[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 161 (Tuesday, November 27, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H8346-H8351]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AFGHAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN RELIEF ACT OF 2001
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the Senate bill (S. 1573) to authorize the provision of educational and
health care assistance to the women and children of Afghanistan.
The Clerk read as follows:
S. 1573
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Afghan Women and Children
Relief Act of 2001''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In Afghanistan, Taliban restrictions on women's
participation in society make it nearly impossible for women
to exercise their basic human rights. The Taliban
restrictions on Afghan women's freedom of expression,
association, and movement deny women full participation in
society and, consequently, from effectively securing basic
access to work, education, and health care.
(2) Afghanistan has one of the highest infant (165 of 1000)
and child (257 of 1000) mortality rates in the world.
(3) Only 5 percent of rural and 39 percent of urban Afghans
have access to safe drinking water.
(4) It is estimated that 42 percent of all deaths in
Afghanistan are due to diarrheal diseases caused by
contaminated food and water.
(5) Over one-third of Afghan children under 5 years of age
suffer from malnutrition, 85,000 of whom die annually.
(6) Seventy percent of the health care system in
Afghanistan is dependent on foreign assistance.
(7) As of May 1998, only 20 percent of hospital medical and
surgical beds dedicated to adults were available for women,
and thousands of Afghan women and girls are routinely denied
health care.
(8) Women are forbidden to leave their homes without being
escorted by a male relative. This prevents many women from
seeking basic necessities like health care and food for their
children. Doctors, virtually all of whom are male, are also
not permitted to provide certain types of care not deemed
appropriate by the Taliban.
(9) Before the Taliban took control of Kabul, schools were
coeducational, with women accounting for 70 percent of the
teaching force. Women represented about 50 percent of the
civil service corps, and 40 percent of the city's physicians
were women. Today, the Taliban prohibits women from working
as teachers, doctors, and in any other occupation.
(10) The Taliban prohibit girls and women from attending
school. In 1998, the Taliban ordered the closing of more than
100 privately funded schools where thousands of young women
and girls were receiving education and training in skills
that would have helped them support themselves and their
families.
(11) Of the many tens of thousands of war widows in
Afghanistan, many are forced to beg for food and to sell
their possessions because they are not allowed to work.
(12) Resistance movements courageously continue to educate
Afghan girls in secrecy and in foreign countries against
Taliban law.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.
(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), the President
is authorized, on such terms and conditions as the President
may determine, to provide educational and health care
assistance for the women and children living in Afghanistan
and as refugees in neighboring countries.
(b) Implementation.--(1) In providing assistance under
subsection (a), the President shall ensure that such
assistance is provided in a manner that protects and promotes
the human rights of all people in Afghanistan, utilizing
indigenous institutions and nongovernmental organizations,
especially women's organizations, to the extent possible.
(2) Beginning 6 months after the date of enactment of this
Act, and at least annually for the 2 years thereafter, the
Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committee on
Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee
on International Relations of the House of Representatives
describing the activities carried out under this Act and
otherwise describing the condition and status of women and
children in Afghanistan and the persons in refugee camps
while United States aid is given to displaced Afghans.
(c) Availability of Funds.--Funds made available under the
2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery
from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States
(Public Law 107-38), shall be available to carry out this
Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms.
Berkley) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).
General Leave
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks and include extraneous material on the Senate bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, as Chair of the Subcommittee on International
Operations and Human Rights, and as an original cosponsor of the House
companion, I rise in support of the Afghan Women and Children Relief
Act of 2001.
In 1996, a heavy shroud was placed on the people of Afghanistan when
the Taliban captured Kabul. From that moment onward, the Taliban took
the peaceful and sacred scriptures of the Holy Koran and distorted them
into a rulebook of terror.
Through their creation of the Department for Promotion of Virtue and
the Prevention of Vice, the Taliban enforced a perverse rendition of
Islam which gruesomely joined prayer with the barbaric practices of
beatings, torture, rape, and executions.
But the Taliban's brutality and blatant disregard for the lives and
well-being of the Afghan people was perhaps most clearly evident among
half of its population, the women of Afghanistan, who bear the deepest
scars.
Made widows and orphans by the will of the Taliban, the same women
who
[[Page H8347]]
once made up 50 percent of Afghanistan's doctors, nurses, teachers,
college students, and diplomats, have been made destitute, sick, and
marginalized.
