> Please spare a minute to read this mail. Thank you.
> >
> >The government of Afghanistan is waging a war upon women. The situation
> is
> >getting so bad that one person in an editorial of the Times compared
> the
> >treatment of women there to the treatment of Jews in pre Holocaust
> Poland.
> Since
> >the Taliban took power in 1996, women have had to wear burqua and have
> >been beaten and stoned in public for not having the proper attire, even
> if
> >this means simply not having the mesh covering in front of their
> >eyes.
> >
> >One woman was beaten to DEATH by an angry mob of fundamentalists for
> >accidentally exposing her arm while she was driving. Another was
> >stoned to death for trying to leave the country with a man that was not
> a
> >relative. Women are not allowed to work or even go out in public
> >without a male relative; professional women such as
> >professors,translators,doctors, lawyers, artists and writers have
> >been forced from their jobs and stuffed into their homes, so that
> >depression is becoming so widespread that it has reached emergency
> levels.
> >
> There is no way in such an extreme Islamic society to know the suicide
> rate
> >with certainty, but relief workers are estimating that the suicide rate
>
> >among women, who cannot find proper medication and treatment for
> severe
> >depression and would rather take their lives than live in such
> >conditions,has increased significantly. Homes where a woman is
> >present must have their windows painted so that she can never be seen
> by
> >outsiders. They must wear silent shoes so that they are never heard.
> Women live in fear of their lives for the slightest misbehavior. Because
>
> they
> >cannot work, those without male relatives or husbands are either
> starving
> to death or begging on the street, even if they hold Ph.D.'s.
> >
> >There are almost no medical facilities available for women, and relief
> >workers have mostly left the country. At one of the rare hospitals for
> >women,a reporter found still, nearly lifeless bodies lying motionless
> on
> top of beds, wrapped in their burqua, unwilling to speak, eat, or do
> >anything, but slowly wasting away. Others have gone mad and were seen
> >crouched in corners,rocking or crying, most of them in fear. One
> doctor is
> >considering, when what little medication that is left finally runs
> >out, leaving these women in front of the president's residence as a
> form
> >of peaceful protest.
> >
> >It is at the point where the term 'human rights violations' has become
> an
> understatement. Husbands have the power of life and death over their
> women relatives, especially their wives, but an angry mob has just as
> much
> right to stone or beat a woman, often to death, for exposing an inch of
> flesh
> or offending them in the slightest way. David Cornwell has said that
> those
> in the West should not judge the Afghan people for such treatment
> because
> it is a 'cultural thing', but this is not even true. Women enjoyed
> relative
> freedom, to
> work, dress generally as they wanted, and drive and appear in public
> alone
> >until only 1996 -- the rapidity of this transition is the main reason
> >for the depression and suicide; women who were once educators or
> >doctors or simply used to basic human freedoms are now severely
> restricted
> >and treated as sub-human in the name of right-wing fundamentalist
> Islam.
> >It is not their tradition or 'culture',but is alien to them, and it is
> >extreme even for those cultures where fundamentalism is the rule.
> >
> >Besides, if we could excuse everything on cultural grounds, then we
> >should not be appalled that the Carthaginians sacrificed their infant
> >children, that little girls are circumcised in parts of Africa, that
> >blacks in the US deep south in the 1930's were lynched,prohibited
> >from voting, and forced to submit to unjust Jim Crow laws. Everyone
> has a
> >right to a tolerable human existence, even if they are women in a
> >Muslim country in a part of the world that Westerners may not
> understand.
> If we can threaten military force in Kosovo in the name of human rights
> for
> >the sake of ethnic Albanians, then NATO and the West can certainly
> express
> peaceful outrage at the oppression,murder and injustice committed
> against
> women by the Taliban.
> >
> >
> > *************
> >
> >STATEMENT: In signing this, we agree that the current treatment of
> >women in Afghanistan is completely UNACCEPTABLE and deserves support
> and
> >action by the people of the United Nations and that the current
> >situation in Afghanistan will not be tolerated. Women's Rights is not
> >a small issue anywhere and it is UNACCEPTABLE for women in 1999 to be
> >treated as sub-human and as so much as property. Equality and human
> >decency is a RIGHT not a freedom, whether one lives in Afghanistan or
> >anywhere else.
