[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 140 (Wednesday, October 17, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SUPPRESSION OF WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 16, 2001

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to lend my voice to those in 
Congress, this country, and throughout the world who are concerned 
about the oppressed women living in Afghanistan under the cruel Taliban 
regime. Never have the women in that country needed the support of 
others in the international community more than now.
  When the Taliban, the ruling party in Afghanistan, took control in 
1996, women were completely stripped of all their fundamental human 
rights and freedoms. Prior to 1996, women were allowed to work, have 
careers, and go to school.
  Now, women in Afghanistan are not allowed to engage in any of these 
activities.
  They are not allowed to leave their homes unless accompanied by a 
close male relative, or talk to, or walk with a man to whom they are 
not related.
  The Taliban believes that women appearing in public in any capacity 
are instruments of moral corruption and agents of sexual anarchy. To 
avoid this, women must be kept covered, out of sight and off the 
streets. They must wear the burqa, the clothing garment that covers 
them from head-to-toe, leaving only a mesh square over their eyes to 
permit minimal vision.
  Schools in Afghanistan have also been drastically impacted by the 
Taliban regime. Within three months of the capture of Kabul, the 
Taliban closed 63 schools in the city affecting about 100,000 girls, 
150,000 boys and 11,000 teachers, of whom 75 percent were women. The 
Taliban shut down Kabul University sending home some 10,000 students, 
of which 4,000 were women.
  Many children in Afghanistan are growing up without any education, 
since women are not allowed to teach young children because it 
qualifies as work. An entire generation of Afghan children are growing 
up uneducated.
  Women in Afghanistan are beaten and killed when they disobey the 
Taliban's wishes and rules. Women are oftentimes the victims of 
deliberate and arbitrary killings and disappearances.
  The Taliban turns a blind eye to the abduction of women, forces them 
into brutal marriages, and condones rapes and sexual assaults of young 
girls and women. Worse, women who are raped can be put to death for the 
crime of being a victim of rape. Women are publicly harassed, 
intimidated and beaten for carrying out activities common in our 
country, such as wearing make-up, which is deemed to be violating the 
strict rules of the Taliban.
  Women are deprived of basic human rights and must live in constant 
fear.
  The women in Afghanistan do not have a voice in their country, their 
community, or their home. We, as women in free societies throughout the 
world, must stand up for women in Afghanistan as their voice and as 
their sisters.
  If we do not want to see repression and terrorism continue, we must 
directly aid Afghan women's groups and call on the future Afghanistan 
government to involve women in their quest for freedom.
  We must condemn these acts of violence and human rights abuses and 
help our sisters in Afghanistan. I join my colleagues in condemning the 
Taliban and its outrageous treatment of women in Afghanistan.

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