The Taliban further banned them from receiving any education past the
age of 8, for which the curriculum was limited to the Taliban's
corrupted version of the Koran. In the year 2000, the United Nations
educational, scientific, and cultural organization estimated that as
few as 3 percent of Afghan girls were receiving primary education.
The gender adviser to the U.N. in Afghanistan further reported that
female literacy was approximately 4 percent versus 30 percent for
males.
Women in Afghanistan were further alienated by the denial of proper
medical treatment. They could only be treated by male doctors in
certain hospitals; and when allowed to be treated, the male doctor was
prohibited from examining her unless she was fully clothed in Taliban-
approved garb.
Further, the doctor could not touch her, thus limiting the
possibility of any medical diagnosis or meaningful treatment.
Throughout, the indomitable will and courage of Afghan women have
helped them endure these most deplorable circumstances. While the end
of the Taliban's oppressive rule is now palpable, the struggle of
Afghan women to save themselves and their children from disease and
starvation, their hope for a future for peace, freedom, and democracy
continues.
How can we discuss the future of Afghanistan without first addressing
the humanitarian crisis which engulfs its people? We cannot. How can we
talk about reconstruction when half of its population, its women, have
been marginalized, and when many of its future leaders, the children of
Afghanistan, barely survive past the age of 5?
This bill seeks to address these grave concerns. The legislation
before us today is about helping to save lives by focusing U.S.
assistance on providing basic medical care to the women and children
inside Afghanistan and those living in refugee camps outside their
beleaguered country.
This bill is about helping to secure a future of hope and prosperity
for women and children by calling on the President to provide
educational assistance for these two critical sectors of Afghan
society. It lays the groundwork for democratic principles, as it
requires the protection and promotion of human rights for all the
people of Afghanistan.
It builds on the ingenuity and the courage of the Afghan population
by recommending that institutions and nongovernmental organizations,
especially women's organizations, be used to the extent possible.
The U.S. and the international community should invest in these
efforts, as they can afford the greatest access to those who are
suffering the most.
The value and importance of using indigenous women's organizations is
perhaps best reflected in the health sector. In the refugee camps of
Pakistan, for example, most medical assistance is provided by the
Pakistan directorate for health.
However, in instances where camp-based medical units are operating,
women's access is restricted due to the transportation problems and
cultural restrictions on mobility which require that women be escorted
by a male relative, among many other restrictions. As a result, there
have been frequent complaints from Afghan women about the quality of
the services provided.
Immediately, Afghan women NGOs began to work on filling the gaps from
multiple angles, running small clinics and providing mothers and
children with basic medical assistance so they may live long and
healthy lives.
{time} 1415
This is what the bill that we are considering today supports, Madam
Speaker.
The legislation also acknowledges and supports the impressive work of
Afghan women's groups in filling the educational void created by the
Taliban's oppressive and discriminatory practices against women.
Several women-led organizations have established and are operating home
schools to afford this forgotten and marginalized sector of Afghan
society with the opportunities denied to them by the Taliban and their
perverse interpretation of Islam. Many are involved in the provisions
of education within the refugee context and running schools in the
camps, adult literacy classes, and English language training.
Indeed, Afghan women's groups are not novices to humanitarian
response activities. Beginning with the decade-long Soviet occupation
of their country, more and more Afghan women's organizations have
emerged to address a variety of needs, particularly in the areas of
medical care, education and, in recent years, trauma counseling and
rights awareness.
Throughout the years they have refined their skills and gained
expertise through working in United Nations' agencies as administrative
staff and as implementers of assistance programs both inside and
outside of Afghanistan. Some examples include UNICEF projects as well
as refugee resettlement protection programs with the Office of U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees.
Afghan women and groups that they lead have also entered into
symbiotic relationships with international NGOs as implementers of
their programs, programs such as CARE's widow's feeding program in
Kabul and Action Contre La Faim's programs for malnourished children in
many locations.
These are the types of activities that this bill supports, activities
which, in turn, are vital to the welfare of Afghan women and children;
activities which, in turn, will help ensure that women will be prepared
to actively participate in the future of their country.
This bill is about relief and survival. It is about life.
As Surah 5 of the holy Koran reads, ``He who wrongfully slays another
would be as if he slew the whole people; and if any one save a life, it
would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.''
