Initiatives for Afghan Women Involvement with Politics

Initiatives for Afghanistani Women Involvement with PoliticsKey InitiativesEducationInvesting in girls grooming is the single most(prenominal) effective development decision a untaught can make. Beyond doubling the skilled formforce, this investment results in fitter young women, delayed marriages, and wellnessier children in the families that these educated young women create. under(a) the Taliban, fewer than 900,000 boys and no girls were enrolled in Afghanistans indoctrinates.Today, more(prenominal) than 6.2 million students be enrolled in Afghan schools, 35 portion of whom be girls. Although pedagogicsal indicators preserve poor in Afghanistan and atomic number 18 worse for women who w ar only a 21 percent literacy dictate USG initiatives argon removing barriers and opening doors.Since 2001, the U.S. Agency for transnational Development (USAID) repaired or built more than 670 schools, printed 69 million textbooks, and better the qualifications of 54,000 Afg han teachers in instructional methodologies, subject knowledge and professional attitudes. These programs gather in fatten uped and improved the quality of community-based education in beas where there are no government schools.USG assistance has extended to 18 provinces, 1,565 communities, more than 43,000 children (60 percent of whom are girls), and 1,565 teachers. In the last fiscal year, we provided literacy facts of life and instruction in productive skills to more than 100,000 people from over 1, five hundred communities in 20 provinces. We are committed to working with the government of Afghanistan to further expand these programs, and to enhance the womanly literacy rate and womens and girls devil to formal and informal education at all aims.SecurityWe touch to urge the Afghan government to cherish women leaders, and to take seriously the everyday threats against women and girls by extremists who try to discourage school attendance by destroying schools or throwing a cid on young schoolgirls. We jut and admire the bravery and determination of Afghan families and the Afghan girls who insist their access to education in the face of such threats. Our programs provide great resistance to girls schools and health facilities, for example by building protective walls when requested. We are increase womens participation in the security sector by both recruitment and promotion of women as well as education on grammatical gender-related topics for men with the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army.From 2003 to the present, dominance of International Narcotics and constabulary Enforcement Af honests (INL) programs pay back trained over 500 pistillate legal philosophy officers to play a stronger role regarding womens issues inwardly the police force 166 of those officers are employed in Family Response Units (FRUs) given to domestic violence cases. Our assistance has improved the number and capacity of FRUs that oppose to cases of violence against women U.S. mentors have worked with over three dozen FRUs in 10 provinces. These FRUs addressed 897 cases during 2009. Our programs also conduct outreach to Afghan communities to teach them about the FRUs and to advance women stirred by violence to make use of their services.Political fulfillFor women to have a voice in their nations policy-making process, they privation to be able to enrol in all levels of government. They inquire to be represented in greater numbers in civilised service positions, and they need to have an active role in the mollification process. UN Security Council Resolution 1325 reaffirms the need to include women in deliberations on international peace and security at all stages, including conflict resolution and post-conflict plan and peace-building. Their voices need to be heard, not only because they have the right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives, but also because their experiences and perspectives improve the quality of the resulting policies. Womens involvement in all Afghan conflict-resolution processes is a USG priority.Womens caucuses are being strengthened in Parliament and their leadership developed in the civil service through professional exchange programs and technical assistance. We have increased the number of male and female Parliamentarians educated about the principles of have-to doe with rights that are enshrined in the Afghan Constitution. We need to encourage the expansion of vivacious national and international scholarships for women, as well as expanding the number of be internship programs for women in Afghan Ministries, and are looking at funding options in this regard. In March, we are launching a program for emerging female leaders from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the U.S. where they leave receive diplomatical training.In advance of Parliamentary elections this fall, we are making use of customary outreach and education as well as financial support to Afghan-led civil education programs for men and women in order to encourage womens greater electoral participation, both as candidates and as voters. We have supported training for female members of Parliament and women leaders elected at the grassroots level on how to be more effective and capable leaders.Rule of Law and Human RightsSome progress has been made in the area of womens human rights, but much remains to be done. Violence against women and girls is endemic, including domestic abuse, rape, forced marriages, forced prostitution, kidnappings, and so-called honor killings. This violence cannot be explained off as cultural it is criminal, and must be addressed as such. The boilers suit USG justice strategy explicitly refers to the need to witness that womens rights are promoted and protected by Afghan