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'Afghans
still need protection?'
"Many
people outside the country believe that Afghan women and girls have had
their rights restored. It's just not true," "Women and girls are still
being abused, harassed, and threatened all over Afghanistan, often by
government troops and officials." Zama
Coursen-Neff, counsel to the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights
Watch.
In July
2002, Beverley Hughes, Minister for Immigration and Nationality, in a
commons written answer 'Asylum Seekers (Afghanistan)' said: "We believe
there has been a real and sustained improvement in the country situation.
The recent establishment of the Transitional Government serves to underline
the improvements which continue to be made. The improvement in the country
situation no longer justifies a blanket policy of granting exceptional
leave to remain in the United Kingdom to all asylum seekers from Afghanistan
who do not meet the criteria in the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention."
Hansard:
Written Answers text for Thursday 11 July 2002
A report
published to day by 'Human Rights Watch', Afghanistan: Women
Still Not "Liberated", particularly relating to women, has a different
view. What few rights that were given to women in Afghanistan after the
fall of the Taliban, 'allowed to return to school, university, and to
some jobs', have been eroded by increasing repression of social and political
life"
Afghanistan:
Women Still Not "Liberated"
Other
reports on Afghanistan by 'Human Rights Watch'
"All
our Hopes are Crushed: Violence and Repression in Western Afghanistan"
For many Afghans,
the end of the Taliban's uniquely oppressive rule was indeed a liberation.
Yet almost one year later, the human rights situation in most of the country
remains grim; the hopeful future Afghans were promised has not materialized.
http://hrw.org/reports/2002/afghan3/
Afghanistan's
Bonn Agreement One Year Later - A Catalog of Missed Opportunities
One
year after the signing of the Bonn Agreement, Afghanistan continues to
face serious obstacles in protecting human rights and establishing basic
security.
http://hrw.org/press/2002/12/afghan1205.htm
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