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Amended Afghanistan personal status law still restricts women's rights: HRW

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Afghanistan's amended Shi'ite personal status law, which entered into force July 27, still violates women's rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday. The Afghan government announced last month that the law had been revised to remove a provision requiring a wife to submit to sex with her husband after intense international criticism. HRW reports, however, that many of the law's provisions still restrict women's rights: many regressive articles remain, which strip away women's rights that are enshrined in Afghanistan's constitution. The law gives a husband the right to withdraw basic maintenance from his wife, including food, if she refuses to obey his sexual demands. It grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers. It requires women to get permission from their husbands to work. It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying "blood money" to a girl who was injured when he raped her.HRW urged the Afghan parliament to overturn the law immediately.The Afghan law, which only applies to the country's Shi'a population, elicited strong reactions from outside and within the country. In April, Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged to amend the original law to align it with international human rights standards, reportedly claiming to have not realized its effects due to the law's length and theological language. Karzai submitted the law to the Ministry of Justice for review after suspending it and promising revisions. Key Shi'ite cleric Mohammad Asif Mohsseni defended the law, chastising Western critics for interfering with Afghan democracy. Following Mohsseni's endorsement and prior to Karzai's promise to revise the law, Afghan women protesters were attacked by conservative Muslims while staging demonstrations and had to be rescued by police forces. US President Barack Obama called the law "abhorrent," saying that respect for women and their freedom is an important principle that all nations should uphold. Karzai's decision to sign the law was one of several actions that Karzai has been criticized for since his appointment as Afghanistan's interim president in 2002.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on August 14, 2009 (boomark / email).