Where Are the Afghan Women?

Declaration: Where Are the Afghan Women?

Afghan Women are concerned of their present status in the current political process in the country!

Kabul, Afghanistan - 23 July 2014 - The continuation of controversies and disputes over the second round of the Presidential Elections process in Afghanistan and news and analysis being published the opinions raised, in one hand has harmed the democratic elections process as well as it has increased many serious concerns among citizens of Afghanistan, especially women, regarding political games and decisions behind closed doors.
Afghan Women’s Network, its 117 member organizations and more than 3000 individual members has had visible contribution and accomplishments in awareness, mobilization and political participation of women during the last three election terms, Loya Jirga’s, Consultation Jirga’s. Looking into recent disagreements and conflicts over the 2014 Presidential Elections, AWN would like to emphasize on protecting the decades gains of women’s role in development and their political participation. Afghan Women’s Network (AWN) declares its position on the latest controversies in Elections as following:

* Afghan Women’s Network calls on the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Independent Election Complaint Commission (IECC) as legitimate authority institutions for conducting the elections process; to proceed the development within the legal frameworks in order to prove a fair, transparent, just and accountable process.

* Afghan women call on both candidates to avoid derailing the democratic process, wait for the final results announcement by IEC and prevent any pre-­‐judgmental statements and political bargaining before the final results.

* We call upon both candidates to respect the votes of Afghan citizens, specifically women, and not to forget women’s role and position throughout the entire political consensus and opinions.

* Afghan Women's Network and its members has been performing tirelessly in order to mobilize and encourage women to vote, which was very clearly observed during both rounds of the election, thus we urge both candidates not to disregard women’s contribution and waste their motive.

* We appreciate the role of media in both rounds of elections; meanwhile, there has been a serious observation about the negative role of certain media channels and outlets that has resulted in discrimination and social disorders.

* We urge for the commitment of all the aspects of public rule and democracy, any deal, which will be against the Afghan Constitution and other national laws shall not be acceptable.

* We very seriously call upon thegovernment, both candidates and all the politicians to respect and keep women’s constitutional rights and keep committed to the implementation.

* We have witnessed a complete disappearance of women from the political discussions that were facilitated by the international community particularly the United States and UNAMA. These discussions were extremely important on how the new Afghan government will set up. It has been once again men led.

* While Afghan women are half of the country’s population where they have equal rights and contribution to the development of the society. Despite huge uncertainty and lack of trust we call on both candidates and the national and international mediators for not forgetting women’s role in all the political, social, cultural and economic spheres.

* We call on all relevant authorities to strongly follow laws, commit to rule of law and democratic process.

* We strongly will stand against any fraud, discrimination and disrespect to law implementation.

WUNRN

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