Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Afghanistan (Ratification: 1969)

1. The Committee notes with regret that no report has been received from the Government. It must therefore refer to its previous observation in which it noted with deep concern the communication of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) dated 4 August 1997, alleging violations of the Convention by the Taliban authorities. The ICFTU comments included two reports by Amnesty International (AI) on grave abuses of human rights of women in Afghanistan (November 1996 and June 1997). The Committee had noted that, according to the ICFTU communication and the attached reports, the Taliban armed militia has restricted women to their homes and has banned them from going to work; that girls and women have been banned from going to school and attending institutions of higher education; and that in several instances, women defying these orders have been beaten in public by Taliban guards using long chains. The Committee also noted that the prohibition by the Taliban authorities barring women staff from participating in ongoing programmes outside the health sector had severely curtailed the humanitarian activities of the United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations. The above-mentioned communications indicated that, according to UNICEF estimates, 700,000 women have been widowed after nearly 20 years of war in Afghanistan and that most of these women are now not permitted to work to support themselves and their families, although some exceptions have been made. The women who have been given permission to work are said not to be secure in the areas controlled by the Taliban and some have been beaten and humiliated in public. The Committee had noted that the above-mentioned communications indicated a lack of respect for the obligation to apply to girls and women the fundamental human rights covered by the Convention. The Committee was also conscious that measures of the type described have imposed considerable hardship on the families of the women concerned, as well as on those who benefit in various ways from the activities undertaken by women.

2. The Committee notes with grave concern the information contained in the Report of the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (A/52/493 of 16 October 1997) and the latest Report of the Secretary- General (E/CN.4/1998/71 of 12 March 1998) on the current human rights situation in Afghanistan. The Committee notes not only that the widespread discrimination imposing harsh conditions upon women and girls remains one of the most preoccupying aspects of the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, but that the situation dramatically deteriorated throughout 1997 and 1998. Both reports confirm the details of the above-referenced communications and indicate that women continue to be denied the right to paid employment outside the home (except within the health sector), to freedom of association and to choice in matters pertaining to personal dress and transportation.

3. The Committee has also taken notice of the following texts of regulations issued by the Department for the Preservation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of Afghanistan restricting women's employment:

(i) A Declaration issued in December 1996, which is accorded the status of a legal document, provides that Afghan women are not to apply for any job in foreign agencies and are not to go to those agencies. The Declaration states that "..., if (women) are chased, threatened and investigated by (the Department), the responsibility will be on them".

(ii) Two sets of Regulations, both dated 16 July 1997: one for all international and national agencies, and one for hospitals and clinics. These Regulations set forth, inter alia, the following restrictions on women's employment: (a) women are not allowed to be employed in governmental departments or international agencies and women should not leave their residences; (b) assistance to widows and needy women is to be provided through their male blood relatives without the employment of females; (c) women are allowed to work only in the health sector, at hospitals and clinics; (d) Afghan women cannot be appointed as senior female staff in foreign-owned hospitals; (e) wherever women are employed they should preserve their dignity, walk calmly and avoid creating noise by their footsteps; (f) no Afghan woman is allowed to travel in a vehicle with foreigners; (g) women are allowed to work in vocational sectors such as embroidery, weaving, etc., in which case they do not leave their houses; the Department should be informed beforehand through their blood relatives; and (h) if international agencies or Afghan non-governmental organizations decide to employ or assist women, they should first obtain permission from the Department.

4. The above-referenced Regulations issued by the Taliban authorities constitute a further confirmation of the explicit policy of discrimination against women and girls in education and employment. The Committee notes that UN estimates indicate that as many as 150,000 women in Kabul have been barred from paid employment, including about 30,000 war widows who are the sole income earners for their families. It is believed that only 20 per cent of the female workforce formerly employed in the health sector is currently working in that sector. When Kabul's university opened in 1997, only male students were allowed. More than 100,000 girl students in Kabul are barred from obtaining an education and women teachers, who formerly constituted over 70 per cent of the teaching staff, are obliged to remain home. The Committee notes from the Report of the Special Rapporteur that restrictions have also been placed on women's employment in the northern part of the country which is controlled by the United Islamic Salvation Front. Moreover, male education has suffered significantly since the banning of female employment and education by the Taliban authorities in areas that are under Taliban control, and even the delivery of humanitarian assistance has been seriously obstructed. The Committee urges the Government to provide detailed information on all of the measures being taken to remove the restrictions and prohibitions on females in education and employment.

5. The Committee takes due note of a UN communication including the decision of the Kabul Caretaker Shura of 28 April 1998 that "in connection with the work of female professionals in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a commission composed of the Minister of Mines and Industries, the Minister of Public Health and the Deputy Minister of Central Statistics (...) should fully seek legal advice in resuming (employment of) female professionals". The decision further states that, in the event of positive advice (permitting employment) "all ministries, offices, and foreign organizations should take the necessary action to assign female professionals through the Ministries of Mines and Industries". The Committee hopes that the decision cited above may signal a change in the restrictive policy on women's employment; it requests the Government to indicate whether any female professionals have been hired or rehired pursuant to this decision, and to provide general information on the extent to which this decision has been applied in practice.

6. Discrimination on the ground of political opinion. The Committee notes with concern that, according to the 1998 Report of the UN Secretary-General, former members of the Communist Party have suffered discrimination in employment. The report states that, in 1997, "some 70 professors and lecturers from Kabul University and the Polytechnic Institute had been fired recently by the Taliban authorities on account of alleged association with the previous communist authorities". Further, according to the report, these measures have also negatively affected 48 employees of the Taliban Ministry of Public Health and 122 military prosecutors. The Committee hopes the next report will contain full information on all measures taken to ensure non-discrimination in employment and occupation on the basis of political opinion.

7. The Committee notes again with deep concern that no response has been received to its 1996 and 1997 observations, including the communication transmitted by the ICFTU, which requested detailed information. Therefore, the Committee urges that full information be provided in the next report on all points covered in its comments. The Committee feels compelled to point out that the above-described developments in the country constitute not only a violation of the Convention but also a serious violation of basic human rights that should be guaranteed to all women as well as men.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 87th Session.]