Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-14-Speech-3-222"
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"en.20030514.9.3-222"2
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The ΕU is closely monitoring the situation as regards respect for the human rights of women in Afghanistan. In its contacts with the Afghan Transitional Administration, the ΕU constantly and incessantly stresses that the rights of Afghan women and the promotion of their full and equal participation in every aspect of public life are an important reference point for the evaluation of the performance of the Afghan Transitional Administration and for defining subsequent EU policy towards Afghanistan.
On 14 April the Council approved conclusions in which it underlined, among other things, the importance of including the mainstreaming of gender awareness into the policy of the Afghan Transitional Administration and in which it urged the establishment of a constitutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights, especially with regard to women and girls. Similarly, the Council stressed that gender awareness must be one of the features of the government to be formed following free and fair elections by June 2004. The Afghan Minister for Foreign Affairs, who met the EU ministers in April 2003, subscribes to these conclusions.
Following the fall of the Taliban, there are nonetheless signs of improvement. More and more girls are attending school and they are also studying at higher education institutes in the larger towns. The ministries are recruiting women and, generally speaking, a lot of women have returned to their work outside the home. One very positive step was the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on 5 March. However, the Council indeed acknowledges that the situation of women is still unacceptable as regards the possibilities of education and work, as regards their legal protection or their full and equal participation in public life, despite the examples to which I referred. Similarly, women are the main victims of insecurity, which threatens their life and their dignity.
The office of the EU special representative for Afghanistan, Mr Vendrell, has established good working relations with the Ministry for Women's Affairs and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Committee and is supporting the creation of an infrastructure of women's organisations through training and dialogue. The EU special representative, together with the representatives of the Commission and the Member States, regularly evaluate the achievement of the objectives of the policy of the European Union, including in the field of women's rights and shall, if they deem necessary, submit recommendations on further action to be taken on the part of the ΕU. Finally, the Council will also pay special attention to the role of women in the reconstruction of Iraq."@en1
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