AND THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN Introduction The news broke in March 2009. A law not really sure if he’ll keep the promise Focus had been passed in Afghanistan that and bring the amendments, but at In this News in Review story we’ll look at the limited the human rights of the country’s least he says he will. We’re hopeful” situation of women Shiite women. The legislation—named (The Globe and Mail, April 26, 2009). living in Afghanistan. the Shiite Personal Status Law—made Politicians outside Afghanistan are This issue was thrust it illegal for women to leave the house wary, too. Prime Minister Stephen into the limelight or work without the permission of a Harper and other Canadian members when news leaked out male family member. It also took away of Parliament have stated that they will that Afghan President women’s custody and inheritance rights continue to put pressure on Karzai until had signed the Shiite and stipulated that it was a woman’s the law is amended. Personal Status Law duty to have sex with her husband at There is a good chance that the in February 2009. least every four days. If she refused, her law may not be reviewed until after The legislation would husband could refuse to feed her. the next Afghan election, scheduled make many Afghan and much of the international for August 2009. Karzai has become women financially community responded with outrage. unpopular within Afghanistan because and sexually subservient to their Canadians asked themselves: How he is seen by many as being a puppet husbands. Canada could a country so blatantly disregard of the West. Some observers believe and the international the rights of women? And why were that Karzai signed the law because community reacted we putting Canadian Forces personnel he wanted to appeal to the hardline strongly against the in harm’s way in Afghanistan when the conservative elements of the country. legislation. In this country clearly did not support human The law was drafted as a way to win News in Review story, rights? Many Canadians called for the the support of the powerful Shia we will examine the legislation and the withdrawal of troops and demanded minority in the country. response to it and that aid money to the country be Any hope that Karzai might have explore the reality frozen. had that the furor would subside after of life for Afghan Members of the government he gave his reassurances that the law women. contacted the Afghanistan President, would be reviewed were dashed when Hamid Karzai, to share their a group of Afghan women took to the Note displeasure. Karzai admitted that he streets to protest the law. About 300 This story is very had signed the law, but said he did mostly young Shia women protested in controversial, and so without reading it. He said that , the capital of Afghanistan. But some elements may he relies on his aides to review most the protest drew a swarm of about be disturbing to documents that he signs. This law 1 000 angry Afghan men who pelted students, particularly simply got by him unnoticed. On April the women with stones and cursed younger girls. Teachers should use discretion 25, 2009, after continued international them. Jeremy Starkey, a reporter for in presenting this pressure, Karzai made assurances that The Independent, heard one man yell: important but he would review the legislation and “You are a dog. You are not a Shia challenging story. amend the offending sections to bring woman” (CBC News, April 15, 2009). it into line with international human Women’s rights activists were quick rights standards. to point out that the proposed law is But not everyone is convinced. “This just the tip of the iceberg. The law is a good step,” said Sabrina Saqib, simply reflects the day-to-day reality of an Afghan activist and member of all Afghan women. The Sunni majority, Afghan’s National Assembly. “We’re for example, already deny Afghan

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 19 women inheritance rights. And it has action are guaranteed in the Afghan Definition long been the case, in this country constitution, but the gap between words Shia and Sunni are different sects within ruled by old traditions and customs, and reality is too huge to be bridged . It should be that women have no recourse against simply by revising a few clauses in a noted that not all domestic violence, guarantees to a fair legal document” (Toronto Star, April 8, Sunni or Shia Muslims trial, or control over who and when 2009). share the views of they marry. So the issues are complex and not fellow Muslims in Nelofer Pazira, an Afghan Canadian easily solved. The introduction of Afghanistan. Even journalist and filmmaker, had this the Shiite Personal Status Law has within Afghanistan, there is a range to say about the reforms needed in focused attention on the plight of of views on many Afghanistan: “This week, more than Afghan women, at least for now. And important issues, 100 Afghan women from 34 provinces Canadians are left to struggle with some including the role of met in Kabul to discuss the situation of tough questions. Are we willing to lose women. women in the country; they highlighted more Canadian Forces personnel than insecurity as the biggest impediment the 118 who have already given up their Quote to their freedom and equality. Most lives in this country? Can we guarantee “Afghanistan will not women fear leaving their homes to that aid money gets to the people who fast-forward from the attend school or go to work—not really need it within Afghanistan? And 12th century to the 21st because of their husbands, but because if we leave, are we condemning Afghan century in the blink of they don’t feel safe. Their rights to women to a life without basic human an eye and certainly education, freedom of movement and rights? not according to the agenda of Canadian sensibilities.” — Rosie To Consider DiManno, columnist In May 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Canadian Forces troops in (Toronto Star, . During his visit, he said the following: “Because of you the people February 4, 2008) of Afghanistan have seen . . . democratic elections, the stirring of human rights and freedoms for women, the construction of schools, health-care facilities, and the basic infrastructure of a functional economy. Friends, you are helping the Afghan people make a better life for themselves and their children” (Toronto Star, April 2, 2009).

