– having regard (…)A. whereas ten years after the so-called Petersberg Conference on Afghanistan in 2001 in Bonn, which laid the foundation of the ongoing partnership between Afghanistan and the international community, some progress has been achieved for women; whereas according to government figures over 4 million girls are attending school and higher education, 17% of civil servants are female; whereas more than 25% of Members of Parliament are women;
B. whereas however the improvements remain fragile and are often reduced to rhetoric; whereas female literacy rates and maternal and infant mortality rates remain among the worst in the world,
C. whereas Afghan women and girls continue to face endemic domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriages, including child marriages, and whereas the police, courts and other justice sector officials seldom address women’s complaints of abuses, including beating, raping and other sexual violence, and those fleeing those hardships find themselves often in prison;
D. whereas the particularly abusive practice of ‘Boad’ continues to occur regularly, where a girl is being given to an aggrieved family to “compensate” for a committed crime, usually via the decision of a local Council,
E. whereas punishment by stoning or physical disfigurement of women accused of violating the repressive social codes of the Taliban and other insurgent groups are still a common occurrence, and whereas Afghan women with public roles have faced increasing attacks over the past two years, particularly in areas under Taliban control or influence,
F. whereas in government controlled areas, women have greater access to education, health care and work opportunities, whereas in areas heavily affected by insurgent groups, women face significant discrimination in terms of access to education, health care and economic and cultural opportunities,
G. whereas the security situation has deteriorated in the transitional areas with the result that programmes addressing women are being reduced or stopped for fear of women’s safety and government employees are reportedly increasingly under threat
H. whereas widespread corruption has paralyzed the rule of law and whereas an accountable justice system is essential in order to advance the rights of women
I. whereas the few already existing women’s shelters have come under sustained political pressure intended to restrict their activity,
J. whereas the EU has reaffirmed its commitment to building a strong long-term partnership based on mutual interests and shared values with Pakistan, supporting Pakistan’s democratic institutions and civilian government as well as civil society,
K. whereas particularly in certain regions, Pakistani authorities also show a worrisome lack of protection for minorities and women against social injustice as has been underlined by court rulings such as the Pakistani Supreme Court decision of 21 April 2011, acquitting all but one of the six men accused of gang-raping Mukhar Mai on the orders of a village Council
L. whereas women and girls often continue to face domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriages, including child marriages, and being traded in settlement of disputes; whereas the police, courts and other justice sector officials seldom address women’s complaints of abuses, including beating, raping and other sexual violence, and those fleeing those hardships find themselves often in prison;
M. whereas after the military coup in 1977 in Pakistan, all fundamental rights guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution were suspended, including the right to be free of discrimination on the basis of sex,
N. whereas subsequently a series of laws were introduced codifying women’s status as subordinate in law, including the Hudood Ordinances and the Law of Evidence which violate the status and rights of women,
O. whereas a number of other discriminatory laws against women exist in Pakistan which need to be revised, including the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, the West Pakistan Family Court Act, the Child Marriage Restraint Act, the West Pakistan Dowry (Prohibition on Display) Act and the Dowry and Bridal (Restriction) Act,
Afghanistan
1. Welcomes the fact that Afghanis, especially women, have a better access to services, including education and health, than ten years ago at the time of the Petersberg Conference in Bonn that marked the end of the Taliban regime of gender apartheid,
2. Expresses however its disappointment, that the conclusions of the Bonn Conference seems barely concerned with the continuing high level of repression against women and girls in Afghanista,
3. Acknowledges that the Afghan constitution grants women equal statusomen, guarantees women a quarter of parliament seats and has allowed for the establishment of a Ministry for Women’s Affairs; welcomes the fact that after the last election, women garnered more seats than granted under the quota and women now fill 9 percent of all decision making and policy positions within the Afghan government;
4. Is deeply concerned that Afghan women and girls continue to be victims of domestic violence, trafficking, forced marriages, including child marriages, and of being traded in settlement of disputes; urges the Afghan authorities to ensure that the police, courts and other justice sector officials follow up on women’s complaints of abuses, including beating, rape and other sexual violence;
5. Is particularly worried that women in certain areas continue to face punishment by stoning or physical disfigurement when accused of violating the repressive Taliban social codes;
6. Calls on the government the end the practice of incarcerating women for wanting to evade abusive situations and instead to increase the number of shelters for women and children in the country and urges the EU to grant continuous support for such installations;
7. Underlines the importance of the request of Afghan women’s organizations that the Afghan security forces should not only be trained in counterinsurgency, but also in law and order, community safety and protecting women and children from abuse;
8. Calls in the Afghan Government to increase the number of women in the security forces, in the judiciary and in the Supreme Court Executive Council;
9. Insists that women’s essential contribution to household and community conflict resolution should be put to value and that the number of the seats for women on the High Peace Council and Provincial Peace Councils should be considerably increased;
10. Urges those women leaders and women’s organizations should be included in the design, monitoring and evaluation of the provincial security indicators;
11. Calls on the Afghan government to develop clear reporting mechanism to follow up on the implementation of the various international treaties and conventions it has ratified;
12. Supports the suggestion by Women’s rights organizations to establish a mixed international and Afghan War Memory Commission to document the various human rights violations, war crimes and transgressions during the last 30 years of war;
13. Suggests that the EEAS support the establishment of a government/civil society working group to develop oversight over rights compliance for all mining and extractive industries tenders/companies/works in order to prevent and if necessary mitigate potential rights abuses of communities, and thus affecting notably women and children;
14. Urges that funding for community programs in the context of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program should concentrate on projects that have an immediate effect on women and women’s groups should continue to receive priority funding;
15. Calls on the international community to design transitional measures of the reinsertion of combatants as family packages, as opposed to measures geared towards the fighter only;
16. Calls in the EU to support people-to-people contacts between Pakistani and Afghani women to increase bridge building between the two countries;
Pakistan
17. Express deep concern that Pakistan’s criminal justice system remains deeply flawed when it comes to the protection of women’s rights and to prosecuting violence against women;
18. Calls on the Pakistani government to put into place mechanisms which would allow local and regional administrations to monitor the conduct of informal village and tribal councils and to intervene in instances where they have acted beyond their authority;
19. Calls on the Pakistani government to re-introduce the fundamental rights of the 1973 constitution which were suspended after the military coup of 1977, including the right to be free of discrimination on the basis of sex;
20. Urges the government to review its legislation with regard to women’s rights which was introduced after the military coup, in particular the Hudood Ordinances and the Law of Evidence which violate the status and rights of women, making them subordinate in law;
21. Calls on the government to review a number of other discriminatory laws against women, namely the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, the West Pakistan Family Court Act, the Child Marriage Restraint Act, the West Pakistan Dowry (Prohibition on Display) Act and the Dowry and Bridal (Restriction) Act;
22. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States and the governments and parliaments of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
