Behind the veil: a vale of tears in Taliban land

By Nedra Wickremasinghe

On the eve of a historic meeting in Germany to form a multi-ethnic broad-based government with women representation also in Afghanistan, Ms. Coomaraswamy assesses the situation in the light of what she saw and experienced during her mission.

It was in 1999, when she was asked by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner to visit Pakistan, that she expressed her desire also to visit Afghanistan for an on-the-spot assessment of widespread reports of violence against women there.

"It was not easy to gain entry to Kabul, the stronghold of the Taliban. At that time the Taliban controlled the majority of the country and the Northern Alliance controlled only the north-east," Ms. Coomaraswamy said. 

She finally got the visa, largely on the basis of being a Sri Lankan and an Asian because the Taliban would not have tolerated anyone whom they saw as a western feminist.

At the time of her visit to Afghanistan, two decades of war , famine, drought and civil strife had plunged the country into a living hell.

Ms. Coomaraswamy said that nowhere in the world had women suffered so much as the women in the Taliban controlled areas of Afghanistan. "They were subjected to grave indignities in the areas of physical security and the rights to education, health, freedom of movement and freedom of association. There were only primary schools for girls aged 6 to 10 run by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and not the Ministry of Education. There was no secondary or tertiary education and thus there was a generation of illiterate women," she said. Ms. Coomaraswamy said when she spoke to the women, she found that none of them approved the Taliban policy towards women. She found that health facilities for women were appalling. 

"Taliban edicts ban women from working except in the health and social service sector. The war has created a large number of war widows and their inability to work has caused enormous social problems. As employment in the health sector was so limited, many women are destitute and many have taken to begging on the streets," she said.

In urban areas Ms. Coomaraswamy said she found the female population under threat if they ever violated the edicts enunciated by the Taliban Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice. 

"The most evident right that has been violated for women is freedom of movement. Women are mostly confined to their homes and if they leave the house they have to wear a burqa and they must be accompanied by a male relative. As for a male relative a wailing screaming 3-year-old son would be good enough an escort," she said, indicating how the sublime could also become ridiculous.

The UN Rapporteur said she was told that the women were denied freedom of association. Sports and leisure activities as well as religious, social activities for women were banned. Women laughing loudly, wearing the wrong type of burqa, or allowing their ankles to show, were considered as violating the edicts and they were subjected to punishments such as being assaulted with an instrument that look like a leather cricket bat.

Ms. Coomaraswamy also met Taliban officials, and she found them to be very open and cordial with her.

Her dress-code was met with certain apprehension as the officials had expected her to be covered from head to toe. But instead she was attired in a black kurutha and trousers and had a veil on her head. As this was contrary to the Taliban dress-code she was asked to cover her head prior to the meeting with the officials. As she refused to comply with this request the meeting took place but the officials who were on the adjoining seat had their backs turned to her during the entire period of the meeting.

When she raised issues relating to human rights, she was told Taliban edicts were based on Islamic principles and that the western world's view of human rights did not take Islamic values into consideration. 

But Ms. Coomaraswamy said she believed on the basis of her dialogue with Islamic scholars that Taliban leaders were speaking largely of their interpretation of Islamic principles.

Amidst reports that Northern Alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani might be the key figure in the new multi-ethnic government, Ms. Coomaraswamy said the Northern Alliance's record relating to women was also not encouraging.

She said that before visiting areas controlled by the Northern Alliance she had received reports that the worst period of violence against women during wartime in Afghanistan was when the Rabbani Government controlled Kabul. 

Although there was no discrimination in the areas of education and health for women, it was the Rabbani Government that had introduced the strict Islamic law. Ms. Coomaraswamy said she was reassured that if the Rabbani government returned to office, it would ensure that its laws were in conformity with its international obligations, especially the Convention On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.