justice systems. Central to that objective is the need to intertwine womens rights within both the formal and traditional sectors and to ensure that USG funding for trad itional justice programs provides a platform for supporting, rather than diminishing, womens rights.Afghan women and girls can still be sent to prison for good crimes, including fleeing domestic violence or eloping. Many State Department Programs athletic supporter civil society organizations and Afghan policy makers advocate for reform of such discriminatory laws, including the Gender Justice component of JSSP, the Increasing Womens Rights and addition to Justice in Afghanistan program, and the Advancing Human Rights and Womens Rights within an Islamic Framework program.Our programs also train and educate male and female police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, corrections officers and others in civil society in the fair interpretation and application of the sections of the penal code that affect women.From January to mid-August 2009, 109 women and 905 men participated in INL-funded Justice Sector Support Program (JSSP) trainings and professional development opportuniti es.Some training topics focused on violence against women issues, including gender justice training for lawyers, dupe advocacy training (with UNIFEM), gender justice training for corrections officers, and gender justice training for Family Response Unit police officers. When women are imprisoned, INL programs tending examine why women are incarcerated and whether it is safe for them to return after their release, as well as advocate for humane treatment and the provision of education during and after incarceration.With regard to womens involvement in local shuras, we work to link the state and traditional systems of governance to encourage them to isolate and excrete traditional practices that harm women while harnessing and strengthening elements that reinforce womens equality and access to justice.Our INL programs also provide counseling and shelter services to women affected by domestic violence. To build on these services, we are mobilizing attorneys, government officials, an d the common to fall upon violence against women and trafficking in persons.We are encouraging the re-establishment of the Afghan women resolve association, and we support the development of an Afghan women lawyers network.We exert clean suasion to promote human rights in Afghanistan by building sense of the provisions and obligations of the international treaties and agreements to which Afghanistan is a signatory. The United States continues to support the Afghan freelance Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). In addition, we support the courageous progressive voices within Afghanistan, including the movements that successfully concernd with the Afghan government in 2009 to excise and redraft the most restrictive and objectionable sections of the Shia Personal Status Law , although some concerns remain.We continue to support the swift implementation and strict enforcement of the Elimination of Violence Against Women law. We engage women on how they can use their roles and influen ce within the family and community to combat the spread of violent extremist ideologies and to cultivate support for womens development.We ordinate our extensive PRT presence to use in extending public outreach on womens issues beyond the cities. With increased civilian expertise at PRTs we are more actively able to identify key women leaders, determine the needs of women in local communities, and identify and provide appropriate assistance. In many areas, these experts are able to ensure that womens shuras are consulted on development projects and have a say in local development matters.Health mount up on womens health has been substantial since 2002, but challenges clearly remain. in time after significant improvement, Afghanistan is still estimated to have the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Other health indicators for women, particularly in reproductive health, are similarly low.Drug addiction is also a problem among Afghan women and their children. INL fu nds the only three residential drug treatment centers for women, with abutting child dread and treatment facilities, in Kabul, Herat, and Balkh. Three new centers will open in Farah, Badakhshan, and Nangarhar provinces during 2010.With USG assistance, womens access to health care has lift dramatically since 2001. The number of midwives available to assist with deliveries has quadrupled the number of health facilities with women health workers has more than doubled. According to a study by Johns Hopkins University, antenatal care went visits went up sevenfold from 2003 to 2006. With more women receiving proper care from trained health workers during pregnancy and delivery, Afghans are seeing better outcomes for women and newborns.We will continue to expand these existing programs to further increase womens access to health services, to all-important(a) medicines, family planning, and pre- and postnatal care so that women have access to the services and study they require for goo d health.During embassador Verveers trip to Afghanistan this past June, she and Ambassador Eikenberry announced the start of a small grants program to support gender equality in Afghanistan. The three-year USD 26.3 million program has recently made its foremost grants to women-led NGOs in the diverse areas of training in mechanized lace embellishment for sale, computer and English skills, radio programming for women, and the provision of dairy cattle for womens agricultural initiatives. In all these ways, through the small grants programs and through other economic initiatives, Afghan women are improving their own lives and those of their families