[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21270]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 CIVIL RIGHTS ABUSES UPON AFGHAN WOMEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, the subject I was going to speak on tonight 
is the treatment of women in Afghanistan.
  In 1996, I had the opportunity with Senator Brown on the Senate side 
to co-chair a hearing on what was underway in Afghanistan and that same 
year I organized a hearing on the House side here as well to call 
attention to the civil rights abuses that were occurring in that 
country and to call attention to the fact that Afghanistan was rapidly 
becoming a national security threat to the United States, and this is 
something that I have been speaking on over the years, the fact that in 
Afghanistan the terror and the chaos and the despair has become worse 
and worse year after year.
  However, in the wake of September 11 and that terrorist attack on 
that day, many Americans are just beginning to learn about the horrific 
treatment of women in Afghanistan. The practice there of the Taliban of 
restricting the rights of women has even been explained by some as 
being in line with traditional practices and I have to say to the 
contrary. It is clear that the Taliban is at odds with Islam and Afghan 
society, especially in its treatment of women.
  Prior to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, women there had the 
right to vote, along with other liberties enjoyed by most people around 
the world. But when the Taliban swept into power in 1997 that 
organization immediately institutionalized widespread and systemic 
gender apartheid. A government mandate made it unlawful for women and 
girls to go to work or to go to school.
  This edict was a devastating blow to the women and to the country. 
And at that time women were a vital part of the Afghan workforce. They 
made up 70 percent of the school teachers, 40 percent of the doctors, 
50 percent of government workers. They were 50 percent of university 
students. And with that edict none of them could continue to work or go 
to school.
  Women under the Taliban regime have been subjected to remarkably 
harsh restrictions that impede their ability to move freely, to prevent 
them from socializing, to prevent them from seeking medical treatment. 
There is in place a complete ban on women working or receiving 
education outside the home. And to tell you how bad this is, the 
reality is that for one of the organizations that helped teach women 
how to read and write in the home, to be a member of that organization 
is to face capital punishment in Afghanistan.
  If a woman leaves her home, she is required to don a head to toe 
garment known as a burqa, which has only a small mesh screen for 
vision. A designated close male relative also must always accompany her 
wherever she goes. If so much as an ankle is not covered she can be 
whipped in public.
  There is a ban on the use of cosmetics. How is it enforced? Women 
with painted nails have had their fingernails pulled out by the Taliban 
authorities.
  Women must paint their windows so that no one can see inside their 
home. Among other restrictions, women are banned from laughing loudly, 
from riding in taxis, from playing sports or entering a sport center or 
club, from riding bicycles or motorcycles, gathering for festive 
occasions, playing cards, riding public buses with men and appearing on 
the balconies of their homes. Even owning a kite, flying a kite or 
keeping a caged bird can become a criminal offense.
  If a woman is accused of disobeying prohibitions, a severe punishment 
is often administered. Women have been whipped, they have been beaten, 
they have been verbally abused in the streets, but I am afraid there 
have been many worse Taliban abuses than that. Women who have been 
accused of adultery have been stoned to death. Women accused of 
prostitution have been hanged in public. And I think many of us have 
viewed the film of the women who have defied Taliban edicts who were 
taken into the soccer stadium in Kabul, and before audiences of men 
seated there publicly executed in the stadium.
  A few weeks ago on CNN the anchor was interviewing a Taliban official 
and the anchor reporter asked why there is no more soccer at the sports 
stadium which the European Union helped build before the Taliban's 
rise. The official was so brazen to answer, ``If they build us another 
place to hold our executions, then we will play here.''
  Mr. Speaker, I did want to bring this condition to the attention of 
the Chair and to the Members.

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