1. If he visited the troops again today, would his words still apply? Explain.

2. Is it possible to help the women of Afghanistan if many Afghan men are strongly opposed to the extension of basic human rights to those women?

3. How much power does a government actually have to change traditional values and customs in a society?

4. Does Canada have the right to demand that Afghans change the attitudes that they have developed over thousands of years?

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 20 AFGHANISTAN AND THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN Video Review

Did you know . . . Pre-Viewing Activity Afghanistan has a In a small group, discuss the following questions: minister of women’s 1. Should men and women in all parts of the world be guaranteed the same affairs in the government—and the human rights? Why/Why not? minister is a woman. 2. Rank the following human rights in order of importance and be prepared to explain your choices.

Quote (a) The right to an education “These are the very (b) The right to marry when one chooses, and whom one chooses kinds of laws that the brought (c) The right to vote to Afghanistan, the (d) The right to dress as one chooses very kinds of laws that (e) The right to personal safety — free from domestic or public violence our government has said we are sending (f) The right to free speech troops to Afghanistan (g) The right to full employment to ensure that this kind of thing doesn’t 3. If basic human rights are being denied to men or women in a particular happen.” — Dawn region or country in the world, does the international community have Black, an obligation to take diplomatic or military action against that country? MP, New Democratic Explain. Party 4. Do you support Canada’s military action in Afghanistan—a country where religious fundamentalists deny women basic human rights? Explain.

Video Questions 1. What sort of restrictions were placed on women when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan?

2. Why did Canada and other countries become outraged when Afghanistan passed a law that stripped certain Afghan women of their rights?

3. What are some of the specific provisions of the proposed law?

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 21 4. How did Omar Samad, the Afghan Ambassador to Canada, explain the Quote controversial law? “It could be a turning point, but we equally know that there is a huge backlash at the moment against women’s rights in 5. How did the Afghan government respond to the international criticism Afghanistan. So the shortly after the controversy erupted? climate is getting worse, if anything, for these women to 6. What evidence exists that the Taliban continue to target women in oppose such laws.” Afghanistan? — Ceri Hayes, human rights advocate

Quote 7. What happened to Sitara Achakzai? “This is Islamic country. This is Afghanistan. We want Islamic rule.”— Unidentified Afghan man

8. What happened when Afghan women publicly demonstrated against the law?

Post-Viewing Activities 1. With your group, review your answers to the pre-viewing questions. Are there any answers that you would like to revise based on the information you learned in the News in Review video? If so, make those changes.

2. You learned that violence and the threat of violence make it very difficult for Afghan women to fight against injustice within the country.

(a) Does this mean it is more important for the international community to take action in this matter? Explain.

(b) Might pressure from the international community have any unintended negative consequences for Afghan women? Explain.

3. At the time this video was produced, the Afghan government had not formally withdrawn the controversial law. Instead, revisions to the law were “under consideration.” If the law is not amended, should Canada withdraw its armed forces from Afghanistan? Explain your answer.

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 22 AFGHANISTAN AND THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN Document Study: The Controversial Law

