[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 1316-1317]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     MISTREATMENT OF AFGHANI WOMEN IS NOT CULTURAL--IT IS CRIMINAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about an item that ought to 
outrage not only everybody on this floor but everybody throughout the 
world. The plight of Afghani women is desperate. So desperate, in fact, 
that at least half of the passengers on a recently hijacked Afghani 
airliner have now sought political asylum in England. So desperate that 
English authorities continue to investigate whether some of the 
passengers, men and women, aided their captors in an effort to escape 
the brutal, vicious, thug-like Taliban regime in Kabul.
  Mr. Speaker, as we enter a new century marked by hope and optimism, 
marked by the expansion of freedom and democracy, the Taliban regime 
seems bent on dragging its citizens, and in particular its women, back 
to the dark ages. In fact, it is probably worse than the dark ages.
  To be female in Afghanistan today is to be a target, a target for 
repression,

[[Page 1317]]

a target for brutality, a target for physical and emotional terror that 
knows no peer.
  As First Lady Hillary Clinton has stated, ``We must all make it 
unmistakably clear this terrible suffering inflicted on the women and 
girls in Afghanistan is not cultural, it's criminal. And we must do 
everything in our power to stop it.''
  The First Lady was absolutely correct. Ever since the Taliban seized 
power in 1996, it has enforced edicts that have destroyed basic human 
rights for Afghani women.
  According to the U.S. State Department and human rights groups, women 
and girls are prohibited from attending school. With few exceptions, 
women are prohibited from working outside the home. Women and girls may 
not go outside unless they wear a head-to-toe covering called a Barca. 
A three-inch square opening provides the only means for vision.
  Women are prohibited from appearing in public unless accompanied by a 
male relative. My colleagues, listen to this: Access to medical care 
for women and girls is virtually nonexistent.
  Mr. Speaker, I am the father of three young women, three girls, and 
the grandfather of a beautiful 13-year-old granddaughter. Intolerable 
situations.
  Women are not allowed to practice medicine. And listen to this: Male 
doctors are prohibited from viewing or touching women's bodies. How can 
a woman get medical services if women are prohibited from practicing 
medicine and men are prohibited from viewing or touching women?
  Windows in houses that have female occupants must be painted so that 
one cannot see from the street.
  It is hard to believe that any society in the world would force its 
citizens to endure such Draconian conditions. But, in the 21st century 
and the dawn of the century, it is the sad truth.
  Violations of the Taliban code brings swift, brutal punishment from 
the religious police, known as the Ministry for the Promotion of 
Virtues and Suppression of Vice.
  What a warped understanding of virtues the Taliban has. Women have 
been beaten on the street for showing an inch of ankle below the Barca 
or for wearing shoes that make sounds while walking. One woman 
reportedly was shot for appearing in public while taking her sick child 
to a doctor. What a warped sense of virtue these Taliban have.
  Other women are randomly rounded up and imprisoned for no apparent 
justification. Women are frequently stoned, hung, and beaten for 
alleged violations of various Taliban laws.
  Some, I suppose, would argue that the treatment of Afghani women and 
girls half a world away is none of our business. But when basic human 
dignities are stripped from so many and so violently, we should not, we 
must not stand by silent. Indeed, we must express our collective 
outrage and, yes, perhaps do more than that. It would be, Mr. Speaker, 
unconscionable for us to look away while an entire generation of 
Afghani women are desperately crying out for help.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this time, but more importantly, I 
appreciate the fact that all of my colleagues join in expressing this 
outrage and reversing this criminal behavior. I am pleased to have the 
opportunity to join my colleague, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. 
Maloney), in bringing this matter, this desperate matter, to the 
attention of our colleagues.

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