[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 83 (Thursday, June 14, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONDEMNING TALIBAN REGIME OF AFGHANISTAN REQUIRING HINDUS TO WEAR 
                   SYMBOLS IDENTIFYING THEM AS HINDU

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 13, 2001

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support 
of this Resolution which condemns the treatment of Hindus by the 
Taliban government.
  The Taliban government has once again crossed the line, this time by 
forcing Hindus to wear identifying markers on their clothing. This 
latest oppressive act is eerily reminiscent of Nazi-era Germany when 
Jews were forced to wear the yellow Star of David in order to identify 
themselves. Singling out one group serves only one purpose: fostering 
discrimination and potential persecution. The world stood silently by 
when the Nazis started targeting Jews. We will not be silent this time. 
We must remember the cautious maxim that reminds us that those who do 
not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
  The Taliban are slowly attacking all groups who they perceive as 
different. Since 1996, the Taliban, an extremist militia, has seized 
control of 90% of Afghanistan and then unilaterally declared an end to 
women's basic human rights.
  Women are banished from working. Girls are not allowed to attend 
school beyond the eighth grade. Women are being beaten for not fully 
covering themselves, including their eyes and ankles.
  Women and girls are not allowed to go out into public without being 
covered from head to toe with a heavy and cumbersome garment and 
escorted by a close male relative.
  Women are not allowed to seek health care, even in emergency 
situations, from male doctors.
  The Taliban has allowed some women to practice medicine, but women 
must do so fully covered and in sectioned off, special wards. And even 
these services are only available in very few select locations, leaving 
women to die from otherwise treatable diseases.
  A sixteen-year-old girl was stoned to death because she went out in 
public with a man who was not her family member.
  A woman who was teaching girls in her home, was also stoned to death 
in front of her husband, her children and her students. An elderly 
woman was beaten, breaking her leg, because she exposed her ankle in 
public.
  These atrocities are real.
  They are happening now, and will continue tomorrow as long as the 
extremist Taliban government is still in control of Afghanistan.
  The restrictions on women's freedom in Afghanistan are unfathomable 
to most Americans.
  Women and girls cannot venture outside without a burqa--an expensive 
and restrictive garment that covers their entire bodies including a 
mesh panel covering their eyes.
  For some women, not having the means to afford and purchase this 
expensive garment will banish them to their homes for the rest of their 
lives.
  The effects of this decree have been severe.
  Many Afghan women are widows and have no means to income because they 
cannot work, and unless they have a close male family member, they have 
no access to society for food for their families and themselves.
  We must continue to speak out against the Taliban, on behalf of the 
women and girls that risk death for speaking out for themselves.
  We must not accept the Taliban as a legitimate government.
  We must send a strong and clear message that gender apartheid and 
religious discrimination is unacceptable and a gross violation of the 
most basic human rights.
  Afghanistan may be physically located on the other side of the world, 
but the voices of the women and girls suffering there are heard loud 
and clear here.

                          ____________________