Shiite Personal Status Law Quote “Afghanistan is still This law was approved in February 2009 one of the most with the signature of Afghan President dangerous places in Hamid Karzai. The information that the world to be a follows outlines the provisions of the law woman. It is a place that have garnered the greatest criticism where women set within the international community and themselves on fire to from Afghan women themselves. escape brutality and where girls as young as eight are married The Provisions to elderly men and Article 27: This provision legalizes child where 60 per cent of marriage. The law states that it is legal to marriages are forced.” marry girls once their menstruation cycle — from London-based has started. charity Womankind Since 2002, 118 Canadian soldiers have Worldwide (Toronto been killed serving in the Afghanistan Star, April 14, 2009) Article 47: This provision denies women mission. One diplomat and two aid custody of their children. The law grants workers have also been killed. The guardianship of children to fathers and concern over the right of Afghan grandfathers. women has caused many Canadians to rethink the value of this mission. Article 133: This provision states that a woman can only work, get an education, The Marital Rape Provision or access health care if her husband The provision that has generated the grants permission for her to do so. greatest outrage is Article 132. Critics claim that the article condones marital Article 161: This provision legalizes rape. The text of the article is described divorce proceedings with the simple below and then explained by Mohammed requirement that two male witnesses be Asif Mohseni, a leading Shiite cleric present. who was involved in the drafting of the law. Article 177: This provision denies a woman the right to leave her home Article 132: This article obligates wives without a male relative’s permission, to submit to their husband’s sexual except in the case of an emergency. desires. Specifically, the wife will provide sex a minimum of once every Article 226: This provision regulates four nights unless she is sick or can inheritance rights between couples. Men offer up a logical or lawful reason to inherit both movable and immovable abstain. In contrast, the law stipulates the property from a deceased spouse, while husband has an obligation to have sexual women inherit only movable property relations with his wife once every four (no houses or land) from a deceased months. spouse. (This is also the case for Sunni Muslim women under Afghan law.)

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 23 In an article in the Toronto Star, meet their husband’s needs. “If a woman Quote (April 12, 2009) Mohseni is quoted says no, the man has the right not to feed “The onus is upon the government of as saying that men and women enter her” (Reuters, April 16, 2009). Afghanistan to live into a business arrangement when they Under this provision, the husband up to its human- marry. Because men are the primary can also demand that his wife wear rights responsibilities, breadwinners in Afghanistan, they are cosmetics and dress up for him. Critics absolutely including expected to provide for the women and argue that this reinforces the second- the rights of women. children. In return, women have an class status of women and the fact that If there is any obligation to have sexual relations with they exist to serve their husbands’ needs. wavering on this point . . . this will create their husbands. “It is not possible for But Mohseni argues that this provision serious difficulties, all women to pay the same amount of is actually intended to improve the serious problems for money as men . . . For all these expenses, relationship between husbands and the government of can’t we at least give the right to a wives. “When men venture outside, they Canada.”— Stockwell husband to demand sex from his wife see lots of other women with make-up, Day, Federal Trade after four nights?” but he comes home and finds his own Minister (The Globe Mohseni also states that husbands wife with a dirty face. This is mentioned and Mail, April 1, 2009) should never force themselves on their to encourage men to have more interest wives, and the law does not sanction in a social and personal life with his that. However, women do have a duty to wife” (The Telegraph, April 16, 2009). Did you know . . . Spousal sexual assault Analysis became a crime in 1. Do the words of Mohammad Asif Mohseni make it easier to understand Canada in 1983. It is an the legislation? Why/Why not? offence in most parts of the Western world 2. Do you feel that the media have exaggerated the punitive nature of this and, in 1993, the UN legislation? Explain. High Commissioner for Human Rights 3. What might an Afghan woman, if she were free to speak openly, say in established marital response to the words of Mohseni? rape as a human-rights violation.

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 24 AFGHANISTAN AND THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN Women In Afghanistan: An Overview

