~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the LA Times:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

by Laura King

August 15, 2009

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan — One is the face of despair; the other, of hope.

Zeinab, 22, believed that only death could provide an escape from her husband's merciless beatings. So she set herself on fire, leaving one-third of her body covered with oozing, blistering burns. She faces a lifetime of disfigurement and, unless she returns to her abusive husband, the likely loss of her two children.

Twelve-year-old Nazira's classroom is a sweltering tent, and her desk is a plastic mat on the ground. But her teachers say she is one of their brightest pupils, encouraged by a mother and father who want her to get as much education as she can. Her eyes sparkle when she describes her ambition: to become a doctor.

Nearly eight years after the fall of the Taliban movement, Afghan women live on the cusp of triumph and tragedy. Life is immeasurably better than it was under Taliban rule, when they were forbidden to leave their homes without a male relative, beaten for infractions such as laughing aloud, deprived of schooling and employment, shrouded and faceless in public.

But dozens of girls and women, interviewed over several months in homes and mosques, in parks and in prison, in street markets and classrooms, described a nagging sense that the gains have not been all they had hoped for. That after all this time, all this effort expended, life should be different. Better.

"It's a kind of freedom, yes," said a university student named Zarifa, who like some of the other women did not want her full name published. "We are like birds who have left the cage, but with our wings still clipped."

---

The thwarted dreams of many Afghan women mirror a palpable sense of disillusionment in a country still battered and broken despite billions of dollars in international aid, and Afghanistan's place at the center of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's biggest and most sustained military campaign.

Many Afghans, of both sexes, describe the heady optimism that prevailed after the Taliban government was dislodged in 2001, only to be replaced by growing trepidation over the last three years as the insurgency reinvigorated itself, violence surged, corruption flourished and rebuilding proved agonizingly slow.

Although the U.S.-led invasion was spurred by the Sept. 11 attacks, the belief that Afghan women would be liberated from a reign of medieval cruelty provided a strong moral underpinning for the war effort.

"I think the West was naive, in some ways," said Manizha Naderi, a women's rights activist. "There was this notion that when the Taliban were gone, we would all be able to throw off our burkas and celebrate. But it hasn't been like that."

That, she and others said, can be attributed to deeply rooted cultural traditions that predate Taliban rule and persist in its aftermath, abetted by poverty, illiteracy and the growing insecurity of day-to-day life.

"The more security deteriorates, the more women become vulnerable," said Sima Samar, the head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. "I dislike that word -- 'vulnerable.' But that is the reality."

For many Afghan women, this feeling of disenfranchisement is heightened, not eased, by the national elections scheduled for Thursday.

There are just two female presidential candidates, in a field of nearly 40. Record numbers of women are seeking seats in provincial assemblies, but intimidation is commonplace and some have gotten death threats simply for daring to show their faces on campaign posters.

And almost no one believes that the elections will bring about any dramatic change in women's lot.

President Hamid Karzai, expected to emerge as the victor even if the race is forced to a runoff, has repeatedly yielded to conservative religious elements to win political support. He caused an outcry this year by signing a controversial law that in its original reading condoned marital rape. He has since pledged to review it.

"There's been no strong debate over women's rights in this election; it's just not a priority," Samar said. "None of the major candidates speaks very boldly on the subject. It has faded into the background."

---

When she poured gasoline on herself and struck a match, Zeinab felt as if it was the only decision she had ever made for herself.

Born to a poor Pashtun family in the west of Afghanistan, Zeinab never learned to read or write. She married at 16, at her family's behest.

As her husband's abuse steadily worsened, she had no idea it was possible to seek help. She learned that only later, when doctors and nurses fought to save her life at the country's only dedicated burn center, at Herat Regional Hospital.

"It's as if," Zeinab gestured with a bandaged hand, groping for words, "as if I didn't know that there was a world outside my house. Even what I have learned in these last three months, from my time in the hospital, it's more than I knew before in my entire life."

