Something unusual happened in Afghanistan over the last two weeks.
Women’s rights came under attack. Again.
But this time, instead of the sighs, shrugs, and helpless looks that all too often greet fresh evidence of Afghanistan’s deteriorating human rights environment, the latest attempted rollback catalyzed Afghanistan’s key foreign partners to take a stand and say “no.”
The catalyst? A proposed provision in the criminal law that would bar relatives of the accused from testifying in court. This would make it extremely difficult if not impossible to prosecute domestic violence, child marriage, and other domestic abuses against women, since it’s almost only family members who witness this type of abuse.
Canada was first to raise objections to the law on February 4, the day news broke that the draft was headed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for his signature, the last stop before becoming law. Then on February 5 and 7, UK Development Minister Justine Greening and UK Foreign Minister William Hague expressed concerns on Twitter. On February 10, the Inter-Parliamentary Union issued a statement. Then the European Union and the United States each issued statements decrying the law’s potentially harmful impact on women and urging that Karzai refuse to sign it.
The result? On February 17, President Karzai’s spokesman announced that the president was “well aware” of the outcry over the law and had ordered that it be changed. “This law will not bar any relative or any family member to testify against each other or another member of family,” he said. “It will be up to them. They will have the freedom.”
It’s not over yet. In its present form, the law states that the prosecution cannot compel someone to testify against a family member. In countries that provide a privilege against testifying, it is normally granted only to a spouse, not to an entire extended family. Concerned governments need to stay vigilant and be prepared to push the Afghan government to limit the privilege against testifying.
There’s more work to be done. Donors should speak out about promises made by the Afghan government at the 2012 Tokyo Conference to protect women from violence – promises since broken or ignored. They should also press the government to reform Afghan laws that discriminate against women. The government needs to increase the number of women in the Afghan police force and improve their working conditions, and protect high-profile women who are at risk of attack.
Influential countries have, after a long silence, found their voice on women’s rights. Afghanistan’s women are in desperate need of hearing it more often.