The Congress of the United States must act to save one life at a time
and, by that, do what we can to help save the people of Afghanistan. We
can begin by rendering our full support to the legislation before us
today.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this bill. We are
well aware of the horrendous treatment that women have received in
Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. The Taliban restrictions on women's
participation in society have made it nearly impossible for women to
exercise their basic human rights. Women have essentially been
prevented from securing basic access to work, education and health
care. These restrictions on women also prevented them from adequately
providing and caring for their children.
It will come as no surprise to anyone in this Chamber that, after 2
decades of conflict and 6 years of Taliban rule, Afghanistan has one of
the highest infant and child mortality rates in the world. Only 5
percent of rural and one-third of urban Afghans have access to safe
drinking water. Over one-third of Afghan children under 5 years of age
suffer from malnutrition; 85,000 die annually.
During the years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, women were not made
to feel subservient. It is far more insidious than that. Women were
made invisible. They became non-people.
Any woman can endure this for herself, but not to be able to protect
your children, to see them go without food and watch their small bodies
shrivel up and die, to see them sick and suffering and not being able
to provide medicine or medical attention to heal them and save them, to
watch their young minds atrophy for lack of an education, this is too
much for any woman to bear.
Madam Speaker, this bill takes a significant first step to ensure
that, as we move forward in helping the people of Afghanistan reclaim
their lives and rebuild their society, that we give particular emphasis
to the needs of women and children. I am sure that everyone who
rejoiced at the sight of women lifting off their veils, men shaving
their beards and children dancing to music in the streets of Kabul just
2 weeks ago will also understand the symbolic importance of this
legislation.
H.R. 1573 sends an important message to the women and children of
Afghanistan, and I hope all of my colleagues will support it.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
[[Page H8348]]
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the sponsor of
the legislation, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce).
Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentlewoman
from Florida, for yielding me time and for her hard work and dedication
to this issue. I would also like to thank my good friend, the
gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), for all of her work and
assistance on this bill, along with the gentleman from Illinois
(Chairman Hyde) for his help.
Madam Speaker, I rise in the strongest support for the Afghan Women
and Children Relief Act. This legislation authorizes our President to
use funding from the 2001 Emergency Supplemental under such terms and
conditions as he may decide to provide health and educational
assistance to the women and children of Afghanistan.
As we all know, the plight of women and children under the ruling
Taliban regime and their terrorist allies has been dire. As recognized
by this legislation, Taliban restrictions on women's participation in
society made it nearly impossible for women to exercise their basic
human rights. The restrictions on Afghan women's freedom of expression,
association and movement denied women full participation in society
and, consequently, kept them from effectively securing basic access to
work, education and even health care.
Under Taliban rule, women were beaten and in some cases shot for
simply leaving their homes unaccompanied, even if only to seek medical
attention for a sick child. The heavy suffering of Afghan women has
been unthinkable and immeasurable. As described by one Afghan woman,
the owner of a secretly run beauty shop, ``It was like being in
prison,'' she said. ``We had no life. We were not people.''
Madam Speaker, there is a tide in the course of human history. Taken
at its height it can lead to progress, to advancement, to success; but
missed it can leave any cause trapped in shallow water. Therefore, we
must act with haste and determination when the current moves and the
water is deep with opportunity. Madam Speaker, the current is moving.
The tide of history is nearing a peak moment in Afghanistan, and this
legislation provides the tools to respond.
The Taliban, along with their record of brutal oppression, are being
driven out of the country and out of power, and women have already
begun to emerge from beneath their burkas. They are awakening to what I
deeply hope will be a new day. There has rarely been a more important
moment, a more crucial time than this.
While women may be free of the hand of Taliban injustice, we do not
know what lies ahead for them. Therefore, at this time of change and
uncertainty we must act to give the women of Afghanistan hope and to
help them reclaim their dignity, respect and, ultimately, their right
and equal place in society.
Life for women before the Taliban stands in stark contrast to the
last 5 years. Over time, the drive towards greater rights for women was
moving forward. In the 1920s, Afghan women received the right to vote;
and in the 1960s, the Afghan constitution recognized their equality.
By the early 1990s, in Kabul, women represented 70 percent of
schoolteachers, 50 percent of government workers and 50 percent of
doctors. To say the very least, the cause of women's rights in
Afghanistan suffered a major setback under Taliban rule.
