PLEASE STATE THE LAW AND STANDARD OF REVIEW APPLIED
FACTS
In October 2000, Meena Gardizi was forced to flee her home in Kabul, Afghanistan because of death threats and persecution from by the Taliban. These threats were made not only to her, but also to her brother and sister-in-law because of Ms. Gardizi. Ms. Gardizi left behind her beloved brother, the only biological family she had left, and his wife in attempts to distance herself from them for their own safety. As a young woman, Ms. Gardizi could not and can not protect herself from the Taliban and their zealots. The government cannot keep her safe. Ms. Gardizi seeks asylum in the United States so that she will not be forced to return to her country, where the Taliban will almost certainly find and murder her.
Ms. Gardizi has always had a passion for education. When she was younger, she was attending a university, studying language. She was still attending university in 1996 when war broke out and the Taliban invaded the city and took over. They spread their cultural "beliefs", forcing them onto the people in Kabul as well as other areas. Any resistance was met swiftly and violently. The Taliban shut schools down, leaving Meena unable to continue her education.
The Taliban regime was infamous for its treatment of women. Windows had to be painted black so men could not look into the windows of houses and see the women inside. Women were unable to work. Under Taliban rule, women were not allowed to be educated, unable to go to school or university. 9 out of 10 Afghan women are illiterate. Unfortunately, Meena was unwillingly cast into the role of teacher to young girls who wanted to learn how to read. Because she had been to university, girls flocked to...
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6. RESPONDENT DESERVES TO BE GRANTED ASYLUM BASED ON HUMANITARIAN GROUNDS
CONCLUSION AND PRAYER
Ms. Gardizi has suffered persecution on account of not only being a woman, but also for her membership in the social group as an educated woman and for trying to teach other young girls the fundamentals of reading and writing. She bravely refused to let the Taliban keep women in the stone age. For this, the Taliban subjected her to an escalating campaign of violence. She has lost her entire family. Her brother Amir was killed in a Taliban prison camp. Ms. Gardizi will suffer future persecution, and most certainly death if and when the Taliban finds her. The Taliban has spies everywhere. The Afghanistan government is unable to protect her. For the reasons stated above, we pray that this court grants Ms. Meena Gardizi asylum in the United States.
In the article titled “Pashtana’s Lesson” by Beth Murphy, she records the story of a 15 year-old Afghani girl who has a fiery passion for acquiring knowledge and pursuing education, but old traditions oppress her devotion to study. Pashtana is in the 7th grade at an all girls school which has been rejected by the elders in their community, asked to be torn down, or turned into an all boys school. Her mother strongly enforces studies on her children because she never went to school herself and she doesn’t want her children to end up blind to things in the world like her. In order to support her mother and three younger siblings financially, Pashtana is being forced by her uncle and father to marry her first cousin which is not uncommon, the
Unfortunately, the Taliban isn’t the only group that does this and it is a big problem in the world. But, every year Malala chooses a place where human rights are being denied to travel there to help fight for their rights to make our world a better place. Something the Taliban and others can learn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is that everyone is free and equal, no matter whom you are, it shows that what they are doing is very wrong and something needs to change. They can learn that they aren’t in charge of other’s opinions, thoughts, education, or other
In 1997, the Taliban made a law banning girls from ages 8 and up from going to school and forced all girl’s learning facilities to be shut down, according to Explora. Some girls still tried to go to school regardless of the Taliban and one of those girls is Malala Yousafzai. Her family did not hide their feelings toward the ban of girls in school to the public, when Malala was twelve she began blogging for the British Broadcasting Corporation about what life was like under the Taliban rule anonymously, and she also campaigned publicly for girls education rights, this enraged the Taliban. As a result, On October 9, 2012 when Malala was riding home from school, her bus was stopped by 2 Taliban members and they fired 3 shots at Malala, thankfully none of them killed her but she was seriously injured by this, as declared by NobelPrize.com. Furthermore, this is not the only harsh rule of the Taliban to women. Women were forced to wear a head-to-toe covering known as a burka, they were not allowed to leave the house without a male, and they made it a rule to publicly stone women who were convicted of adultery, as stated in The Other Side of the Sky, by Farah Ahmedi. Arguably, you can see their was a definite bias in sexes in the Taliban that is very unfair to women
