Letter to His Excellency Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan - Progressing Women's Rights

Letter

Dear President Ghani:

We write to welcome you on the occasion of your first official visit to the United States as President of Afghanistan. As you work to address the many challenges facing Afghanistan, we ask that you build on the progress that has been made on women's rights by ensuring that the protection and participation of women are a priority for your administration.

Over the past decade, Afghanistan has made important progress on women and girls' leadership and security. Millions of girls are attending school, women are being elected to public office, and many more have joined the civil service and the Afghan National Army and Police. In addition, the enactment in 2009 of the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) was a groundbreaking achievement.

Last year's presidential and provincial elections were also a historic milestone for women in Afghanistan. Three of the vice presidential candidates were women and more than 300 women ran for provincial council seats. Moreover, approximately 2.4 million women voted in the election--the highest turnout in the history of Afghanistan.

We appreciate the commitments you have made to improve the status of women in Afghanistan, and we believe that with your leadership Afghanistan can continue to build on this progress.

Unfortunately, the women of Afghanistan still endure significant barriers to their full participation in public life. Women remain largely excluded from senior-level decision-making positions and quotas for women's seats on provincial councils were reduced to just 20 percent in 2013. Additionally, women continue to be excluded from participation in reconciliation negotiations, preventing their critical perspectives from being represented. Since 2005 there have been 23 known peace talks that have occurred between the Taliban, the Afghan government, and the international community. During all of these talks, Afghan women have not been meaningfully included. We respectfully urge your administration to ensure women's full inclusion in all political, peace, and security processes by protecting existing political quotas and ensuring women are included in any future peace negotiations.

As women increasingly come forward to demand justice for crimes committed against them, judicial and security institutions have not been consistent sources of support. This is particularly evidenced by very few prosecutions based on the EVAW law. For this reason, we ask your administration to ensure its full implementation, specifically by building technical capacity and showing political support for local lawmakers to prosecute crimes against women using the law.

As you know, Afghanistan's National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace, and Security is a policy tool to effectively address these key concerns regarding women's meaningful participation and protection. We were pleased to hear that the Afghan NAP has been finalized, and we urge you to take immediate action to move forward its implementation.

The future of Afghanistan is inextricably linked to the future of Afghan women. Protecting women's security and ensuring their full and meaningful participation in all areas of public life is critical to strengthening communities, reducing poverty, and promoting peace and stability.

We stand ready to work with you on this and other issues of mutual interest.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Patrick J. Leahy
United States Senator

Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senator

Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

Robert P. Casey, Jr.
United State Senator

Marco Rubio
United States Senator

Kelly Ayotte
United States Senator

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