Women in Afghanistan have not be slipping. For example: Quote experienced equal rights, as we know • Women in Afghanistan are basically the “How has the war helped women in them in the West, for a very long time, property of their husbands. Afghanistan? It hasn’t. if ever. Although women’s groups and • Anyone who provides protection or Never have women human rights activists have worked hard shelter to a married woman who has achieved equality by to improve the lives of Afghan women, fled her household is considered to be a somebody coming in to a large extent the international kidnapper. and giving it to them.” community has paid little attention to the • Women convicted of adultery— — Judy Rebick, former problem. head of the National sometimes just for being seen in public Part of the reason for this is that Action Committee on with men who are not their husbands— Westerners do not want to appear to the Status of Women can be stoned to death. (The Globe and Mail, be culturally insensitive. Westerners April 18, 2009) are aware that they have a fleeting • In Kandahar province, it is almost knowledge, at best, of Afghanistan’s impossible for women to walk in public history, and of the social customs and without a head-to-toe burqa. norms of Afghan society. Many social • Educators of women are harassed, sciences like anthropology and sociology threatened with violence, and have been critical of the ethnocentric sometimes executed. nature of Western nations. A person is • Girls comprise only 17 per cent of the being ethnocentric when they judge students in classrooms. other cultures as “less sophisticated” or • Only five per cent of women can read. “inferior” to their own. • Domestic violence is not uncommon, Another reason that little action has but women are ostracized by their been taken on behalf of Afghan women families and by society if they leave an is that women’s equality rights have abusive spouse. historically not been given high priority. Even in Western nations, it was only in • It is common for young girls to be the last few decades that women have married off for cash dowries. been able to secure decent maternity leave, strong property rights, and The Dangers Facing Educators protection from domestic violence. And Male and female teachers are common even these rights have not been achieved targets of violence, because the universally. For example, in the United conservative elements of the country States today, women are guaranteed only realize it is easier to withhold basic six weeks of maternity leave. human rights from people if they are As well, it is difficult to bring about uneducated. In December 2005, gunmen change in any society by imposing it from pulled a teacher from Helmand province the outside. Change is most effective, and from his classroom and killed him in more permanent, when it comes from the the street. His crime was teaching boys people living within the society. and girls in a mixed class and ignoring warnings to stop. In the same month in The Problems Zabul province, a teacher was dragged Although life for women improved after from his home and beheaded. And in the fall of the ultra-conservative Taliban early 2006, seven schools in Kandahar in 2001, any gains they made appear to province were burned to the ground.

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 25 Those who teach girls are particular They reported that Taliban organizers Quote targets. In 2006, Ahmed Nabi, the offered them $1 500 for every woman “I’ll continue my schooling even if they principal of Zarona Girls’ High School— or girl sprayed with acid. Attendance at try to kill me. I won’t just outside Kandahar—reported that one the school dropped off sharply after the stop going to school. of his teachers had found a homemade attacks but quickly rebounded as girls — Shamsia, 17-year- bomb next to his house. The director resumed their education. old victim of an acid of Mirwais Minna Girls’ School in attack (Toronto Star, Kandahar found a hand grenade dangling Arranged Marriages November 16, 2008) from the doorknob of the school. More Jane Armstrong, a reporter with The commonly, messages like the following Globe and Mail, has visited and studied Quote are placed in public areas: “This is a Afghan culture and the daily life of “The women’s wing warning to all dishonourable people, Afghan women for years. Her columns in at Sarpoza was indeed including ulemas (legal scholars) and the newspaper explain that Afghanistan like a page torn from teachers, not to teach girls. Based on is still largely ruled by ancient customs a Grimm’s fairy tale. information given to us, we strongly ask that govern the conduct and expectations Filthy, pre-teen girls, those people whose names have been of women and girls. The practice of their hair matted with particularly reported to us not to commit trading young girls for marriage is dirt, balanced babies and toddlers on their this act of evil. Otherwise it is they who widespread among poor families, where hips. No one wore will bear all the responsibilities. They girls are used as a form of currency. shoes. The cells had have no right to claim they have not In 2006, Armstrong visited Sarpoza, no toilets or running been informed” (The Globe and Mail, a Kandahar jail, to interview female water . . . Most of the November 3, 2006). inmates. There she met Shabano, a 13- female prisoners were As if that wasn’t enough, the world year-old girl who had been jailed for very young women, was shocked on November 12, 2008, barely out of their running away from an arranged marriage teens. They were when two men on a motorcycle threw with a 50-year-old man. Shabano in jails for so-called acid in the face of eight girls who were explained that when her father promised crimes that didn’t on their way to Mirwais Minna School her in marriage to the 50-year-old man, exist in the criminal in Kandahar. Ten men were arrested the 50-year-old offered his own teenaged codes of any Western for playing a role in the acid attacks. daughter to Shabano’s father in return. nations. — Jane Armstrong, reporter (The Globe and Mail, Analysis April 18, 2009) 1. What have you learned about daily life for Afghanistan women?

