Women demand clear definition of 'citizen' in constitution

As Afghanistan's historic Constitutional Loya Jirga (CLJ) continues its deliberations, women delegates - who make up just 20 percent of the 500-member gathering - and local gender pressure groups are pushing for women's rights to be fully enshrined in the nation's new constitution. "The draft constitution and the discussions so far have not been fully supportive to women. This is important in our conservative, male-dominated society," Gulalai Habib, a local activist, told IRIN on Thursday. "Women are outnumbered, our views at the CLJ will always remain a minority," she added, noting that warlords and conservative mujahidin commanders dominated many of the CLJ's working committees. Some women are concerned that although the draft constitution emphasises equal rights for all citizens, there is currently no definition of "citizen", and that the omission could be used to discriminate against women. Although the draft document states that the nation will abide by the international norms and treaties it has ratified, presumably including those prohibiting discrimination against women, human and women's rights advocates worry that this is not enough. But a CLJ spokeswoman and delegate, Safiya Siddiqi, told IRIN that this was not a point of conflict and that the majority of delegates were agreed that there was no need to define who an Afghan citizen was. "'Citizen' itself means man and woman, we all know this," she noted. Abdul Rabb Rasul Sayyaf, a jehadi commander generally considered to be one of the most conservative delegates to the CLJ, said delegates in the reconciliation committee did not consider the need to further define citizenship. "The issue of citizens was approved as stated in the draft [citizens with no mention of man and woman], " he told IRIN, noting that he was supported in this by all the rights that the Islamic Shari'ah had granted to women. The 50-page draft constitution, which has been a key element of a UN-supervised two-year plan to stabilise the country, envisions an Islamic republic guaranteeing the supremacy of the Shari'ah. The draft says girls and women can attend school, a right they were denied by the Taliban. In an open letter to President Hamid Karzai on 2 December, Amnesty International asked for a clear definition of "citizen" as mentioned in the draft. "There is no clear definition of 'citizen' in the current draft. The constitution should clearly define 'citizen' to mean every Afghan man, woman and child to ensure that the rights set out in the constitution apply equally to all people in Afghanistan," it said.