> >
> > *****
> >1) Shahana S Ahmed, Nairobi, Kenya
> >2) Tashmin Khamis, Karachi, Pakistan.
> >3) Frank Haupt, Bern, Switzerland
> >4) Adrian Coad, Strasbourg, France
> >5) Brian Skinner, Loughborough, England
> >6) Paul Chung, Loughborough, England
> >7) Bryan Knell, Woodhouse Eaves, England
> >8) Liz Jackman, Gloucester, England
> >9) Rangeli Sagell, Windhoek, Namibia
> >10) John Risbridger, Reading, England
> >11) Rebecca Thornton, Southampton, England
> >12)Vicky Tyrrell. Leigh, Lancashire.England.
> >13) Elizabeth Dunn. Skelton, Cleveland. England.
> >14)Norma Reed, Newark, Notts, England
> >15)Barbara Martin, Southwell, Notts, England.
> >16)Michael Martin, Southwell, Notts, England.
> >17)Gillian Brodie, Tauranga, New Zealand.
> >18)Jill Wassenaar, Tauranga, New Zealand.
> >19)Garry Ingram. Tauranga, New Zealand.
> >20)Sarah Bland, Auckland,New Zealand
> >21)Kirsten Bland, Auckland New Zealand
> >22)John M.Denne, Auckland, New Zealand
> >23)Robert Cobb, Auckland,New Zealand
> >24)Kim Stirling, Auckland, New Zealand
> >25) Kerri Lowe, Auckland New Zealand
> >26) Gillian Luke, Auckland, New Zealand
> >27)Kate Maltby, Auckland, New Zealand
> >28)Amanda Peel, Auckland, New Zealand
> >29)Logan Bairstow , Auckland , New Zealand
> >30) James Crompton, Auckland, New Zealand
> >31) Simon Laurent, Auckland, New Zealand
> >32) Jane Caldwell, Sydney, Australia
> >33) Bronwyn McEntee, Hong Kong
> >34) Roberta Fairbairn, San Francisco, USA
> >35) Victoria Hansen, Sydney, Australia
> 36) Dennis Gearon, Klamath Falls, OR, USA
> 37) Ioannidis Haris,Athens Greece
> >Please sign to support,and include your town and country. Then copy
> >and e-mail to as many people as possible. If you receive this list with
>
> >more than 50 names on it, please e-mail a copy of it to:
> >Mary Robinson,
> >High Commissioner,
> >UNHCHR,
> >
RemoveMEwebadmin.hchrTakeThisOuT
spamun.org <
EraseMEwebadmin.hchrspamspamBeGoneun.org> <
> >
RemoveMEwebadmin.hchrKILLspamun.org <
webadmin.hchrSTOPspamspam_OUTun.org> >
> >and to:
> >Angela King,
> >Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women,
> >UN,
> >
spamBeGonedawSTOPspamEraseMEundp.org <
KILLspamdawspamBeGoneundp.org> <
EraseMEdawEraseMEundp.org
> ><
@spam@daw@spam@spam_OUTundp.org> >
> >
> >Even if you decide not to sign, please be considerate and do not kill
> >the petition. Thank you.
> >
> >It is best to copy rather than forward the petition.
>
>
> --
> ________________________________________________________________
> Real friends are those who, when you feel you've made a fool of
> yourself, don't feel you've done a permanent job.
> ________________________________________________________________
> Dennis K. Gearon (Kegley)
> Scientific Instrument Technician, School of EIT
> Oregon Institute of Technology - One of USA's 100 Best College Buys
> 3201 Campus Drive
> Klamath Falls, OR 97601
> Voice 1-541-885-1563
> FAX 1-541-885-1689
> email
spamBeGonegearondKILLspamoit.edu
> ________________________________________________________________