President Bush and the First Lady have recognized the dire plight of
Afghan women. The administration is already taking steps to cast light
on the evil that has been done to Afghan women and has spoken out in
favor of giving women a voice in their new government, along with the
right to economic freedom.
Congress must do its part in this important effort by giving the
President the resources to help these women recover from the years of
abuse they have suffered. This means providing most basic health care
and educational assistance, which will authorize the President over the
next 3 years to provide targeted funding to aid organizations already
on the ground. Through our work, we can help Afghan women to regain
their footing.
Madam Speaker, we may never be able to understand why the Taliban
chose a path of such brutality and oppression. It certainly does not
come from Islam, which teaches peace and respects human rights. In
fact, in many other parts of the Muslim world, women play important
roles as doctors, teachers, journalists, lawyers, diplomats and other
professionals. It is not the Muslim religion which has oppressed women
in Afghanistan. It is hate, fear and the injustice of the Taliban.
After the Taliban began their retreat, one woman who was among the
first women to read the news at Radio Afghanistan burned her burka. She
said, ``Now I see the sunlight, and it is so beautiful.'' Madam
Speaker, all the women of Afghanistan deserve to see the sunlight. Let
us play our part by passing important legislation.
Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as she may consume
to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlelady for the recognition
and commend her for managing her first bill. How appropriate that the
gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) would be managing the bill to
assist Afghan women, a bill sponsored by women, for women and managed
by women, presided over by women.
I commend the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for her
excellent statement and leadership and the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms.
Pryce) for her leadership as the author, along with the gentlewoman
from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) for her leadership on this
important bill.
I, too, want to join in commending the Bush administration. It was
quite a remarkable day when the First Lady of our country, for the very
first time maybe, addressed the White House radio address alone on an
issue, and how appropriate that that issue would be the plight of
Afghan women and the need for there to be more assistance from the
United States. Yes, to help with medical and humanitarian assistance
but also to ensure that in the government that is formed in Afghanistan
that women will have a leadership role and be part of the decision
making.
Our colleagues have very clearly spelled out the suffering of the
Afghani women during the time of the Taliban regime, and indeed even
preceding that girls were not educated fully in Afghanistan. Preceding
the takeover by the Taliban, women constituted 70 percent of the
teachers in Afghanistan, 50 percent of the government workers, 40
percent of the health professionals; and, of course, with the onset of
the Taliban regime they were forbidden from working. Women suffered,
girls suffered, but everyone suffered. Who taught the little boys?
Because 70 percent of the teachers were women. So everyone in
Afghanistan suffered, and everyone in Afghanistan will benefit under
the provisions of H.R. 3330 which authorizes educational and health
care assistance to the women and children of Afghanistan.
Madam Speaker, I think it is important to note that the United States
is the single largest contributor of a huge amount of humanitarian
assistance to Afghanistan, and this well preceded September 11, very
much preceded September 11.
I was pleased to serve under my ranking member, the gentlewoman from
New York (Mrs. Lowey), and was our former ranking member on the
Committee on Foreign Operations with the gentleman from Alabama (Mr.
Callahan) as my chairman. He beefed up, I would say, the Child Survival
Account, now we call it the Callahan Account, now under the gentleman
from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe).
We appreciate this authorization coming as it does. When we go back
to do the appropriation for next year, we will be fully armed with the
authority to take money as it spells out in the bill from the Child
Survival and Health Programs, UNICEF, immunization, safe injections,
maternal health, medical equipment, women and development, children's
basic education and refugee assistance, and whatever other accounts and
amounts might be available under the 2001 Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations Act.
One other point I want to make, Madam Speaker, is I think women of
America deserve a great deal of commendation because they early on
talked about the plight of women in Afghanistan long before September
11.
[[Page H8349]]
It is completely appropriate that the Congressional Women's Caucus is
taking the lead on this issue. It is a reflection of the mood of our
country, as was clearly demonstrated by the willingness of the First
Lady to make this her first White House radio address; and how proud we
were of her in doing that, as I said before.
{time} 1430
But the women of America are the ones who spoke out early and said,
look, listen, see what is happening in Afghanistan. It was an early
bellwether of awful things to come. So I think this leadership role
played by women should be recognized, should be heeded; and one giant
step we can take in doing that is to pass H.R. 3330. Again, I commend
all my colleagues for their leadership on this.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to
the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), who has been leading the
charge on our side on this bill.
