[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 109 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 109

 Commending the bravery of the girls who attend the Mirwais School for 
                    Girls in Kandahar, Afghanistan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 22, 2009

    Mr. Crapo (for himself, Mr. Lugar, and Mr. Risch) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Commending the bravery of the girls who attend the Mirwais School for 
                    Girls in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Whereas, on November 12, 2008, 15 girls who attend the Mirwais School for Girls 
        in Kandahar, Afghanistan, were attacked by militants and sprayed with 
        acid, causing them varying degrees of disfigurement;
Whereas the militants committed the egregious attack to intimidate the girls and 
        their families and to discourage the girls from continuing to attend 
        school;
Whereas, less than one week after the attacks, Headmaster Mahmood Qadari asked 
        parents to return the girls to school;
Whereas, by January 14, 2009, nearly 1,300 girls, almost all the students, had 
        returned to the 40-room Mirwais School for Girls;
Whereas the families of the girls from the Mirwais School for Girls defy threats 
        of personal harm and staunchly assert the right to educate their 
        daughters;
Whereas, according to the United Nations, educating girls and women reduces the 
        incidence of domestic and community violence and raises the standard of 
        living in a country;
Whereas, according to a study published by the Afghanistan Independent Human 
        Rights Commission, it is a ``fact that child marriage takes place in a 
        frequent and pervasive fashion'' in Afghanistan;
Whereas, according to that study, of women surveyed for the study, 43.6 percent 
        stated that they married to solve their economic problems, 7.1 percent 
        referred to the resolution of conflicts as the reason for their early 
        marriage, 37 percent said that ``badal'', or the exchange of girls 
        between 2 families, was the reason for their marriage, and 12.3 percent 
        cited other reasons for their marriage, such as local traditional 
        practices and parental interference;
Whereas, according to 2007 information from the World Health Organization, the 
        health of women and children in Afghanistan is among the worst in the 
        world;
Whereas, according to estimates from the Department of State for 2008, the 
        literacy rate for women in Afghanistan is 12 percent;
Whereas it is a continuing priority of the United States government to advance 
        the rights of women in Afghanistan by facilitating women's participation 
        in social, political, and economic affairs and by ensuring women's 
        safety and well-being;
Whereas the United States Government looks to the government of Afghanistan to 
        proactively support the rights of women and girls, and recognizes that 
        the recently-passed personal security law would severely diminish such 
        rights;
Whereas the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has 
        integrated women-focused activities into most of its programs by 
        strategic design, with the goal of increasing women's political 
        participation and access to education, health care, economic 
        opportunities, and roles in civil society;
Whereas USAID has noted that, despite women's nearly non-existent access to 
        health, education, and political participation in 2001, there has been a 
        25 percent decrease in maternal mortality since 2001, due in great part 
        to women's significantly improved access to health and hospital 
        services;
Whereas, since 2001, Afghanistan has experienced a surge in school attendance to 
        more than 6,000,000 children enrolled, of which 35 percent are girls, 
        and has greatly increased participation of women in civil society, with 
        women representing 26 percent of the civil service and holding 27 
        percent of the seats in the national assembly and 29 percent of 
        provincial council seats; and
Whereas, despite significant gains made through assistance programs in 
        Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, there 
        remains a great deal more work to be done toward achieving reasonable 
        development in still one of the poorest countries in the world, and such 
        development can be achieved only by empowering the 50 percent of the 
        population that is women: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes and commends the extraordinary bravery shown 
        by the girls and families of the Mirwais School for Girls in 
        Kandahar, Afghanistan, especially the girls injured in the 
        November 2008 attack, in the decision to return to school in 
        the face of threats of bodily injury, or worse; and
            (2) continues to support efforts to decrease illiteracy and 
        gender-based violence in Afghanistan.
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