Marie-Jose Brunel, a French nurse with the relief organization HumaniTerra, sees Zeinab every few days as an outpatient, lavishing hugs and affection along with stern practical advice: Squeeze a rubber ball every hour to keep your burned hand from freezing into a claw. Crane your neck to make the healing skin more supple.

Zeinab's greatest concern is her children: a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter. Unless she returns to her household, they probably will be lost to her.

"When my daughter looks at me and sees my scars, she is afraid," she said. "That is the hardest thing of all."

---

For many Afghan women, events that would constitute a harsh but survivable blow in the West -- a maiming accident, serious illness, the loss of a spouse -- can mark a descent into inescapable poverty. Many of the beggars on the streets of Kabul are women in burkas , moving through traffic like blue ghosts.

"I cannot tell you how terrible was my life on the streets," said Qamargul, 40, whose husband forced her to beg after she proved unable to bear children. He took another, younger wife, and the two of them would allow Qamargul indoors to sleep only after she handed over each day's meager earnings. Otherwise, she was turned out into the cold.

A Western-funded group rescued Qamargul after a savage beating from her husband landed her in a hospital, and she hopes to learn a trade and live independently. But her efforts to get a divorce have been stymied, a common occurrence in a legal system that still considers ending a marriage to be a man's prerogative.

At a recent hearing, she was asked by the exasperated judge, "Why don't you just do as you should, and go home to your husband?"

In Afghanistan, as anywhere, there are many happy marriages. But for less fortunate women, the marriage contract can be used as a means of subjugation.

Girls as young as 8 are forced into marriage. Rape and domestic violence are endemic. Women and girls are routinely sold or bartered to meet clan obligations, a practice that is technically illegal but widely tolerated.

"I asked my father, 'Why did you sell me?' said Obeida, a 13-year-old who was sold into servitude when she was 8. She became a servant for her buyer -- and a bride in waiting.

"I cried all the time for my mother," she said.

Her older sister, Maryam, who was sold at 11, managed to alert authorities before Obeida could be forced, as Maryam had been, to marry an older man. Obeida now lives in a Kabul shelter and is attending school for the first time.

On a recent morning, clad in her school uniform, she glowed with anticipation.

"I feel my life has begun again," she said.

---

Nazira, the Kabul schoolgirl, said she cannot imagine a life without learning. Her teachers sometimes tell the girls about Taliban times, but it all seems too distant, too impossible.

"Is it really true, what happened then?" she wanted to know.

The school's headmistress, Arifa Jalal, described the secret school she ran during Taliban rule. When militants knocked at the door, she would explain away the presence of the girls in her living room, inventing some family connection to each.

Now the biggest problem, she said, is the lack of funding, coupled with enormous demand. Even here in the capital, the school has no working plumbing. The girls bring water bottles. It's so crowded that they study in shifts. "But I know we will send many to university," Jalal said.

Jalal knows that she and her students are lucky in the relative security they enjoy in Kabul. In swaths of the countryside where insurgents have the upper hand, girls' schools are routinely burned and bombed, and teachers and pupils terrorized.

Nazira has classmates who have been forbidden by their parents to continue their education once they reach puberty, saying they are in danger when they leave home even to walk to class. But her parents have promised that she can stay in school.

"They say, 'Your books are like a passport in this life,' " she said.

These are the success stories of the post-Taliban era. Young women fill college classrooms. Women take part in government. Female newscasters appear on television, defying threats. Women have shown themselves to be among the most energetic of entrepreneurs, a driving force in the small-business sector.

Homaira, who owns and runs a beauty salon in downtown Kabul, used to secretly give haircuts in her home under the Taliban, not only as a means of earning a livelihood but also as a gesture of defiance.

"I have a skill, and I'm proud I can take care of myself," she said. "But for my daughters, I want more."

Support for women's advancement can sometimes come from unexpected quarters. In a rural district outside Kabul, a farmer named Haji Qudbuddin has 10 daughters. Two have married and left home, but all of the younger ones are in school. And he wants them to marry whomever they please when they grow up.

