[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 83 (Thursday, June 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S5846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ACCESS FOR AFGHAN WOMEN ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have been pleased to join with Senator 
Olympia Snowe in introducing the Access for Afghan Women Act, S. 2647.
  After the horror that women endured under the Taliban, it is critical 
that U.S. assistance to that country promotes women's participation and 
leadership in the political and economic life of Afghanistan, while 
protecting women's rights.
  In fact, throughout the world, it is clear that the role of women is 
key for successful economic development and a reliable indicator of 
whether development programs will succeed. I am not talking about some 
radical agenda, rather I refer to the basic ability of women to 
participate in education, society, government, and the economy.
  Afghanistan under the Taliban was an extreme example of the failure 
to include women in the economy, in fact relegating half the population 
to virtual house arrest. No country will succeed if it refuses to 
educate half its population. No economy will grow that restricts half 
its population from the work force, from credit, and from private 
property. And the government that does such things is no government at 
all but a travesty.
  Economic development programs benefit everyone, but certain programs 
have a particularly strong impact on the lives of women. Microcredit 
programs, for example, tend to benefit women who may need only a small 
loan to buy a goat to sell milk, a sewing machine to make clothes, or 
vegetables to sell in the village market. These tiny businesses often 
provide the financial independence that women need to pay school fees, 
take in an orphan, or simply survive.
  U.S. programs are providing books to newly reopened schools in 
Afghanistan will have a major impact on the education of girls, who 
were not allowed to go to school under the Taliban.
  This bill sets out broad requirements for U.S. assistance to 
Afghanistan for governance, economic development, and refugee 
assistance.
  Among other provisions, bill calls for U.S. programs to include U.S. 
and Afghan-based women's groups in planning for development assistance, 
encourages U.S. groups to partner or create Afghan-based groups, and 
supports for the Ministry of Women's Affairs. It calls for programs 
that increase women's access to credit and ownership of property, as 
well as long-term financial assistance for education and health. It 
requires U.S.-sponsored police and military training to include the 
protection of women's rights and that steps be taken to protect against 
sexual exploitation of women and children in refugee camps.
  I believe that these requirements will fit well with the development 
assistance programs that the United States plans to pursue, but I 
believe that it is still particularly useful to lay them out in detail, 
especially with regard to Afghanistan, to be certain that U.S. programs 
help remedy the abuses suffered by the women of Afghanistan. It is only 
with the concerted effort of both men and women in Afghanistan that 
that devastated country will recover, grow, and develop.

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