2. If you had the power to change one aspect of the lives of these women, what would you choose? Why?

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 26 AFGHANISTAN AND THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN Afghanistan’s Brave Women

You have learned in this News in Review was elected in September 2005. She is Did you know . . . story that it is often very difficult for still a member of the government and she One of the candidates for the position Afghan women to participate in public still receives death threats. of president of life. Women who choose to work Afghanistan in risk both violence and intimidation. Zakia Zaki the upcoming And those who choose to work in Zakia Zaki was a talented woman. She summer elections in education or politics, or who challenge was a respected journalist and human Afghanistan is a female traditional ideas about appropriate rights activist, the principal of a local MP, Shahla Atta. roles for women, face death threats or school, and she ran for parliament in worse. Many women in Afghanistan 2005. She had a local radio show and face their fears and choose to work. was often trying to raise money for Through their actions they to try to make textbooks for local school children. Afghan society better for the poor and She was very active in her community, vulnerable. Better for the children. In despite the fact that she was also a this section you will learn about some mother of six. of these brave women and the price they Female journalists are often threatened have paid for their bravery. by the Taliban or other conservatives, or by their own families. Sabrina Saqib In June 2006, Zaki was shot seven Sabrina Saqib is a politician in times while she slept in bed with her Afghanistan’s lower house of youngest son. She was 35. government. She was elected in 2005, when she was only 24-years-old. Masoda Younasy Remarkably, she ran on a platform of Masoda Younasy is only 23 but has liberal reform and gender equality. already had an extraordinary life. At 22, During her campaign she told people she was running her own construction that she hoped to make the wearing business. She had already been a justice of the burqa a matter of choice for all assistant to the Afghan human-rights women and advocated an end to forced commission and a field officer for the marriages. electoral-management body. But then she Her family supported her campaign, landed a job as a project manager with a printing and distributing posters and group of construction companies. pamphlets of Saqib wearing only a She was drawn to the job, she said, headscarf, her face unveiled. Many because it was unconventional work for a people spoke out against her behaviour. woman. “I said, ‘Oh, this is my wish—to And men, who are not used to being do something in Afghanistan that a lady around women in public, found her cannot do because of our culture. They presence quite astonishing. are not doing these things because they The Taliban had vowed to kill any are scared of family, culture, the Taliban. women who participated in the election. So I said, ‘Why don’t I do this?’” (The Not surprisingly, she received numerous Globe and Mail, September 1, 2008). death threats throughout the campaign, When she was 21 she found out that and her office had to be protected by the a price had been put on her head. She military police. But she succeeded and even met the man who had been hired

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 27 to kill her. However, because he knew police officers must deal with female her family, he decided not to kill her offenders and victims. but chose to warn her that she had been Lieutenant-Colonel Kakar had a targeted for death. She has also been reputation for being fearless. She threatened by her own extended family. reportedly once beat up an abusive On one occasion, two uncles and three husband in order to rescue the wife and cousins beat her and locked her in a child he had kept chained in a cage. Her room, saying they would kill her, her execution by the Taliban has made the sister, and her mother. rest of the female police officers very In January 2009, Younasy was granted reluctant to continue their work. a three-year permit to live and work in Canada after it became apparent that Sitara Achakzai her life was in grave danger. Federal Sitara Achakzai was a member of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney Kandahar’s provincial council and was signed the papers after learning that known for fighting for women’s rights. Younasy’s life had been threatened. Achakzai lived in Germany during the Younasy hopes to return to Afghanistan years of Taliban rule but returned to some day to become a member of her native Afghanistan in 2004 to help government. rebuild the country. She encouraged women to take jobs and to fight for equal Malalai Kakar rights. Achakzai had been receiving On September 28, 2008, one of the death threats from the Taliban and, bravest women in Afghanistan was according to friends, was very aware she gunned down shortly after she had fed was likely going to die a violent death. her six children and sent them to school. She was gunned down close to her Lieutenant-Colonel Malalai Kakar was home while sitting in a rickshaw. Her in charge of the female investigators husband, a professor at Kandahar who pursue crimes committed by University, confirmed that the Taliban and against women in Kandahar. The had claimed responsibility for the attack. women’s police program in Afghanistan He also confirmed that the couple had is very important because the strict planned a long trip to Toronto on May 1, interpretation of Islamic law followed where they have family, because of the in the country prohibits policemen from increase in violence they had witnessed interacting with women to whom they in the city. are neither married nor related. Female Response 1. What qualities must Afghan women display in order to take leadership positions in their country?