Qudbuddin, who is the malik , or headman, of a string of 10 villages, said he came to his views only after learning to read and write, something that did not happen until after he had spent his youth as a mujahedin commander, fighting first the Soviets and then the Taliban.

"Women have rights," he said. "But until I was educated, I did not know this."

---

At the hillside Sakhi shrine in Kabul, one day of the week is set aside for women, and on a late-summer day, the soaring structure is filled with shafts of sunlight, a few fluttering birds and the murmur of female voices.

Two heavily pregnant women prostrate themselves as best their swollen bellies will allow, praying for a safe delivery. Others offer up prayers they will conceive a child, or make a good marriage. Many simply sit, leaning against the brick walls, enjoying these rare moments of relaxation and sanctuary.

Among those taking time to reflect on her life is Mina, a model-slender 18-year-old clad in tight jeans and a fashionable asymmetrically cut coat. Her older sister, Nasreen, is about to marry a man who is a virtual stranger to her, and go live with him abroad.

Mina says that here at the shrine, she prayed for a happy life for her sister and for herself. But she also believes she can make her own destiny.

"My life is in my hands," she says. "I will go to school, I will work . . . but maybe I will have to leave Afghanistan to do this."

Leila, a 41-year-old government employee wearing a long denim skirt, is beyond girlish dreams. "I need my husband's permission to go anywhere, including here," she says matter-of-factly.

Still, when she looks back to the years of imprisonment in her home under the Taliban regime, a day out like this one can seem like something of a miracle.

"I can hope for more freedom," she says. "And even that wish makes me a little bit more free."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-women15-2009aug15,0,2611239,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the White House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 14, 2009

The summer may be almost over, but it's not too late to be a part of United We Serve. Millions of Americans have answered the President's call to service in their communities this summer. Some have volunteered at community health centers, while others have read to children. No matter what service activity they participated in, these volunteers have made a positive impact on their communities. You can read some of their inspiring stories here.

Want to get involved but don't know how? Visit Serve.gov , where you can search for service projects in your area based on your interests.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/United-We-Serve-Stories-of-Service/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Barbara Boxer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boxer Praises Secretary Clinton's Efforts to Help End Sexual Violence in Congo

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Washington, D.C. – U. S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today praised Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's efforts to help end the devastating sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and to help victims and communities recover.

Specifically, Secretary Clinton announced $17 million to fight sexual violence, including initiatives to train all female police units, train doctors, and supply rape victims with video cameras to document violence.

Senator Boxer said, “I am so pleased that Secretary Clinton has decided to make the women and girls of the Congo a top priority. The violence that they have silently suffered over the past 12 years is a stain on humanity. We must continue to speak out on their behalf and provide assistance and services until this unspeakable violence is ended once and for all.”

Earlier this year, Senator Boxer and Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) chaired a joint Foreign Relations hearing that focused on rape and sexual violence in conflict zones, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

The hearing prompted Senator Boxer, along with Senators Feingold and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), to send a letter to Secretary Clinton asking that the U.S. government create a plan to train and deploy sufficient numbers of Congolese surgeons to treat victims of sexual violence. The letter also called for a U.S. initiative to help recruit and train all-female police units to help protect and respond to victims of sexual violence.

Secretary Clinton's announcement during her trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo this week includes many of the senators' recommendations.

In a conflict that has spanned more than a decade, rape of women and girls is a tactic used by all sides. UNICEF estimated last year that “hundreds of thousands” of women and girls had been raped in Congo since 1994, with over 1,000 raped each month. And in recent months, there has also been a significant increase in the number of men being raped. These atrocities continue despite a 2003 peace agreement and presidential elections in 2006, and the presence of the largest United Nations peacekeeping force, with more than 18,000 troops stationed in Congo and up to 3,000 additional troops scheduled to deploy.

The letter sent by Senator Boxer and her colleagues follows:
.

