[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 17, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2871-S2872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 68--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
       TREATMENT OF WOMEN AND GIRLS BY THE TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

  Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mr. Brownback) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 68

       Whereas more than 11,000,000 women and girls living under 
     Taliban rule in Afghanistan are denied their basic human 
     rights;
       Whereas according to the Department of State and 
     international human rights organizations, the Taliban 
     continues to commit widespread and well-documented human 
     rights abuses, in gross violation of internationally accepted 
     norms;
       Whereas, according to the United States Department of State 
     Country Report on Human Rights Practices (hereafter ``1998 
     State Department Human Rights Report''), violence against 
     women in Afghanistan occurs frequently, including beatings, 
     rapes, forced marriages, disappearances, kidnapings, and 
     killings;
       Whereas women and girls in Afghanistan are barred from 
     working, going to school, leaving their homes without an 
     immediate male family member as chaperone, visiting doctors, 
     hospitals or clinics, and receiving humanitarian aid;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, gender restrictions by the Taliban continue to 
     interfere with the delivery of humanitarian assistance to 
     women and girls in Afghanistan;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women in Afghanistan are forced to don a head-to-toe 
     garment known as a burqa, which has only a mesh screen for 
     vision, and women in Afghanistan found in public not wearing 
     a burqa, or wearing a burqa that does not properly cover the 
     ankles, are beaten by Taliban militiamen;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, some poor women in Afghanistan cannot afford the cost 
     of a burqa and thus are forced to remain at home or risk 
     beatings if they go outside the home without one;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, the lack of a burqa has resulted in the inability of 
     some women in Afghanistan to get necessary medical care 
     because they cannot leave home;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women in Afghanistan are reportedly beaten if their 
     shoe heels click when they walk;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women in homes in Afghanistan must not be visible 
     from the street, and houses with female occupants must have 
     their windows painted over;

[[Page S2872]]

       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women in Afghanistan are not allowed to drive, and 
     taxi drivers reportedly are beaten if they take unescorted 
     women as passengers;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women in Afghanistan are forbidden to enter mosques 
     or other places of worship; and
       Whereas women and girls of all ages in Afghanistan have 
     suffered needlessly and even died from curable illness 
     because they have been turned away from health care 
     facilities because of their gender: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the President should instruct the United States 
     Representative to the United Nations to use all appropriate 
     means to prevent the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan 
     from obtaining the seat in the United Nations General 
     Assembly reserved for Afghanistan so long as gross violations 
     of internationally recognized human rights against women and 
     girls persist; and
       (2) the United States should refuse to recognize any 
     government in Afghanistan which is not taking actions to 
     achieve the following goals in Afghanistan:
       (A) The effective participation of women in all civil, 
     economic, and social life.
       (B) The right of women to work.
       (C) The right of women and girls to an education without 
     discrimination and the reopening of schools to women and 
     girls at all levels of education.
       (D) The freedom of movement of women and girls.
       (E) Equal access of women and girls to health facilities.
       (F) Equal access of women and girls to humanitarian aid.

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