[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 5, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




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

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                        BOXER AMENDMENT NO. 305

  Mr. GRAMM (for Mrs. Boxer) proposed an amendment to the resolution 
(S. Res. 68) expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the treatment 
of women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan; as follows:

       On page 3, line 4, strike ``the'' and insert ``any''.
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                        BOXER AMENDMENT NO. 306

  Mr. GRAMM (for Mrs. Boxer) proposed an amendment to the preamble to 
the resolution, S. Res. 68, supra; as follows:

       Amend the preamble to read as follows:
       Whereas millions of women and girls living under Taliban 
     rule 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 under Taliban rule are generally 
     barred from working, going to school, leaving their homes 
     without an immediate male family member as chaperone, and 
     visiting doctors, hospitals or clinics;
       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, under Taliban rule women are forced to don a head-to-
     toe garment known as a burqa, which has only a mesh screen 
     for vision, and many women 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 under Taliban rule 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 under Taliban rule to get necessary medical care 
     because they cannot leave home;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women under Taliban rule reportedly have been beaten 
     if their shoe heels click when they walk;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, under Taliban rule women in homes must not be visible 
     from the street, and houses with female occupants must have 
     their windows painted over;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, under Taliban rule women are not allowed to drive, 
     and taxi drivers reportedly have been beaten if they take 
     unescorted women as passengers;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women under Taliban rule are forbidden to enter 
     mosques or other places of worship; and
       Whereas women and girls of all ages under Taliban rule 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

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