[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 5, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4818-S4819]
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

  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 75, S. Res. 68.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative assistant read as follows:

       A bill (S. Res. 68) expressing the sense of the Senate 
     regarding the treatment of women and girls by the Taliban in 
     Afghanistan.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am so pleased that the Senate will stand 
up for the rights of women and pass S. Res. 68, a resolution condemning 
the Taliban's treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan. I especially 
thank Senator Brownback in joining me as the main cosponsor of this 
resolution.
  The Taliban is a militia group that now controls between 85-90 
percent of Afghanistan. People living under its rule are subjected to 
an extreme interpretation of Islam practiced nowhere else in the world. 
It is especially repressive on women living in Afghanistan.
  Under Taliban rule, women and girls in Afghanistan are denied even 
the most basic human rights. They cannot work outside the home, attend 
school, or even wear shoes that make noise when they walk. Women who 
are in their homes are not allowed to be seen from the street, and 
houses with female occupants must have their windows painted over. 
Parents cannot teach their daughters to read, or take their little 
girls to be treated by male doctors.
  Women are also forced to wear a full head-to-toe garment called a 
burqa. This restrictive covering allows only a tiny opening to see and 
breathe through. I understand that some women may choose to wear a 
burqa for religious reasons--that should be their right. However, the 
requirement that women wear a burqa is a clear violation of human 
rights. And further, the rules surrounding this requirement are 
frightening.
  Women found in public who are not wearing a burqa are beaten by 
Taliban militiamen. If they wear a burqa and their ankles are showing, 
they are beaten as well. Poor women who cannot afford a burqa are 
forced to stay at home, preventing them from receiving medical care.
  The Physicians for Human Rights recently conducted a study of 160 
women in Afghanistan and their findings are horrific.
  The study found that 77 percent of women had poor access to health 
care in Kabul, while another 20 percent reported no access at all. Of 
the participants, 81 percent reported a decline in their mental 
condition; 97 percent met the diagnostic criteria for depression; 42 
percent met the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder; 
and 21 percent reported having suicidal thoughts ``extremely often'' or 
``quite often.'' In addition, 53 percent of women described occasions 
in which they were seriously ill and unable to seek medical care.
  The resolution passed today calls on the President of the United 
States to prevent a Taliban-led government of Afghanistan from taking a 
seat in the United Nations General Assembly, as long as these gross 
violations of human rights persist.
  My resolution also urges the Administration not to recognize any 
government in Afghanistan which does not take actions to achieve the 
following goals: effective participation of women in all civil, 
economic, and social life; the right of women to work; 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; the 
freedom of movement of women and girls; equal access of women and girls 
to health care; equal access of women and girls to humanitarian aid.
  It is shocking that women and girls in Afghanistan are suffering 
under these conditions as we approach the 21st century. The United 
States has an obligation to take the lead in condemning these abuses.
  I want to thank the majority and minority leaders for allowing this 
legislation to come to the floor, and I appreciate the support from the 
many cosponsors of this resolution who are working to end human rights 
abuses against women in Afghanistan.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I understand that Senator Boxer has 
amendments to the resolution and the preamble at the desk.
  I ask unanimous consent that the amendments to the resolution be 
agreed to, that the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, and the 
motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, that the amendment to the 
preamble be agreed to, and the preamble, as amended, be agreed to with 
no intervening action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendments (Nos. 305 and 306) were agreed to as follows:


                           amendment no. 305

                  (Purpose: To improve the resolution)

       On page 3, line 4, strike ``the'' and insert ``any''.


                           AMENDMENT NO. 306

                   (Purpose: To improve the preamble)

       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

[[Page S4819]]

     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

  The resolution (S. Res. 68), as amended, was agreed to.
  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, as amended, reads as 
follows:
  [The resolution was not available for printing. It will appear in a 
future edition of the Record.]

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