Mrs. BIGGERT. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman yielding me
this time. As the brutal Taliban regime is coming to an end in
Afghanistan, the women and children there need our help. That is why I
am proud to support Senate 1573.
For 5 years, the women and children and girls of Afghanistan have
been denied medical care and schools have been shuttered. Women have
been forced to beg in the streets to feed their children. This bill
will provide the much-needed health care and education assistance to
begin the long road to recovery.
Afghanistan's women and girls have been singled out by the Taliban
for abuse. We have not seen such a state- sponsored systematic program
of discrimination and oppression since Nazi Germany or South Africa
under apartheid.
A recent State Department report details a shocking story about the
shooting of an Afghan woman whose child was in dire need of medical
attention. The doctor was across town; and because she did not have a
male escort, the woman was prohibited from making the trip to take her
child to the doctor. Knowing that without medical care her child could
die, the Afghan woman set out to go across town with her child in her
arms, but without that male escort. The woman was tragically
intercepted by a Taliban officer and shot repeatedly in front of her
child.
These and other atrocities will hopefully come to an end with the
demise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the women and children of
that country will continue to need our help to recover from this regime
of terror. So far, the United States has been the largest provider of
humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. We have contributed more than $1
billion in aid since 1979. I applaud the President's recent decision to
contribute an additional $320 million in aid to the Afghan people.
There is need for humanitarian aid throughout Afghanistan, but the
women and children need it the most.
Afghan women have been forbidden from activity outside their homes
unless accompanied by a male relative and dressed in the now-familiar
burqa. These women have not felt the sunlight touching their skin for
many years. I was moved to see in the photographs the smile on women's
faces as they took off their burqas and the sun touch their faces.
Attending a school or university has been out of the question for
Afghan women. For years now, the only semblance of education has been
for Afghan boys, who learned hatred at those schools. The girls have
had no education. In many cases, Afghan women risked their lives to
provide secret schools for girls in their homes.
Madam Speaker, children across Afghanistan are dying. Over one-third
of Afghan children under 5 years of age suffer from malnutrition,
leading to 85,000 needless deaths per year.
The United States has an opportunity to play an integral role in
restoring humanity and decency to a country desperately in need of both
health care and education after years under this regime. I applaud the
President for his charge in leading this.
As the Taliban regime crumbles, the United States has a vested
interest in the restoration of a civil society in Afghanistan. This
will only be accomplished when healthy women and children are able to
walk the streets without fear of assault, realize their potential, and
develop the sense of worth to which they are entitled.
I would like to thank Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for originally
introducing this legislation in the Senate and my friend and colleague,
the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce), for carrying this bill in the
House. This measure was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate.
I would also like to thank President Bush for his strong support of
women in Afghanistan, and women's rights generally. I am told the
President is anxious to sign this bill.
I would also like to applaud our good friend, the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), who serves as co-chair, with me,
of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. This has been a top
priority of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues.
The House leadership should also be thanked for making it a top
priority on their agenda and putting it as the number one bill today,
as should the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), chairman of the
Committee on International Relations, who was instrumental.
Afghan women need to have a seat at the table when their government
is rebuilt. We must pass this legislation now.
Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me
this time; and I especially thank my good friends and colleagues,
especially the women of the House and the Senate, who have taken the
leadership on this important bill.
There have been lots of wonderful and sincere words on women's rights
in the new Afghanistan. What is important about this bill is that it
gives these words some teeth. And teeth will be needed. Anyone who
looks at the unique oppression that women and children have suffered in
Afghanistan will understand that they will not automatically be free
when Afghanistan is liberated.
We should remind everybody concerned that the United States of
America made victory in Afghanistan possible. We have an obligation, we
ourselves, to help make that victory apply to women and children as
well; and that is well beyond the indispensable restoration of freedom
and equality.
After all, let us be real. Afghanistan is now one of the poorest
societies in the world. People are hijacking trucks just to get enough
to eat. Women and children do not act that way. To the victors always
belong the spoils. And in a society that has been especially brutal to
women, we have every reason to believe that will continue to be the
case. The first to be denied in Afghanistan have been women and
children. It is despicable how everything from food to health care have
been denied women and children, who got what little there was left
over, not what there was to be had.