2. What lessons can be learned from the lives and careers of the women described above?

3. Which of the above women most impresses you? Why?

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 28 AFGHANISTAN AND THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN Activity: Should Canada Continue its Mission?

This News in Review story has explored a controversial new law in Afghanistan Further Research that would—when it comes into effect—legislate human rights violations • United Nations against Shiite Muslim women in the country. Observers note, however, that the Development Fund for law is just the tip of the iceberg, since women throughout the country suffer Women: www.unifem. violence, discrimination, and an almost complete lack of power. org • Revolutionary When the Canadian government learned about the Shiite Personal Status Law, Association of it was outraged at certain provisions of the legislation. Canadians across the the Women of country began to ask why the government was sacrificing the lives of Canadian Afghanistan: www. rawa.org/women.php Forces personnel and spending millions of dollars in foreign aid on a country • Canadian Women that clearly does not support basic human rights for women. For Women in Afghanistan: www. Your Task w4wafghan.ca Write a persuasive speech either in support of, or against, Canada’s continued • Canada’s participation in the military mission in Afghanistan. Use a number of specific Engagement in reasons and examples to support your position. Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: To prepare your speech, you may choose to: www.afghanistan. • watch the News in Review video again gc.ca/canada- afghanistan/news- • review the quotes on this and the next page nouvelles/2009/2009_ • visit one of the Web sites listed in the margin 03_27.aspx?lang=eng • read other sections of this guide

Student Opinion Quotes Before the speeches are read in class, your teacher may choose to ask for a show “We are caught in of hands to determine how many students are in favour of the military mission the Catch-22 that the continuing and how many oppose it. After all the speeches have been read, your Afghans obviously teacher may again ask for a show of hands to see if any students changed their have the right to write minds as a result of this activity. their own laws. But there is dismay. The Reading Your Speech rights of women was Practise reading your speech a couple of times so that you are very familiar with one of the reasons the your main arguments. Try to not speak too quickly while you are reading. UK and many in the West threw ourselves into the struggle Quotes in Afghanistan. It “While the emancipation of women in Afghanistan was one happy byproduct matters greatly to of the war, it was not the reason for it. The Taliban’s murderous, fundamentalist us and our public regime played host to Al Qaeda, which used Afghanistan as a safe haven to plot opinion.” — Lord terrorist attacks against Western countries. It was not for the advancement of Malloch Brown, British Afghan women that the war was launched. The effort to rid the world of the Cabinet Minister (The Taliban was a matter of self-interest.” — Editorial, The Globe and Mail, April 2, Globe and Mail, April 2009 1, 2009) “I want little girls to go to school as much as anyone else. But the Afghan mission has morphed far beyond its original intent. Now, it’s nation building. To secure the terrain until the Afghans are able to help themselves will require more boots on the ground, more training of police, more civilian aid, more democracy promotion, and a whole bunch more money. No one has yet been

CBC News in Review • May 2009 • Page 29 able to explain how we will prevent the next few billion dollars worth of aid from disappearing into the pockets of corrupt government officials and useless projects, the way the last few billion dollars did.” — Margaret Wente, columnist (The Globe and Mail, April 2, 2009)

“Now is not the time for Canadians to lose our heads over Afghanistan. Mindless panic on the one hand, and bubbling righteous indignation on the other, are bad guides to foreign policy. Yes, the strategic situation has deteriorated, and yes, the proposed Afghan marriage law is regressive. Neither justifies cutting and running. We have a way to go to win this conflict, but we haven’t yet lost it . . . We are not, and never have been, in Afghanistan to establish a full-fledged democracy there . . .” — Clifford Orwin, professor of political science (The Globe and Mail, April 4, 2009)

“Canadians protesting sharia law claim that we are in Afghanistan to protect women’s freedom. But we are forgetting we are there to provide security so that both women and men can live in peace. Our soldiers are not dying to change tribal codes of behaviour or the culture of that country. It is up to the people of Afghanistan to reject laws and practices that are against human rights. Creating conditions that allow women an education is far more important.” — Nelofer Pazira, Canadian journalist and filmmaker (Toronto Star, April 8, 2009)

“The Canadian troops are dying the same way my sister sacrificed herself. They should come out of Afghanistan because all the good people who are trying to do something there are dying away.” — Mawena Maiwand, sister of slain Afghan activist Sitara Achakzai (Toronto Star, April 14, 2009)

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