TA NEA

The “blue ghosts” remain in Afghanistan
By Aristotelia Peloni.	11. 11. 2002

The interim government has arrived, but the “blue ghosts” remain. Little has changed for women in Afghanistan after the war, which was declared to have been fought for the… burqa.

Most women still wear the burqa, as they face threats to their lives. “Only a small number of women, who are educated and form the elite, wear the hijab and not the burqa,” says Mrs. Anna Karamanou, President of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee of the European Parliament, who was there last week as the head of a European mission and observed with disappointment that almost nothing has changed.

Schools have reopened for women, but few dare to attend: “Women’s schools are being attacked, many have been burned, and women who go to school receive threats to their lives,” she explains.

Forced marriages continue: girls as young as 12 or 15 are sold as wives to overage men, who pay their families. “Anyone who dares to oppose is thrown into prison. There are currently 15 such women in Kabul prisons,” explains the PASOK MEP. Women’s lives have no value and honor crimes ensure complete impunity for the perpetrators. The mission of the European Parliament proposes the establishment of a European Fund for the women of Afghanistan, a proposal that Mrs. Karamanou will make in view of the Greek presidency.

ΤΑ ΝΕΑ , 11-11-2002 , P.: N61
Article code: A17487N613