FW: Sounds like Iskcon to me

[Guest guest]

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> Amnesty International Testimony Before the Subcommittee on

> International Operations and Human Rights, House Committee on

> International Relations,

> Presented by T. Kumar, Advocacy Director for Asia & Pacific

> Amnesty International USA, October 31, 2001

>

> Thank you Madam Chair and distinguished members of the Committee for

> providing this opportunity to testify at this important hearing. Madam

> Chair, we have documented human rights abuses, sought to increase

> awareness and to bring attention to the continuing suffering of all.

> Among the innocent are the vast majority of the long suffering women of

> Afghanistan. Their human rights situation has been of consistent and grave

> concern to Amnesty International for decades

>

> A History of Abuse against Women:

> The Taleban's policy of "gender apartheid" is unlike anywhere in the

> world. The Taleban's policies deny basic and fundamental rights to women,

> including freedom of association, expression, and movement. Under the

> Taleban's strict rules, women are not allowed to study, work, or move

> around without wearing the all-enveloping "burqa."

> In 1997 the Taleban announced through loudspeakers that women were to stay

> indoors and that they were only to be allowed outside in the company of a

> "male relative" and wearing a burqa.

> A Taleban representative told journalists that "the face of a woman is a

> source of corruption for men" who are not related to her.

> In 1997, the Taleban ordered Kabul residents to block the windows in their

> homes to ensure that women could not be seen from the street.

> "Women were told not to report for work and the Taleban stopped education

> for girls and women." In 1996, the Taleban closed Kabul University, which

> reportedly had about 8,000 women students

> The Taleban's ministry for "preventing vice and fostering virtue"

> vigilantly enforces restrictions on women. Women are regularly punished

> for allegedly violating the Taleban's rules on clothing. The Taleban

> reportedly cut off the end of a woman's thumb for wearing nail polish.

> Women continue to be subjected to death by stoning and public executions.

> A married woman accused of leaving her husband was found guilty of

> adultery and punishment to death by stoning.

> Women suffer extreme repression and effectively live under house arrest.

> Tens of thousands are widows who without a man are the sole breadwinners

> for their families and do not have a close male relative to accompany them

> in public.

> Severe depression and desperation is rampant.

> To Amnesty International's knowledge, there has never been any

> accountability for these abuses against women and children. This cycle of

> abuse must be broken as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human

> Rights.

> We believe that an expert commission should be established to examine and

> advise on how to rebuild the justice system. The commission could also

> advise on the mechanisms best suited to address past human rights abuses.

> Women must be adequately represented in any peace process, as well as in

> any future government.

> Thank you Madam chair for holding this hearing at this crucial time.

>

>