[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 22, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S4586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 109--COMMENDING THE BRAVERY OF THE GIRLS WHO ATTEND 
         THE MIRWAIS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS IN KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

  Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Mr. Lugar, and Mr. Risch) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                              S. Res. 109

       Whereas, on November 12, 2008, 15 girls who attend the 
     Mirwais School for Girls in Kandahar, Afghanistan, were 
     attacked by militants and sprayed with acid, causing them 
     varying degrees of disfigurement;
       Whereas the militants committed the egregious attack to 
     intimidate the girls and their families and to discourage the 
     girls from continuing to attend school;
       Whereas, less than one week after the attacks, Headmaster 
     Mahmood Qadari asked parents to return the girls to school;
       Whereas, by January 14, 2009, nearly 1,300 girls, almost 
     all the students, had returned to the 40-room Mirwais School 
     for Girls;
       Whereas the families of the girls from the Mirwais School 
     for Girls defy threats of personal harm and staunchly assert 
     the right to educate their daughters;
       Whereas, according to the United Nations, educating girls 
     and women reduces the incidence of domestic and community 
     violence and raises the standard of living in a country;
       Whereas, according to a study published by the Afghanistan 
     Independent Human Rights Commission, it is a ``fact that 
     child marriage takes place in a frequent and pervasive 
     fashion'' in Afghanistan;
       Whereas, according to that study, of women surveyed for the 
     study, 43.6 percent stated that they married to solve their 
     economic problems, 7.1 percent referred to the resolution of 
     conflicts as the reason for their early marriage, 37 percent 
     said that ``badal'', or the exchange of girls between 2 
     families, was the reason for their marriage, and 12.3 percent 
     cited other reasons for their marriage, such as local 
     traditional practices and parental interference;
       Whereas, according to 2007 information from the World 
     Health Organization, the health of women and children in 
     Afghanistan is among the worst in the world;
       Whereas, according to estimates from the Department of 
     State for 2008, the literacy rate for women in Afghanistan is 
     12 percent;
       Whereas it is a continuing priority of the United States 
     government to advance the rights of women in Afghanistan by 
     facilitating women's participation in social, political, and 
     economic affairs and by ensuring women's safety and well-
     being;
       Whereas the United States Government looks to the 
     government of Afghanistan to proactively support the rights 
     of women and girls, and recognizes that the recently-passed 
     personal security law would severely diminish such rights;
       Whereas the United States Agency for International 
     Development (USAID) has integrated women-focused activities 
     into most of its programs by strategic design, with the goal 
     of increasing women's political participation and access to 
     education, health care, economic opportunities, and roles in 
     civil society;
       Whereas USAID has noted that, despite women's nearly non-
     existent access to health, education, and political 
     participation in 2001, there has been a 25 percent decrease 
     in maternal mortality since 2001, due in great part to 
     women's significantly improved access to health and hospital 
     services;
       Whereas, since 2001, Afghanistan has experienced a surge in 
     school attendance to more than 6,000,000 children enrolled, 
     of which 35 percent are girls, and has greatly increased 
     participation of women in civil society, with women 
     representing 26 percent of the civil service and holding 27 
     percent of the seats in the national assembly and 29 percent 
     of provincial council seats; and
       Whereas, despite significant gains made through assistance 
     programs in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban 
     government in 2001, there remains a great deal more work to 
     be done toward achieving reasonable development in still one 
     of the poorest countries in the world, and such development 
     can be achieved only by empowering the 50 percent of the 
     population that is women: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes and commends the extraordinary bravery shown 
     by the girls and families of the Mirwais School for Girls in 
     Kandahar, Afghanistan, especially the girls injured in the 
     November 2008 attack, in the decision to return to school in 
     the face of threats of bodily injury, or worse; and
       (2) continues to support efforts to decrease illiteracy and 
     gender-based violence in Afghanistan.

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