[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 15 (Friday, February 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1136-S1138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 6--RELATIVE TO AFGHANISTAN

  Mr. DODD submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                             S. Con. Res. 6

       Whereas Congress recognizes that the legacy of civil 
     conflict in Afghanistan during the last 17 years has had a 
     devastating effect on the civilian population in that country 
     and a particularly negative impact on the rights and security 
     of women and girls;
       Whereas the longstanding civil conflict in Afghanistan 
     among the warring political and military factions has created 
     an environment where the rights of women and girls are 
     routinely violated;
       Whereas the Afghan forces led by Burhanuddin Rabbani and 
     Abdul Rashid Dostum are responsible for numerous abhorrent 
     human rights abuses, including the rape, sexual abuse, 
     torture, abduction, and persecution of women and girls;
       Whereas Congress is disturbed by the upsurge of reported 
     human rights abuses, including extreme restrictions placed on 
     women and girls, since the Taliban coalition seized the 
     capital city of Kabul;
       Whereas Afghanistan is a sovereign nation and must work to 
     solve its internal disputes; and
       Whereas Afghanistan and the United States recognize 
     international human rights conventions, such as the 
     International Convenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural 
     Rights, which espouse respect for basic human rights of all 
     individuals without regard to race, religion, ethnicity, or 
     gender: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That (a) Congress hereby--
       (1) deplores the violations of international humanitarian 
     law by the Taliban coalition in Afghanistan and raises 
     concern over the reported cases of stoning, public 
     executions, and street beatings;
       (2) condemns the Taliban's targeted discrimination against 
     women and girls and expresses deep concern regarding the 
     prohibition of employment and education for women and girls; 
     and
       (3) takes note of the recent armed conflict in Kabul, 
     affirms the need for peace negotiations and expresses hope 
     that the Afghan parties will agree to a cease-fire throughout 
     the country.
       (b) It is the sense of Congress that the President should--
       (1) continue to monitor the human rights situation in 
     Afghanistan and should call for an end to discrimination 
     against women and girls in Afghanistan and for adherence by 
     all factions in Afghanistan to international humanitarian 
     law;
       (2) review United States policy with respect to Afghanistan 
     if the Taliban coalition and others do not cease immediately 
     the harassment and other discriminatory practices against 
     women and girls;

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       (3) encourage efforts to procure a durable peace in 
     Afghanistan and should support the United Nation Special 
     Mission to Afghanistan led by Norbert Holl to assist in 
     brokering a peaceful resolution to years of conflict;
       (4) call upon the Government of Pakistan to use its good 
     offices with the Taliban to reverse the Taliban's restrictive 
     and discriminatory policies against women and girls; and
       (5) call upon other nations to cease providing financial 
     assistance, arms, and other kinds of support to the 
     militaries or political organizations of any of the warring 
     factions in Afghanistan.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this concurrent resolution to the President with the 
     request that he further transmit such copy to the United 
     Nations and relevant parties in Afghanistan.

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, as a matter of cold war aggression, Soviet 
troops invaded, as we all remember, Afghanistan in December of 1979. 
After years of harsh struggle for independence, the Afghan people 
finally achieved that goal of independence in 1992. No sooner, however, 
had the Soviet threat been lifted than a new destabilizing force 
emerged in that region. Then, instead of fighting outside aggressors, 
the Afghans started fighting among themselves.
  Today, Afghan civilians continue to live in constant fear: fear of 
being embroiled in armed conflict; fear of being abducted by one 
militia group or another; fear of persecution and torture; fear of rape 
and sexual harassment; and, finally, fear of dying an early and 
senseless death.
  Amnesty International has done an excellent job of monitoring and 
reporting on the deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a factsheet prepared by 
Amnesty International be printed at the end of these remarks.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, the conflict in Afghanistan has changed 
dramatically in recent months. In September 1996, the Taliban coalition 
seized the capital city of Kabul, thereby securing control of two-
thirds of the territory of Afghanistan.
  The Taliban, many of whom grew up and were educated in the refugee 
camps in Pakistan during the war years of the 1980's, see themselves as 
the guardians of Afghan security and stability. Unfortunately, this 
guardianship has had very harsh consequences for the women and young 
girls of Afghanistan. Moreover, in an effort to solidify total control 
over Afghanistan, they continue to engage militarily with the other 
factions led by various leaders of that country. Today, the Taliban 
controls three-quarters of the nation.
  Mr. President, my concern here is that we have had significant 
reports of terrible abuse of the young women of Afghanistan by the 
Taliban, including denying them even the basic opportunities to work. 
Many of the teachers in Afghanistan were women. They have been denied 
entirely the right to work, to teach.
  Internal tensions have been exacerbated by players who have 
encouraged the various factions to continue the armed conflict in order 
to advance their own selfish economic and security interests. Outside 
assistance in the form of arms transfer, military training, and 
financial aid seriously undermined international efforts to broker a 
political solution to the conflict.
  With respect to humanitarian issues, the fact of the matter is that 
none of the parties involved in the civil conflict are innocent. All 
have contributed to the extraordinary human rights crisis.
  While all these human rights abuses concern me, today I want to call 
specific attention to the deteriorating human rights practices as they 
relate to the rights and treatment against Afghan women and girls--much 
of these at the hands of the Taliban. I am deeply disturbed by the 
Taliban's discriminatory treatment of women and girls. Some of the most 
objectionable features of the Taliban's discriminatory policies include 
barring women from employment, prohibiting girls from attending 
schools, restricting the times when women and girls may leave their 
homes, and mandating a restrictive dress code for females. Moreover, 
the Taliban has reacted to women and girls who stray from these 
restrictive policies with public rebukes in the form of street beatings 
and stonings.
  I believe, and imagine most of my colleagues would agree that: Women 
should have the right to work--to earn a living for their families 
using their knowledge, expertise, and skills; girls and women must be 
given access to basic education; and both women and men must be 
afforded a basic sense of humanity and respect. Street beatings, 
amputations, and other forms of summary justice for alleged crimes are 
unacceptable.
  The United States cannot stand idly by in the face of unconscionable 
violations of basic human rights and needless killings. We certainly 
cannot condone, by our silence, the plainly discriminatory practices 
which severely handicap women and girls.
  I believe that the resolution I have introduced today will call 
public attention to the serious situation in Afghanistan. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in reaffirming the need for a peaceful settlement 
for a country that has been plagued by the brutality of war for too 
many years; in urging all the factions in Afghanistan to adhere to 
internationally recognized principles of human rights; and in calling 
an end to the Taliban's discriminatory policies toward women and girls. 
I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting the enactment of this 
resolution at the appropriate time.
  I am going to, Mr. President, send this resolution to the desk. And I 
urge my colleagues to take a look at it, along with a report from 
Amnesty International, and urge that they join with me in our 
condemnation of these events as they are occurring today.
  Hopefully, we can consider this resolution at some appropriate time 
on the floor of the U.S. Senate and adopt it and send a clear message 
that those of us in this body--while there are many issues we deal with 
at home--that an issue such as this basic fundamental denial of human 
rights should not go unrecognized as an institution here that cares so 
deeply about it in a bipartisan way as we have talked about so 
frequently. I urge they give their support to this resolution. I just 
send it to the desk, Mr. President.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The resolution will be received.

