Afghanistan

Citation:

Gentry, Caron E., and Laura Sjoberg, eds. 2011. Women, Gender, and Terrorism. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Authors: Caron E. Gentry, Laura Sjoberg

Abstract:

"In the last decade the world has witnessed a rise in women’s participation in terrorism. Women, Gender, and Terrorism explores women’s relationship with terrorism, with a keen eye on the political, gender, racial, and cultural dynamics of the contemporary world. Throughout most of the twentieth century, it was rare to hear about women terrorists. In the new millennium, however, women have increas­ingly taken active roles in carrying out suicide bombings, hijacking air­planes, and taking hostages in such places as Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, and Chechnya. These women terrorists have been the subject of a substantial amount of media and scholarly attention, but the analysis of women, gender, and terrorism has been sparse and riddled with stereotypical thinking about women’s capabilities and motivations. In the first section of this volume, contributors offer an overview of women’s participation in and relationships with contemporary terrorism, and a historical chapter traces their involvement in the politics and conflicts of Islamic societies. The next section includes empirical and theoretical analysis of terrorist movements in Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine, and Sri Lanka. The third section turns to women’s involvement in al Qaeda and includes critical interrogations of the gendered media and the scholarly presentations of those women. The conclusion offers ways to further explore the subject of gender and terrorism based on the contributions made to the volume. Contributors to Women, Gender, and Terrorism expand our understanding of terrorism, one of the most troubling and complicated facets of the modern world." (University of Georgia Press)

Annotation:

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Media, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Political Participation, Terrorism, Violence Regions: Africa, MENA, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sri Lanka

Year: 2011

Citation:

Manganaro, Lynne L., and Amy L. Poland. 2012. “For Better or Worse? Gender and Perceptions of Formal and Informal Justice Systems in Afghanistan.” Women & Criminal Justice 22 (1): 2–29. doi:10.1080/08974454.2012.636287.

Authors: Lynne L. Manganaro, Amy L. Poland

Abstract:

We draw on survey data from a national probability sample of 6,406 Afghan adults (aged 18 years and older) to explore gender differences in the perceptions of formal and informal justice systems. The study utilizes binary logistic regression to probe whether men and women differ in their attitudes and the extent to which other factors may mediate both within and across ethnic group differences. We find that women have more confidence in the formal system than their male counterparts, whereas the opposite is true for the informal system. The scholarly and policy implications of these results are discussed.

Keywords: Afghanistan, court systems, gender differences, justice, Muslim women

Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Justice Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2012

Citation:

Author: Yakin Ertürk

Annotation:

Summary:

This report contains the findings of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, following her official visit to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 9 to 19 July 2005. It addresses the diverse forms of violence against women in the country within the context of conflict and post-conflict situations and key measures and initiatives needed to ensure the protection and promotion of the rights of women and the elimination of violence against women.

[...]

In view of these challenges, the Special Rapporteur makes recommendations to the Government of Afghanistan, the international community and non-governmental organizations under seven broad categories: State-building and sense of citizenry; family and criminal law; public awareness and targeted information campaigns on women’s rights; the situation of women in detention; expanding and strengthening safe houses; data collection and research; prioritizing women’s human rights and the elimination of discrimination against women in public policy. (Ertürk, 2006, p. 2).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Justice, Post-Conflict, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2006

Citation:

Azarbaijan-Moghaddam, Sippi. 2009. “The Arrested Development of Afghan Women.” In The Future of Afghanistan, edited by J Alexander Thier, 63–72. Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace. http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/foa.pdf.

Author: Sippi Azarbaijan-Moghaddam

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Post-Conflict, Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Human Security, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2009

Citation:

Authors: Sima Wali, Elizabeth Gould, Paul Fitzgerald

Abstract:

“The article examines the link between the crises in women's health and human rights in Afghanistan and the political circumstances that caused them. The wall of silence that separated the political events of Communist era from their human consequences perpetuates humanitarian crises and frustrates relief workers and activists in their efforts to end crimes against humanity. As a result of the division between humanitarian crises and the political discourse that would alter them, conflicts remain unresolved, leaving the victims exposed to multiple abuses.”

(EBSCO host)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, Gender Balance, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Justice, Crimes against Humanity, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Human Security Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 1999

Citation:

Author: Sima Wali

Abstract:

The United States' foreign policy in Afghanistan has a long history of misguided plans and misplaced trust—a fact that has contributed to the destruction of the social and physical infrastructure of Afghan society. Afghans contend that after having fought as U.S. allies against the Soviet Union—with the price of more than two million dead—the United States swiftly walked away at the end of that bloody, twenty-three-year conflict. The toll of the war on Afghan society reflected in current statistics is so staggering as to be practically unimaginable: 12 million women living in abject poverty, 1 million people handicapped from land mine explosions, an average life expectancy of forty years (lower for women), a mortality rate of 25.7 percent for children under five years old, and an illiteracy rate of 64 percent. These horrific indicators place Afghanistan among the most destitute countries in the world in terms of human development.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Male Combatants, Development, Economies, Poverty, Education, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gender-Based Violence, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Human Security, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2002

Citation:

Author: Sima Wali

Topics: Combatants, Male Combatants, Gender, Women, Men, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security Regions: Asia, Central Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2004

Citation:

Alvi, Hayat. 2011. “Women in Afghanistan: A Human Rights Tragedy Ten Years After 9/11.” Human Rights and Human Welfare, Working Paper 66, US Naval War College, Newport, RI.

