Letter campaign succeeded in prompting Afghan review of Shia law stripping women of human rights

Dear MOMocrat Readers,

Urge President Karzai to fullfill his promise to revise the draft of Shia Law that would strip Afghan Women and Girls of their Human Rights

The thousands of letters you sent asking Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Afghan Ambassador to the U.S. Said Jawad to review the draft of a Shia family law that would strip Afghan women and girls of their basic human rights have made an impact! Karzai and Jawad have announced that the law will be revised in accordance with the Afghan constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women. Now, make sure Karzai fulfills his pledge.

Last week, hundreds of Afghan women in Kabul publicly protested the law, even though they were outnumbered by counter protesters and were pelted with small stones. We must stand with these courageous women.

Afghan women leaders in Parliament, in the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and in non-profit organizations have continued to fight the proposed law as violation of the Afghan constitution and the basic human rights of women. We must lend our voices in support of our Afghan sisters.

While the Afghan government is revising the law, let President Karzai hear from you and as many people as you can reach. Now that he has pledged to revise the draconian draft law, we need to make sure that revisions to the law fully remove provisions that would restrict women from leaving their homes, working, going to school and obtaining medical care without their husbands' permission. We must also ensure that provisions granting child custody only to men and revoking women's right to refuse sex with their husbands are eliminated.

Join us in ensuring that all provisions that violate human rights are removed from the law or the law is eliminated.

Please send your message to President Karzai while his government is revising this oppressive law to ensure that the basic principals of human rights are maintained.

For Women's Lives,

Eleanor Smeal
President

P.S. And please join our Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls. As the Taliban have gained strength in Afghanistan over 1000 girls' schools have been destroyed. Teachers have been murdered - some right in front of their students. Acid is being thrown on girls' faces on their way to or from school. As the US shifts it attention to Afghanistan, we must do all we can to make sure Afghan women and girls are not forgotten!