World, unity govt committed to Afghan women’s rights: Lyons

KABUL (Pajhwok): Canadian ambassador to Kabul on Tuesday said the international community and the Afghanistan unity government were committed to taking solid actions for improvement of women’s rights and living conditions.

Speaking at a reception series titled “The Year Ahead” here, Deborah Lyons said that the national unity government during its one year had confirmed four women ministers and two governors, breaking the rusty old ideas that only men were capable of leadership.

“Let’s all remember that the NUG, Afghan and international partners are committed to nine solid actions that target women and girls through the Self-Reliance Mutual Accountability Framework (SMAF),” she added.

Set out at the Tokyo Conference in 2012, the SMAF short-term deliverables by 2016 include national action plan for women’s peace and security implementation, an anti-harassment regulation for improving working environment for women in the public sector and establishing dedicated units for prosecution of violence against women.

The SMAF long-term deliverables include demonstrated developments in the legal and policy framework for empowering women, increased women’s participation in government, implementation of national action plan for women’s peace and security, preparation and implementation of anti-harassment regulation and implementation of recommendations of the reports on the enforcement of the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) Law.

The Canadian ambassador said the reception series, in the coming year will focus on a new theme – celebrating the “Power of Afghan Women” at home, in their communities, in government, in parliament, in security forces, medicine, education and peace process.

The event was also attended by First Lady Rula Ghani, Matt Anderson, Australian ambassador to Afghanistan, Feroza Mushtari, director of Afghanistan Midwifery Association and Najia Nasim, country director of Women for Afghan Women (WAW) where they delivered remarks. The event was hosted by the Australian embassy in Kabul in collaboration with the Canadian embassy.

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