What this bill essentially does is to target assistance for women and
children. Otherwise, there is no reason to believe that automatically a
society which has featured, above all, male macho will revert to
equality for women and children. There has to be some march forward,
some encouragement of equal opportunity. Men in Afghanistan, let us
face it, are going to see the victory as theirs, not the victory of the
United States of America, not the victory of the United Nations, and
certainly not the victory of women and children.
Afghanistan must rebuild its own society on the basis of freedom and
equality. However, we do have a right, I think we have earned the right
to insist that these important goals apply not only to all the
indigenous groups but to all the women and children in all the
indigenous groups. We have an obligation to help reverse Taliban rule
that has assured that women and children would be last. This is the way
to help rebuild family life in Afghanistan.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to
the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), who joins me in thanking
our men and women in the Armed Forces whose military offensive have
helped to open the corridor for the humanitarian assistance to reach
the people of Afghanistan which is spoken of in this bill.
[[Page H8350]]
(Mrs. MORELLA asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. MORELLA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her
leadership on this issue and for yielding me this time, and I rise in
strong support of the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act because I
believe it is a pivotal first step in the assurances that the United
States must provide to ourselves and to the citizens of Afghanistan
that women not be hidden from society in the future of Afghanistan.
Children must be educated; girls and boys and women must not die at the
second highest rate in the world from lack of maternal health care. The
American people will accept no less than to ensure that women are given
back the lives they knew before the Taliban and before the decades of
civil war.
The liberation of Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, and other Afghan cities from
Taliban rule is cause for celebration, but women are celebrating
cautiously. Women were, in essence, banned by Taliban; ordered out of
sight stripped of their basic freedoms. It remains to be seen, however,
whether the women of Afghanistan will enjoy a fleeting moment in the
sun or will truly be allowed to participate in the reconstruction of
their country.
The Afghan Women and Children's Relief Act demonstrates a way that
the United States can help to educate and provide health care for those
in need. But we can also embrace the critically important role that
women must play in Afghanistan's reconstruction. The First Lady's
recent radio address, and the statements of Secretary of State Colin
Powell and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky
demonstrate a commitment by the United States that Afghan women will
not be marginalized as soon as this spotlight shifts.
Addressing women's needs and potential is not an academic question
for us in the United States. We are paying a dear price for driving
hatred and intolerance out of Afghanistan. We have every right to
assume that the new government there and the society that emerges will
repudiate the values of the Taliban and be a force for regional
stability. What the future holds for Afghanistan largely depends on how
its women, 54 percent of the Afghan population, are incorporated into
the political, economic, and social life of the country.
I do ask this body to pass H.R. 3330 to promote educational
opportunities for all children and access to health care, but I also
want to point out that as a second step I invite all my colleagues to
cosponsor H.R. 3342, which I have introduced along with the gentlewoman
from New York (Mrs. Maloney), and others, the Access For Afghan Women
Act. It encourages the State Department and USAID to include women in
negotiations to establish a new government in Afghanistan; recognize
that women's participation in the foundation of post-conflict stability
and their own economic self-sufficiency is necessary; assist the
voluntary resettlement and repatriation of refugees; and ensure that
peacekeeping operations protect women from violence.
Madam Speaker, when hostilities cease, the Afghan people will have a
precious chance to transform their war-torn country. The long-term
stability is important to the United States; and both countries will
benefit from recognizing and embracing the essential contributions that
women can make and must make to the effort.
I applaud the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce) for introducing H.R.
3330, and I encourage all Members to become engaged in the effort to do
the right thing in Afghanistan for men, women, and children.
Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I believe, Madam Speaker, that one person can make a difference; and
I believe that all of us serving in Congress, united, speaking with one
voice, will make a significant difference to the people of Afghanistan.
If we sit back and do nothing, knowing of the widespread pain and
suffering of innocent women and children caught up in the madness of
Taliban rule, then I fear we are almost as guilty as those who have
perpetrated these crimes against humanity.
Now is our time to speak out, now is our moment in history to make a
difference, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms.
Ros-Lehtinen).
