Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-15-Speech-3-019"
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"en.20030115.1.3-019"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, for once I have the advantage of not talking about abstract matters but basing what I have to say on a trip that several of us made. Together with some Socialist members of the European Parliament, I went to Afghanistan in November. I want to say, Commissioner, that the welcome we received from the European Commission representatives on the spot and the work they are doing there can only increase the pride that you feel for all those members of the European Commission that we met, who helped us to visit the area and meet the political leaders there. That is the first thing I wanted to say because the European Commission is doing outstanding work out there.
I remember Bonn just over a year ago. I also remember the priority that the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities gave to the necessity of putting across the importance of women’s involvement in the process of organising power. I also remember that in the European Parliament we produced a report on the role of women in armed conflicts, both as victims and as players. I would like to speak about both at the same time. We can speak of both at the same time today given what the Afghan population is expecting of Europe. That is also something I want to stress: we have a responsibility to the Afghan people, who are expecting a lot from us.
Coming back to the position of women, this is a very complex problem, but at the same time what is clear is the need to be precise. In a few weeks’ time there will be an Afghan constitution. A committee was set up in November to draft one and the nine people on that committee include two women. But what exactly do we mean when we speak of the place of Afghan women in the constitution? We hear talk of a return to the 1964 constitution. I have had a look at the 1964 constitution: it is extremely vague about human rights in general and women’s rights in particular. They are saying the same thing in Afghanistan. It is all very vague.
We know that no legal text, no constitution since the Second World War, fails to make specific mention of women’s rights. It therefore seems to me to be important, as you said, Commissioner, that we should ensure the Afghan constitution mentions women. In my opinion, based on the talks we had on the ground, that is not a certainty. But it is something we must press for.
That is why I am stressing this point so strongly, as I did at my various meetings in the country. Women’s rights are revealing. They are revealing not only in times of conflict, they are also revealing in terms of the state of a society as a whole. Remember what Fourrier used to say, that freedom for women was a measure of social change."@en1
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