Women complain of prejudice in Badakhshan

Women in the northeastern province of Badakhshan are calling for concrete steps to be taken towards ensuring their freedom of expression and the elimination of all prejudice against them in that province. "We want neutral and qualified people to lead the province, and government organs which should not mix military and civil affairs, and ensure freedom of expression," Zewar Karimi, a teacher and writer, told IRIN in the provincial capital, Feyzabad. According to Karimi, although women constitute a larger number than men in the city government's civil organs, they were dissatisfied with the present atmosphere in the province. "Women are allowed to work, but are indirectly suppressed [so as] not to develop and not to have a say in ongoing affairs," the 45-year-old said, noting that all the key posts in the government organs were occupied by ex-combatant commanders, most of whom were from one specific area. "Who dares to complain and who to complain for?" she wanted to know. After writing a critical piece, Karimi had been warned by unidentified individuals that her husband and son would be killed if it was published, she asserted. "I am not afraid of being killed for writing the truth, but they may punish my husband or son," she maintained, appealing to the central government to exclude military people from civil affairs. Badakhshan was one of the few provinces left unoccupied by the Taliban, and women there continued to have access to education, with most of the literate women in the impoverished region becoming teachers, writers or poets. "The inner fear in women will not let them express their desires and display their capabilities until an overall change occurs in the provincial structure," Karimi said, calling on the central government to take concrete measures by enacting laws to govern women's rights. Jamila Ziya'i, an official of the province's newly established women's affairs department was less critical. She maintained that discrimination against women was not limited to Badakhshan, saying that in this respect other provinces - those ruled by warlords and commanders - were worse. "Compared to other provinces it is better here," she told IRIN, pointing out that more dangerous than prejudice was maternal mortality with thousands of women continuing to die from obstetric complications in Badakhshan annually. "I think watching great numbers of Badakhshan women die of maternal dilemmas is itself a form of prejudice, demonstrating indifference towards women here," she stressed. According to the provincial women's affairs office, due to the province's geographic isolation, with most of its districts inaccessible, the central government and aid agencies have left women on the sidelines. "There is a great gap of support for Badakhshan women," Ziya'i said, stressing that her office needed assistance to raise the awareness of many women who had no knowledge of their legal rights. "We need to enlighten women's understanding to react professionally and efficiently against any discrimination or other problems," she said emphasising that her office could not be helpful in ensuring women's rights and meeting their needs if it did not receive technical, financial and political support. To demonstrate support for the elimination of prejudice against women in Afghanistan, earlier this month, the Afghan government began applying the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, whereby Afghan women will receive greater support. Tajwar Kakar, the Afghan women's affairs deputy minister, believes that to eliminate prejudice against women, there needed to be more than just political support. "The discrimination against women can only be relieved when mullahs [clerics] and scholars in their sermons enlighten the minds of the men who still follow the old concepts and are prejudiced," she told IRIN, noting that the mullahs should take the initiative as discrimination existed mostly in the provinces. "People give more value to words uttered by a mullah," she said. Meanwhile, Sayed Mohammad Amin Tariq, the provincial governor, rejects the notion that the status of women in Badakhshan is worse than in the capital, Kabul. "I think the women's situation in Badakhshan is even better than the women in Kabul," the ex-combatant told IRIN, pointing out that women appeared on local TV, and 60 percent of civil servants in the province were women. "Women's rights are assured here and will further develop as the situation improves," he said, asserting that there had not been any threats against or restrictions imposed on women in his province.