical steps to improve the human rights situation in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, in a report published last week, global human rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has pointed to serious impediments to protecting human rights and creating security in war-ravaged Afghanistan one year after the UN-brokered Bonn agreement. The US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan have come under particular scrutiny for empowering regional warlords in the fight against the Taliban and Al-qaeda forces. Lack of security outside Kabul has also allowed provincial strongmen to go unchecked and in some cases ignore human rights issues. "One year later, the Bonn Agreement still embodies Afghanistan's best chance for putting an end to chronic instability, violence and a history of massive human rights abuses," Brad Adams, head of HRW's Asia department said. "Yet many of the agreement's promises have not been fulfilled in the last year. The international community has missed several good opportunities to sideline local military rulers and to better promote security and the protection of human rights," he added.