Author: Hayat Alvi

Abstract:

Ten years after the September 11thattacks in the United States and the military campaign in Afghanistan, there is some good news, but unfortunately still much bad news pertaining to women in Afghanistan.  The patterns of politics, security/military operations, religious fanaticism, heavily patriarchal structures and practices, and ongoing insurgent violence continue to threaten girls and women in the most insidious ways.  Although women’s rights and freedoms in Afghanistan have finally entered the radar screen of the international community’s consciousness, they still linger in the margins in many respects. Socio-cultural and extremist religious elements continue to pose serious obstacles to reconstruction and development efforts.  These constraints and impediments have an immensely devastating impact on the lives of girls and women in Afghanistan, and most often result in severely impairing quality of life and even reducing female life expectancy. Another ominous trend that has undermined Afghan women’s rights is President Hamid Karzai’s political constituency, consisting of increasingly conservative and religious fundamentalist characters.  In order to appease them and gain political support, the Karzai government has compromised women’s rights, and in some cases has cast a symbolic vote to Taliban-like mindsets.  Meanwhile, women politicians, activists, and journalists constantly face intimidation and threats, and a number have even been assassinated.One glance at the health and education statistics pertaining to Afghan girls and women alone is enough to see that improvements have been painfully gradual, and attention to these harsh realities has been grossly deficient.  This paper examines these health and education variables, as well as the government policymaking that has triggered setbacks in women’s rights.  Trends in violence against women and insecurity are also analyzed.  All of the variables that negatively affect the lives of girls and women in Afghanistan are interconnected and interdependent.  Therefore, none of them can afford to be overlooked.  Overall, the situation for girls and women in Afghanistan remains bleak and tragic.

Keywords: women, human rights, maternal health, misogyny, Northern Alliance, Afghanistan, Taliban

Topics: Education, Gender, Women, Health, Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2011

Citation:

Azarbaijani-Moghaddam, Sippi. 2007. “On Living with Negative Peace and a Half-Built State: Gender and Human Rights.” International Peacekeeping 14 (1): 127–42. doi:10.1080/13533310601114335.

Author: Sippi Azarbaijani-Moghaddam

Abstract:

This article examines the double standards associated with a precarious international peacebuilding strategy in Afghanistan based on impunity and half-truths rather than accountability and transitional justice. Many international organizations have turned a blind eye to past and current human rights atrocities through forms of rationalization based on an empowerment of cultural differences, relativization of progress and ‘policy reductionism’. Consequently, and in the absence of consistently applied rights instruments, societal divisions along gender, ethnic and other lines have intensified Afghanistan’s culture of intolerance to human rights, thereby violating the very principles the international community purports to uphold. Drawing on first-hand experiences, personal interviews and a sober analysis of trends, this article challenges some of the conventional assumptions held about the perception and knowledge of human rights among Afghans. It concludes by identifying possible areas of future study to better understand both the prospects for transitional justice and how ordinary Afghans continue to cope with widespread injustice and inequality.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Occupation, Civil Society, Corruption, Ethnicity, Gender, International Organizations, Justice, Impunity, Transitional Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militias, Paramilitaries, Peacebuilding, Rights, Human Rights, Violence Regions: Asia, Middle East Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2007

Citation:

Author: Siobhán Mullally

Abstract:

The adoption in 2000 of Security Council Resolution 1325 has rightly been described as a watershed moment. Not only does this resolution recognize women as potentially vulnerable in times of conflict, it specifically, and importantly, recognizes women as political actors, as agents in peace processes and as key stakeholders in peace-building. More than a decade after its adoption, however, questions remain as to whether 'gender security' is an elusive goal in conflict and post-conflict situations. There is little to suggest that Resolution 1325 has heralded the kind of transformative change that was hoped for by many, and the challenges of effective implementation continue to arise. There is also the question of compromise in the negotiation of peace agreements and in post-conflict reconstruction. Nationalist sentiment, frequently reinforced by religious and cultural claims, all too often turns on questions relating to sexuality, gendered identities, roles and status. In times of crisis, in fragile states, women and girls become the repository of tradition, and gender identities become the markers of national and group identities, often presumed central to a process of nation-building. In the context of ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the challenges in ensuring that peace processes meet the requirements of Security Council Resolution 1325 are particularly acute. Over the last year, the possibility of 'talking to the Taliban' has repeatedly been raised. For women and girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the stakes are particularly high in any such negotiations. This article explores the position of women in Pakistan and the role that militant religious forces have played in limiting the potential of democratic transitions since the foundation of the state.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Security, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan

Year: 2011