Greens Demand Invitation of Afghan Women to Bonn Talks on the Future of Afghanistan


Outraged at the exclusion of the Revolutionary Association of the Women
of Afghanistan, Greens call democracy impossible without representation of
women.

U.S. Green Party officers travel to Europe for meetings with Green
members of European parliaments and other Green officials and the European
Federation of Green Parties


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Activists and organizers of the Green Party of the
United States are demanding that women be represented in international
talks on the future of Afghanistan beginning this week in Bonn, Germany.
Party members were angered to learn that the Revolutionary Association of
the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), which has worked to end the suppression of
women's rights and abuse of women in Afghanistan by both the Taliban and
the Northern Alliance, was not invited to join U.S. officials, United
Nations representatives, and five Afghan groups in the talks.

"This shows how women have been continually marginalized in the peace
process," said Annie Goeke, chair of the International Committee and a
Pennsylvania Green. "It is imperative that RAWA takes part in this meeting
as they clearly represent one of the most significant voices of the Afghan
society."

"These women have proved to the whole world their right through all the
work and risks they have done in their struggle to bring democracy,
freedom, human rights and women's rights to the Afghan society. They have
been able to develop a network of human and political relationships with
the Western world. And they have an
important role in creating the hope in the future Afghanistan by knowing
how to manage to spread the knowledge of health and education among the
women."

RAWA has issued an urgent request for international action to secure an
invitation to the meeting which may otherwise place control of Afghanistan
into the hands of two alleged Afghan war criminals, Burhanuddin Rabbani and
General Dostrum of the Northern Alliance. Not a single woman was invited to
join 1,200 representatives of various Afghan ethnicities, religious groups,
and political factions at a peace and unity conference in Peshawar last
month.

Resolution 1325, which calls for the involvement of women in all of the
implementation mechanisms of conflict resolution, was unanimously adopted
by the U.N. Security Council last year.

The current exclusion of Afghan women bodes ill for the future of women
and women's rights in post-war Afghanistan, regardless of the outcome of
the Bonn talks, and calls into question President Bush's respect for
women's rights in the U.S. Greens call upon the Bush Administration to
ensure that any new governmen in Afghanistan provide equal rights to women,
including direct representation of women's groups.

"The Bush administration must end the terrorism inflicted upon women in
Afghanistan and elsewhereon a daily basis," said Mark Dunlea, Vice-Chair of
the Green Party of New York State. "The U.S. should not provide financial
or political support to any country that does not guarantee full rights to
women. It is very troublesome that the Northern Alliance, with its long
history of abusing and oppressing women, has been given such a dominant
political role as the result of America's military intervention."

"RAWA has struggled for freedom of Afghanistan and they belong to the
civil Afghan society, and therefore have the right to represent their
country and their gender," added Annie Goeke.

Ms. Goeke and two other officers of the Green Party of the United States
are currently in Europe for meetings with international Green
organizations. Dean Myerson, the party's Political Coordinator, is in Paris
to meet with Les Verts, the French Green Party; Steering Committee member
Tom Sevigny is going to Budapest for a meeting of the Council of the
European Federation of
Green Parties.

Myerson, Sevigny, and Goeke will also attend two days of meetings,
beginning Tuesday, November 27, in Brussels with Green members of European
parliaments and other Green officials. International action in support of
peace and democracy in Afghanistan will be among the major topics at these
meetings.


MORE INFORMATION

The Green Party of the United States
http://gpus.org

Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan http://www.rawa.org

European Federation of Green Parties
http://www.europeangreens.org