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Nevada
(Ms. Berkley) for yielding me these 2 minutes, because as we speak,
delegates to the summit conference of Afghan groups are discussing a
plan for an interim administration in Afghanistan. This would pave the
way to a post-Taliban government that protects its citizens and
safeguards the fundamental rights of women and children.
However, the road toward fulfillment of this goal begins with the
people of Afghanistan, where reconstruction entails educations and
empowering the beleaguered population so that they can reclaim control
of their own destiny.
Under the Taliban, it was women and children who suffered the most
from its abhorrent practices. Thus, to begin to overcome this grim
legacy, we must ensure that our efforts give the necessary focus and
assistance to programs providing education and relief services to
Afghan women.
This bill focuses our humanitarian efforts to help ensure that U.S.
assistance has the maximum impact, reaching those refugees and segments
of Afghan society most affected by the Taliban's reign of terror.
{time} 1445
Madam Speaker, it is a bill which reinforces the true essence and
spirit of the United States, a country committed to the defense of
those who are oppressed and subjugated, a Nation of caring people who
now and in the past have led the world in providing humanitarian aid to
the Afghan people. Let us lead the way once again by rendering our
overwhelming support to the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of
educational and health care rights for the women and children of
Afghanistan. According to the Journal of the American Medical
Association, the current health and human rights status of women in
Afghanistan suggests that the combined effects of war-related trauma
and human rights abuses by Taliban officials have had a profound effect
on Afghan women's health. Moreover, support for women's human rights by
Afghan women suggests that Taliban policies regarding women are
incommensurate with the interests, needs, and health of Afghan women.
Before the Taliban regime took power, Afghan women were protected by
law, had important freedoms and were active participants in society. In
1977, women comprised more than 15 percent of Afghanistan's highest
legislative body. By the early 1990s women comprised 70 percent of
schoolteachers. Women made up 50 percent of government workers. Forty
percent of doctors in Kabul were women. Then came the Taliban and their
destruction of the family.
For nearly 20 years, life in Afghanistan has been degraded by foreign
and civil wars, but, since 1994, the regime of the Taliban militias
has, by decree, officially taken away from women all rights to
education, to work, and to health. Denial of freedom of movement
renders Afghan women practically prisoners in their own homes, in the
most extreme situation of material and moral destitution.
Until 1996, Afghan women were an integral part of society, they
worked outside the home, they went to school, and chose their own
doctor. Women constituted 50 percent of the student body in the
universities, 60 percent of the civil servants, 75 percent of the
hospitals workforce, a majority of teachers for boys' and girls'
schools, and had businesses of their own. In the city of Kabul alone,
there were around 17,000 women teachers. The 1964 and 1977
Constitutions of Afghanistan provided for gender equality and women
were fully vested in the political process including the right to vote
and get elected. Many women also wore either a chadari or scarf on a
voluntary basis.
A child, who was born 12 or 13 years ago, is a young adult now. He
was five years old when his father was killed, he was seven years old
when his mother was raped and tortured in front of him, and he was only
ten years old when his house was burned down to the ground. And now, he
lives in a plastic tent with no place to go and, no one to turn to. The
psychological impact of the past twenty years shall leave an immutable
scar in over one million orphans' memories, unless they receive help
now. Two generations of Afghans know only war, deprivation,
homelessness, hunger, suffering, and loss, and their futures seem bleak
in a world that has largely forgotten them.
[[Page H8351]]
In addition, there are estimated to be between 10 and 15 million land
mines scattered in the landscape, exploding and injuring at a rate of
20 to 25 per day. They kill or injure predominantly children who are
sometimes victims of mines disguised as toys. One out of four Afghan
children dies before the age of five. Over one million Afghan children
are orphans. Over 500,000 are disabled. Over 400,000 children are
amputees, because of land mines. Over one million Afghan children are
suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
History has demonstrated that supremacist and totalitarian regimes
such as the Taliban militias maintained themselves in power only if the
rest of the world remains silent. Human rights are founded on
principles that all members of the human family are equal in dignity
and rights. However, where discrimination against women and children
exists, they are often excluded from effective participation in
identifying and securing their rights. In recent years, some have
argued that health, defined as ``a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity,'' requires the protection and promotion of human rights. In
Afghanistan, Taliban restrictions on Afghan women and children's
freedom of expression, association, and movement deny women full
participation in society and, consequently, from effectively securing
equal opportunities for work, education, and access to health care.
