Auteur(s): David Stout
Date: 22/11/2001
New York Times Nov 22-01 Relief Groups Seek a Peacekeeping Force for Afghanistan By DAVID STOUT WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 - Human rights organizations urged today that an international military force be sent soon to Afghanistan to prevent chaos and bloodshed and ease the way to a post-Taliban government more fair to women. If a stabilizing force under United Nations auspices is not deployed in Afghanistan, there is a high risk that the country will be torn apart by the factional violence that has marked its recent history, the International Rescue Committee and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children said today. The organizations said that an armed force was vital to ensure that aid was distributed without interruption and that the country did not relapse into bloodshed, and to promote the rights of women in whatever new Afghanistan emerged. "Recent events have finally opened the door to a restoration of the rights of Afghan women," Mary Diaz, the executive director of the women's commission, said at a news conference. "It would be a tragic loss if this opportunity were not fully supported by the international community and women were once again forced to hide behind the burka out of fear for their safety." The oppression of women by the Taliban has been well documented. But Darla Silva, a staff attorney for the women's group, said that the Taliban's arch-enemy, the Northern Alliance, "does not have a good record on women's rights either." Ms. Silva said that the women's commission, an advocacy group based in New York City, wanted United States officials and leaders of other governments to pressure the Northern Alliance on women's rights. "Otherwise, there is the risk of systematic oppression," she said. Mark Bartolini of the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit relief organization, said the rapid collapse of the Taliban in the face of the American-led campaign had created both opportunity and danger. There was a chance to make a better Afghanistan, but a danger that the country would be torn by internal rivalries before a stable government could take root, he said. Northern Alliance soldiers entered Kabul last week despite United States requests to stay outside the Afghan capital. On Monday, the alliance agreed to take part in a conference on forming a provisional government that would represent the ethnic groups that make up the alliance, as well as Pashtun groups in the south. Mr. Bartolini said that it might be difficult to construct a fair, representative Afghan government, but it could be done. "The country had a functioning society," he said, recalling the days before the Soviet occupation and the internal fighting that followed the Soviet withdrawal. Ms. Diaz said the rival factions in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan "have a history of rape and abuse against civilians." The collapse of the Taliban had spawned more violence in some regions, she said. "The women's commission urges the international community to install a peacekeeping force in Afghanistan to allow the development of a coalition government that allows the full participation in civil society of all people, regardless of sex or ethnicity," Ms. Diaz said. She said the Northern Alliance groups should be pressured on their policies toward women and their commitment to international laws protecting them. Otherwise, she said, there is the prospect of "duplication of the systematic oppression carried out by the Taliban." "Women and girls are tasting freedom for the first time in many years," she said, "but to be truly free, they need peace."