May 21, 2009 The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20520 Dear Secretary Clinton: Thank you for your leadership in bringing the status of women to the attention of the world community. You know, as we do, that when women are allowed to live up to their full potential, everyone wins. Last week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a joint hearing of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's Issues and the Subcommittee on African Affairs to examine the use of violence against women, particularly rape, as a tool of war in conflict zones and to explore what steps are being taken to stop this horrific practice once and for all. The hearing looked specifically at the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan—two countries where sexual violence is a well-documented and pervasive reality. We heard testimony from Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer, the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Esther Brimmer, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Phillip Carter, and women from the DRC and Sudan, as well as policy experts. What we learned was shocking, sobering and tragic. We realize that this stain on humanity is well known to you, so there is no need to repeat the stories we heard. During the hearing, we examined a number of specific recommendations to stop this madness, which we have outlined below. We ask that you examine each in detail, and respond on efforts for implementation. With respect to the Democratic Republic of Congo, we propose: - A plan to work with the Government of Congo and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to train and deploy sufficient numbers of Congolese surgeons to perform obstetric fistula surgery for victims of brutal rapes; - A plan to work with the Government of Congo and NGOs to train and deploy sufficient numbers of mental health professionals to treat the emotional and psychological wounds of those terrorized by violent conflict; - A plan to work with the Government of Congo to recruit and train all-female police units to help protect and respond to victims of sexual violence; - A plan to strengthen efforts to help create a strong, independent Congolese legal and judicial system that can help end the culture of impunity that prevails among perpetrators of these crimes; - An intensified diplomatic effort with both the Rwandan and Ugandan governments to help bring an end to the violence and instability in Eastern Congo. With respect to Sudan, we propose: - Continued and ongoing advocacy to ensure that international humanitarian organizations have adequate access and ability to provide services to the millions of displaced Darfuri men, women, and children; - An assessment of basic needs such as food, water, fuel, and sanitation for women in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and more robust plans for distributing alternative goods such as solar ovens so that women are not forced to leave the camps for firewood and water, which leaves them vulnerable to attacks; - Scaling up our work with NGOs and the United Nations to ensure that incidences of violence, and particularly sexual violence, are documented and shared with entities that can help bring perpetrators to justice. For both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan and to more broadly address violence against women, we propose: - A major address at the United Nations by the President or the Secretary of State to coincide with the release of a report in June by the UN Secretary General on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1820. Resolution 1820 demands the immediate and complete cessation of all acts of sexual violence against civilians by all parties to armed conflict; - United States leadership on the establishment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General to address rape and other sexual violence against women. This would mirror the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, a position created in 1996 to promote and protect the rights of all children affected by armed conflict; - U.S. support for the establishment of a Security Council Working Group on Sexual Violence and Conflict. This would mirror the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict that was created in 2005. The Working Group works in coordination with the Special Representative for Children to publish country-specific reports on children and armed conflict that serve as “triggers for action” by the Security Council and put public pressure on countries to halt violations against children; - A high-level delegation of Members of Congress and the Administration to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan to call attention to these horrors and to discuss U.S. efforts to address these problems; - The prioritization by the United States of the development, training and equipping of all-female peacekeeping units in our work with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO); - The inclusion of the prevention of rape and violence against women as a key element of our diplomatic relations with foreign countries. This principle must become a key element of U.S. foreign policy; - Strong U.S. support for the reorientation of peacekeeping forces in Sudan and Congo to better focus on protecting women and girls where they are most vulnerable, such as firewood collection routes; - Scaling up our work with NGOs to develop workable and effective economic opportunities for women vulnerable to sexual violence. We urge you to consider these recommendations and look forward to your response as soon as possible. Given your long commitment to advancing women's rights, we know that you will work to ensure that addressing and preventing violence against women in all of its forms is a top priority of this Administration. Madam Secretary, every day that goes by without a clear and focused plan means more women devastated by unspeakable violence. Thank you for your consideration of these important requests. Sincerely, Barbara Boxer United States Senator Russell D. Feingold United States Senator Jeanne Shaheen United States Senator

http://boxer.senate.gov/news/releases/record.cfm?id=317017