I rise today to reiterate my support for the women and children of
Afghanistan. Exclusion of women from employment, and women and children
from education, jeopardizes their capacity to survive and participate
in society. In my opinion, the health and human rights concerns of
Afghan women and children are identified and the promotion of Afghan
women and children's health is inseparable from the protection and
promotion of human rights.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong
support of S. 1573, the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act of 2001.
This measure would authorize the President to provide educational and
health care assistance to the women and children of Afghanistan from
funds made available under the 2001 Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations Act for Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks
on the United States.
The oppression of Afghan women began when the regressive and
repressive Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Under the regime of
these Islamic fundamentalists, women became subject to a horrific
system of gender apartheid whereby the rights enjoyed by women in so
many other areas of the world, the rights they are entitled to, were
virtually eliminated.
In Afghanistan, women are totally deprived of the right to an
education, of the right to work, to travel, to health care, legal
recourse, recreation, and of the right to being human. Islamic
fundamentalism, instead, looks upon women as subhuman, fit only for
household slavery and as a means of procreation. Women who violate the
rules of conduct are beaten or brutalized, often in a public arena for
the sake of entertainment.
This type of inhumane treatment will have a profound effect on the
future of Afghanistan. As Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus,
I am always concerned about the welfare of children here at home and
abroad. Young Afghan girls are also subject to the extreme restrictions
imposed by the Taliban--restrictions to education, health care, and a
normal way of life. Afghan children are some of the poorest and least
healthy in the world. They have the highest mortality rates for
children under five. These children have known only war, so they are
suffering enormous trauma as well.
As the Taliban regime retreats from the major Afghanistan cities, the
masses are rejoicing at the hope of renewed opportunities for the
country. The talents and contributions of Afghan women will once again
permeate the country. Prior to the Taliban regime, seventy percent of
teachers were women, fifty percent of civil servants were women, and
university students, and forty percent of doctors were women. This bill
will assure that women and children are able to exercise their right to
education and healthcare.
Madam Speaker, we, as Members of Congress, now have a tool to help
restore the rights and human dignity of Afghan women and children. I
urge my colleagues to support S. 1573.
Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 1573.
I am an educated woman. Not only do I hold an undergraduate degree, I
also have earned a master's degree.
I am a healthy woman. Not only do I receive regular medical care from
my physician, I also have access to superb emergency care if needed.
I am an independent woman. Not only do I have a challenging career, I
also feel secure strolling the streets of this city alone.
Such is not the case, however, for the women and girls of
Afghanistan.
During the days of Taliban rule, these women were denied education.
They were denied health care. They were denied basic human freedoms.
In these emerging days of post-Taliban rule, it is our duty to ensure
that these basic civil liberties are restored.
I commend the authors of S. 1573--and its companion legislation H.R.
3330--for their aim of providing education and health care
opportunities to the women and children of Afghanistan. I especially
applaud the desire to utilize women-led non-governmental organizations
to achieve their goals.
I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support
this important piece of legislation.
Ms. HARMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3330, the
Afghan Women And Children Relief Act. This legislation will ensure that
educational and health care assistance reaches the women and children
of Afghanistan.
The Taliban's crimes against women have by now become well-known.
Against the teaching of Islam and against the will of women across
Afghanistan, the Taliban:
Ended education for girls over eight;
Shut down the women's university;
Forbade women doctors from practicing medicine; and
Then forbade women from receiving care from male doctors.
This deliberate, cruel treatment compounded the suffering of more
than 20 years of war, extreme poverty, and drought in Afghanistan to
create a dire health situation for women and children. Afghanistan has
the world's second worst maternal death rate during childbirth. One
hundred sixty five out of every thousand babies die before their first
birthday. The Taliban has done untold harm to its own people with these
actions, and we must now help repair the damage done.
Rebuilding Afghanistan is part of the promise we have made to provide
a comprehensive solution to the root causes of terrorism. We must offer
hope to the people of Afghanistan, and we must work toward creating a
stable Afghan government.
Aid to the women and children of Afghanistan will accomplish both of
these goals. It will improve the lives of millions and increase
opportunities for all members of Afghan society--including women--to
have their voices heard.
The overwhelming bipartisan support by Congress today demonstrates
that our support is no short-term political ploy. We are here for the
long haul, and we expect to see results.
Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 1573.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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