Undang-undang baharu Taliban kini beri tekanan kepada wanita

[akudotcom]

Undang-undang baharu Taliban beri tekanan kepada wanita

A view of the sea
WANITA Afghanistan berjalan di pasar Kandahar. FOTO AFP.
Kabul: Pihak berkuasa Taliban semalam memaklumkan undang-undang moral yang diwartakan baru-baru ini akan dikuatkuasakan secara "lembut", selepas masyarakat antarabangsa dan warga Afghanistan menyuarakan

kebimbangan terhadap sekatan baharu itu.

Menurut undang-undang 35 perkara yang diumumkan pada 21 Ogos lalu oleh Kementerian Kehakiman, wanita dikehendaki menutup aurat sepenuhnya dan tidak boleh meninggikan suara di khalayak ramai.

Undang-undang mengenakan tetapan yang meluas daripada tingkah laku kepada pakaian dan interaksi sosial, termasuk peraturan mengenai pakaian lelaki dan panjang janggut, serta larangan homoseksual selain judi lawan haiwan, bermain muzik di tempat awam dan cuti umum bukan Islam.

Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) dan kumpulan hak asasi manusia dan rakyat Afghanistan menyuarakan kebimbangan bahawa undang-undang itu boleh membawa kepada peningkatan penguatkuasaan peraturan mengenai tingkah laku dan gaya hidup, yang kebanyakannya sudah dilaksana secara tidak rasmi sejak Taliban mengambil alih kuasa pada 2021 dan menguatkuasakan undang-undang syariah ketat.

"Saya mesti menjelaskan bahawa kekerasan dan penindasan tidak akan digunakan ketika melaksanakan peraturan ini.

"Ia akan dilaksanakan dengan sangat lembut, memperinci pemahaman orang ramai dan membimbing mereka", kata kata timbalan jurucakap kerajaan Hamdullah Fitrat dalam mesej suara yang dikongsi kepada AFP.

Kesatuan Eropah (EU) terkejut dengan keputusan baharu itu yang disifatkan sekadar melanjutkan sekatan ketat terhadap kehidupan rakyat Afghanistan.

Ketua Polisi Luar Eu, Josep Borrel mendesak Taliban untuk menghentikan penderaan sistematik dan sistemik ke atas wanita dan kanak-kanak, malah memberi amaran yang perundangan itu bersifat penganiayaan jantina, jenayah terhadap kemanusiaan di bawah Statut Rome Mahkamah Jenayah Antarabangsa.

"Keputusan larangan terkini ini satu lagi tamparan serius terhadap hak wanita dan kanak-kanak Afghan yang kita tak boleh bertolak ansur," katanya.

Kerajaan Taliban secara konsisten menolak kritikan antarabangsa terhadap pelaksanaan dasarnya, termasuk sekatan ke atas wanita yang dilabel PBB sebagai 'apartheid jantina' (diskriminasi jantina).

Di bawah undang-undang itu, polis moral di bawah Kementerian Kebajikan dan Pencegahan Maksiat boleh mengenakan hukuman daripada bentuk lisan kepada ancaman, denda dan penahanan untuk pelbagai tempoh.

Sementara itu, Ketua Misi Bantuan PBB di Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva menggelar undang-undang itu sebagai wawasan yang menyedihkan untuk masa depan Afghanistan, di mana pemeriksa moral mempunyai kuasa budi bicara untuk mengancam dan menahan sesiapa sahaja berdasarkan senarai pelanggaran meluas dan samar.

Disiarkan pada: August 27, 2024 @ 12:46pm

 

[akudotcom]

Afghan women arrive in Edinburgh to finish medical degrees denied under Taliban

Three-year campaign by parents of aid worker killed in Afghanistan brings 19 trainee doctors to Scotland

Severin Carrell
Women pushing luggage trolleys
A group of trainee female doctors from Afghanistan have travelled to Edinburgh to complete their medical degrees after the Taliban forced them to quit studying.

The 19 women arrived in the UK on Tuesday after a three-year campaign by the parents of Linda Norgrove, the kidnapped Scottish charity worker who was killed during a botched rescue attempt by US special forces in 2010.

The Linda Norgrove Foundation, set up and run by her parents, John and Lorna, from their home in Uig, in the Western Isles, said the students had in effect been confined to their homes in fear for their lives since the Taliban regained power.

The foundation worked with UK and Scottish government officials to arrange safe passage and student visas for the women. They have been given places at four medical schools after Scottish ministers changed the law to treat them as home students eligible for free tuition.

It said significant effort had gone into negotiating legal and bureaucratic hurdles to bring them to the UK, including organising English language tests and arranging university interviews via Skype.

Lorna Norgrove greets one of the new arrivals
Lorna Norgrove greets one of the new arrivals. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
It then negotiated their travel to Pakistan to apply for UK visas, Pakistani visas, biometrics, student funding, UK bank accounts and student accommodation. All told, it spent about £60,000.

Many of the women were based in Kabul, but others came from remote provinces, including Bamyan, Wardak and Daykundi. They flew to the UK from Islamabad in Pakistan.

In a statement issued by the foundation, one of the students, Omulbanin Sultani, said the Norgroves and their assistant “had saved our lives in every sense of the word” by supporting them over the last three years.

“It fills me with immense pride and joy to stand here today on this beautiful day,” she said. “But let me tell you, being here was not as easy as these words make it seem. We endured a thousand days of suffering to reach this point.”

Another student, Zahra Hussaini, 19, who had completed her first year of medicine when the Taliban regained power, said it was a dream to arrive in the UK. She said she hoped that by the time she qualified, it would be safe to return home.

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Omulbanin Sultani (left) and Zahra Hussaini
Omulbanin Sultani (left) and Zahra Hussaini. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
“Our journey here will be long enough, maybe for eight years, nine years, and I think during this time many alterations and changes will come to Afghanistan,” she said. “I am hopeful that the situation won’t remain the same.”

John Norgrove said it was heartening the UK and Scottish governments had collaborated so closely on the project.

“Finally these 19 incredibly talented young women get their future back with the opportunity of a tremendous education and a career. The alternative for them in Afghanistan wasn’t good,” he said.

Linda Norgrove, then 36, was working for the US charity Development Alternatives Incorporated when she was kidnapped by Islamist militants in Kunar province in September 2010. Her death, apparently caused by a US fragmentation grenade thrown during the rescue attempt, caused consternation in the US and UK, and led to a joint inquiry by both governments.