                               Exhibit 1


       afghanistan: amnesty international brief, January 24, 1997

                                Summary

       For years Amnesty International has consistently decried 
     the shocking human rights abuses committed by all sides of 
     the conflict in Afghanistan. Due to the last twelve years of 
     civil war, 400,000 children have been killed, five million 
     people, one-third of the population, have been made refugees, 
     Afghanistan is the most heavily mined country in the world, 
     women have been treated as spoils of war.
       Since the emergence of the Taliban as a major political and 
     military force in 1994 and the takeover of Kabul on September 
     27, 1996, a new chapter has opened in the long history of 
     human rights abuses in Afghanistan. The Taliban's strict 
     interpretation of Islamic law have led them to severely 
     restrict public freedom, especially with regards to women.

                              The Taliban

       The Taliban, (literally ``religious students''), were 
     trained and organized in Islamic schools in Pakistan. They 
     now control approximately three-fourths of the country, with 
     other factions controlling the rest. When the Taliban first 
     took over Kabul, it seemed that perhaps the death and 
     destruction of the previous years of fighting could finally 
     be replaced by some semblance of stability. However, it soon 
     became apparent that the price of this stability would be 
     human rights, and its primary victims would be women.

                          Abuses against women

       Women have suffered tremendously over the years of conflict 
     in Afghanistan as rape victims, casualties of war, refugees, 
     and mothers, sisters, and wives of the dead. However, since 
     the Taliban's rise, their strict policies towards women's 
     behavior have been of particular concern. These policies not 
     only violate internationally recognized standards of human 
     rights but do so solely based on their gender.
       All schools for girls have been closed and women forbidden 
     from attending universities.
       Women are not allowed to work outside the home or leave the 
     house without being covered from head to toe.
       Women have been beaten for allowing their head covering to 
     slip or showing a few inches of ankle.
       Appearing in public without ``proper'' reason is punished 
     by severe beating. One woman received bullet wounds for 
     leaving her home in order to take her child to the doctor.
       By forbidding women to work outside the home, the Taliban 
     have severely limited

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     many families' incomes. Especially hard hit are some 30,000 
     widows who were the primary providers for their families and 
     now have no means to support them.
       Women's medical care has suffered, as women are not allowed 
     to be treated by male doctors, and the female doctors are now 
     forbidden to work.

                             Other concerns

       Amnesty International is also concerned with several other 
     forms of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Taliban. 
     These include:
       Deliberate and arbitrary killings: These include civilians 
     killed in retribution, for being suspected anti-Taliban 
     sympathizers, and captured soldiers.
       Political prisoners: The Taliban have detained hundreds, 
     possibly more than a thousand, civilians for their ethnic 
     origin, political affiliation, or refusing to obey the 
     Taliban's religious edicts.
       Torture and Ill-treatment: Beatings have become a common 
     form of punishment, and prisoners are often used for life-
     threatening work such as clearing minefields.
       Unfair trials and cruel or inhumane punishments: Courts of 
     law in Taliban-controlled areas are presided over by 
     ``Islamic'' judges who sentence such punishments as stonings 
     and amputations.

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