'Afghanistan Passes "Barbaric" Law Diminishing Women's Rights', The Guardian, 14 August 2009
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation which President Hamid Karzai had promised to review. The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and 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,' the US charity Human Rights Watch said. In early April, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown joined an international chorus of condemnation when the Guardian revealed that the earlier version of the law legalised rape within marriage, according to the UN. Although Karzai appeared to back down, activists say the revised version of the law still contains repressive measures and contradicts the Afghan constitution and international treaties signed by the country."
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See also:
'Karzai sells out Afghan women over law-rights group', Reuters India, 14 August 2009
'Rights group questions Afghan women's bill', AFP, 14 August 2009
'Afghanistan: Law curbing women's rights takes effect', Human Rights Watch, 13 August 2009
Related posts:
'Marriage law still oppressive: Activists', 15 July 2009
'Afghanistan tones down contentious marriage law', 9 July 2009
'Karzai vows to change controversial law', 28 April 2009
'Afghan women protest new restrictive law', 15 April 2009
'New law detrimental to women's rights', 31 March 2009
