A
dvocates for children's rights would be fascinated
by the "Amazed
World" project, a collection of 34,000 children's
drawings currently on view at the United Nations'
Visitors' Lobby. This multimedia installation showcases
how children see their plight, their hopes and
dreams. One drawing sent by "Saba," a
10-year-old Afghan refugee, shows a small, helpless
figure in an orange dress and pants. What is this
child thinking? A blue "burqa" drapes
over her upper body so you cannot see the expression
on her face. But there is a clue--the peephole
for her eyes looks like a row of angry teeth. Her
scribbled message across the bottom is blunt: "The
UN has forgotten Afghan girls and women who are
oppressed and helpless."
Like
Saba, the public is generally unaware that the UN's
assistance to Afghanistan went well beyond the organization's
dramatic role in the establishment of an interim government.
The UN did not forget. Long before Afghanistan was
front-page news, debates in the General Assembly, ECOSOC
and the Commissions on the Status of Women and on Human
Rights kept governments updated on the latest developments.
On the ground, UN staff often risked their lives to
provide humanitarian aid such as medical services,
education and food to those in greatest need. If the
Taliban burned their offices, UN workers moved and
returned to work. When the situation worsened, Angela
King, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Gender
Issues and Advancement of Women, led a special Interagency
Gender Mission to Afghanistan, thereby sending a message
to the Taliban that respect for women's and children's
rights must be taken seriously.
The UN is well informed about the status of
Afghan women and girls because its involvement
spans several decades. It has watched the progress
of Afghan women since the creation of the constitution
in l977 and the signing of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women. When possible, the UN also took
political action. The historic Resolution 1325,
passed last year in the Security Council, called
for governments to ensure that women were included
in all phases of peace building from prevention
to negotiations. According to Shafiqa Habibi,
founder of the Association of Feminine Afghan
Women, such international actions helped ensure
a leadership role for women during last year's
Bonn talks.
Afghanistan will be a high-profile test of
the UN's diplomatic skills and development
expertise, but the challenge is daunting. Since
fundamentalists, especially the Taliban, have
ruled the land, women and girls have been tortured,
raped and prohibited from leaving their homes
to go to schools or hospitals. Women were barred
from paid work, including in agriculture and
livestock production. Even when UN agencies
such as Unicef and the UNHCR succeeded in bringing
relief supplies, the Taliban banished women
from food distribution centers, and only males
could come into contact with aid agencies.
The severe deprivation caused by wars and
gender apartheid took an enormous toll. According
to UN estimates, almost 400,000 female-headed
households have no means to feed their families.
Malnutrition among children and deaths due
to infectious diseases are on the rise. The
education of female physicians is at a standstill.
Ironically, since almost 70 percent of the
country's primary-school teachers were women,
even boys' education has suffered.
The collapse of the Taliban doesn't mean an
end to women's problems. While many families
will try to return home from neighboring countries,
they will have to evade local warlords and
travel through hazardous terrain littered with
10 million landmines.
The
UN is qualified to be a leader in rebuilding
Afghanistan
because it has sought political
legitimacy among its citizens. "Good guy" governments
can act like cowboys in the wild frontiers
of foreign lands, gunning down the evildoers
and putting them in jail. But winning over
the local people's confidence and cooperation
is an equally important goal that requires
sensitivity to the local social and cultural
context. A patient and persistent engagement
in a country's problems over a long period
of time--an approach very much in line with
the UN's policies--makes that possible.
By addressing the needs of Afghanistan's vulnerable
groups like women and children when the rest
of the world ignored them, the UN laid the
groundwork for the task ahead. Now member states
must ensure that it has the financial resources
to complete its mission on the ground. The
stakes are high because Afghanistan does not
stand alone. With conflicts to be settled in
Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Eritrea and Ethiopia,
the international body must be stronger than
ever. For the sake of millions of women and
children refugees and displaced persons, it
must prevail.
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