'Worse than the Taliban' - new law rolls back rights for Afghan women

Jon Boone in Kabul
The Guardian, Tuesday 31 March 2009

Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission.

The Afghan president signed the law earlier this month, despite condemnation by human rights activists and some MPs that it flouts the constitution's equal rights provisions.

The final document has not been published, but the law is believed to contain articles that rule women cannot leave the house without their husbands' permission, that they can only seek work, education or visit the doctor with their husbands' permission, and that they cannot refuse their husband sex.

A briefing document prepared by the United Nations Development Fund for Women also warns that the law grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers only.

Senator Humaira Namati, a member of the upper house of the Afghan parliament, said the law was "worse than during the Taliban". "Anyone who spoke out was accused of being against Islam," she said.
Given the extent to which improving women's right was used in the West as a selling point for the mission—not to mention the appalling nature of the law itself—it is hardly surprising that reaction among donor/contributor countries has been substantial:

New Afghan law worries Nato chief

BBC news, 3 April 2009

The law has been described as "oppressive" for women
Nato's head says it could be difficult to persuade European countries to contribute more troops to Afghanistan because of controversial new laws.

Women and democracy

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, APRIL 3, 2009

The Afghan government's misogynistic new law will force Canada to answer an inconvenient question: Was the liberation of Afghan women ever more than a pretext for our mission there?

In other words, should this new law be a dealbreaker for Canada's support for President Hamid Karzai? Why should Canadian soldiers die for a government that persecutes women?

In fact, the new law is reason for Canada to redouble its efforts to put pressure on the Karzai government and support women's rights in Afghanistan.
Oh, and a reminder of Taliban support for gender equality.