<<previous  |  index

VI. Recommendations

• Take all possible steps to stop intimidation, threats, and harassment of women so that more women are able to participate freely in presidential elections and in parliamentary and local elections scheduled for 2005. Dismiss any government official found by either JEMB or the joint AIHRC-UNAMA political rights verification team to have made threats or committed abuses.

• Make a new request to NATO to supply additional troops for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Peacekeeping forces should consult with women’s rights organizations and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to find out about gender-specific security problems and they should ensure full protection for women and girls.

• Ask NATO and the U.N. Security Council to expand ISAF’s mandate to include a central role in disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) efforts and request that countries operating Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) integrate PRT operations into the ISAF command.

• President Hamid Karzai, his cabinet, and Afghanistan’s main military factions must commit themselves to meaningful implementation of DDR programs. Investigate, prosecute, and punish the perpetrators of attacks, threats, and acts of intimidation against women, women’s rights advocates, and women’s rights programs.

• Encourage women to report abuses to local UNAMA, AIHRC, or JEMB offices. These offices should strengthen outreach to women and make their services more accessible to them.

• Commit to providing strong political support and resources for women’s rights initiatives, including legal reform, girls’ education, health care, and women’s rights awareness programs.

• Enact the Afghan Women Security and Freedom Act (S2032) to continue providing aid to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Afghan women’s groups, and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

• Make human rights promotion and protection a primary goal of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, which in turn will enable democratization and nation-building processes. The United States should support Afghan government efforts to improve political freedoms, including by helping to weaken autonomous abusive commanders, redoubling efforts at militia disarmament, and increasing protection of women’s rights activists and independent political actors.

• Increase cooperation with ISAF and support the expansion of troop levels so that ISAF can play a greater role in providing security for the 2005 elections and security generally to enhance Afghan women’s political participation.

  o ISAF troop levels, currently set to decrease after the elections, should instead be increased.

  o The U.S. should work with other NATO member states to adopt a common mandate for ISAF and PRTs, focusing on assistance with disarmament efforts and protection of politically active women and other targeted political actors and groups.

  o Provincial Reconstruction Teams, where they are used in lieu of ISAF troops, should be given clearer mandates to assist with disarmament efforts and protection of politically active women and other targeted political actors and groups.

• End immediately all direct cash payments and other forms of assistance by agencies of the United States to Afghan military or faction leaders or sub-leaders and discourage payments to such leaders by other sources. The Department of Defense and all intelligence-gathering agencies in Afghanistan should review their operations to ensure that U.S. cooperation with local militias, local commanders, intelligence sources, and other local entities is not being misused as a basis for extorting civilians or threatening political opponents.

• Increase funding and support for training of the Afghan national army, as well as police training, to professionalize these forces. Recruit and train women police officers. The United States should specifically increase the U.S. contribution to the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA).

To NATO member states and other nations involved militarily in Afghanistan:

• Increase ISAF troop levels, which are currently set to decrease after the elections.

• Adopt a common mandate for ISAF and PRTs, focusing on assistance with disarmament efforts and protection of politically active women and other targeted political actors and groups. Provincial Reconstruction Teams, where they are used in lieu of ISAF troops, should be given clearer mandates to assist with disarmament efforts and protection of politically active women and other targeted political actors and groups.

To international donors:

• Increase financial support for women’s rights projects, including funding for training programs for women candidates in the provinces, UNAMA and AIHRC human rights monitoring and reporting, and women’s voter education projects. Start implementing these programs immediately, in order to have enough time to reach women in the provinces before the 2005 parliamentary and local elections.

• Ensure that the JEMB and UNAMA have the necessary resources and funding to administer 2005 elections in ways that will facilitate the full participation of women voters and candidates.

• Encourage UNAMA to facilitate a central independent monitoring body charged with observing the 2005 elections, and earmark funding for that body.

• Provide resources for women’s rights initiatives, including legal reform, girls’ education, health care, and women’s rights awareness programs.

To the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):

• Increase staffing levels for women’s rights, human rights, and political affairs monitoring, and continue public reporting with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission on Afghanistan’s political rights situation. Increase outreach to women outside of urban centers, including through mobile teams. To ensure that staffing increases are not delayed by bureaucratic hurdles, the hiring process should be centralized in Kabul.

• Put special emphasis on facilitating a central independent monitoring body to observe the 2005 elections.

To the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General:

• Continue to press the Afghan government and its international partners to revitalize disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration efforts. The Special Representative should keep pressure on the United States and NATO members to increase troop contributions for ISAF and PRTs and refocus the mandates of those forces so that they give priority to assisting with disarmament efforts and protecting politically active women and other targeted political actors and groups.