One of the main controversies in this book is the plight of women and men’s struggles. Although both experienced different kinds of inequalities, women were the target of the Taliban. In 1978, women in Kabul were demanding their rights during the Afghan Women’s Year. The president who was in charge then was president Daoud, and he decreed, “The Afghan woman has the same right as the Afghan man to exercise personal freedom, choose a career, and fins a partner in marriage” (53). This decree was absolutely invalid when the Taliban expelled a humanitarian organization that was run by women, and because of that, the Taliban took over Kabul. Women were not allowed to work outside of home. Because of that, Latifa mentions that women in Kabul usually just bake bread, do embroidery,
In Afghanistan, education is not easily attainable especially as a woman. “For girls in much of the country, education remains a dream no more attainable now than it was under the Taliban. If women are educated, that means their children will be too. If the people of the world want to solve the hard problems in Afghanistan--kidnapping, beheadings, crime and even al-Qaeda--they should invest in education”(Baker).This quote explains the struggles that young afghanistan children have to go through by not getting the opportunities that American children get every day. Even after Afghanistan was under the Taliban, it was still rare for children to attend school which is a horrible reality. Education is explained as one Afghanistan's worst problems of this time. Future generations are in trouble if this problem is not fixed. The tragedy that these children are facing needs to evolve towards a better system. Afghanistan’s current educational structure is unacceptable to the growth of children. “It's hard to overstate the amount of work to be done. The literacy rate in the country has dropped below 40 percent for men, and it is believed to be as low as 4 percent for women” (Whitelaw). Though there is clearly a lot of work to be done in the education systems, it is crucial to the well-being of many children that the systems improve to inspire kids that education along with hard work and dedication is essential to future success. This is only one
Brown, A. Widney., and LaShawn R. Jefferson. "VI. ILLUSTRATIVE CASES." Afghanistan, Humanity Denied: Systematic Denial of Women's Rights in Afghanistan. New York, NY.: Human Rights Watch, 2001. 16+. Print
Since the tragedies of September 11th 2001, Americans have really opened their eyes to the political state of Afghanistan. The poor treatment of women in Afghanistan is an issue that, for many Americans, just seems to be coming to light as a serious concern that requires outside attention. Extreme Islamic leaders in the country persist in limiting the freedom that Afghan women have. Women in the Taliban-controlled country suffer unusually hideous acts of torment and are forced to abide by outrageous regulations because of stringent enforcement methods. Afghan women daily live lives restricted by Taliban law and risk having to endure cruel punishment and torture, yet Afghan political leaders continue to justify the their treatment of Afghan women.
The Taliban closed the women 's university and forced nearly all women to quit their jobs, closing down an important source of talent and expertise for the country. While the book mentioned Laila send her daughter to orphanage to receive education, Afghanistan women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. At the same time women were forced to quit their jobs as teachers, doctors, nurses, and clerical workers when the Taliban took over, women could work only in very limited circumstances. When woman lost their opportunity for education, they automatically lost their potential of speaking, because the next generation will be raised up with no education except the sacrifices on their self-respect, then the grownups in the future will have no ability or knowledge or even lack of believe to stand up for themselves. What’s worse, women were not allowed to be treated by a male doctor unless they are accompanied by a male chaperone, it could be worse while most of the women were force to leave their job, include doctors and nurse. All of these lead to the astonishing scene when Laila goes to hospital to give birth to Aziza and was told that founding from united nation was taken away from Taliban, she went through caesarean birth with no basic hygiene supply, not even anesthetic, gave birth to Aziza. Mariam killed Rasheed, turning herself to Taliban and was executed in public, everything in “A Thousand Splendid Suns” reflects reality, a mother of seven children was executed in front of 30,000 spectators in Kabul’s Ghazi Sport stadium for murdering her husband, such execution always happen in Afghanistan. The result of Taliban’s sexism regime is not only bad for women in Afghanistan, it is also a disaster for the whole
The decree passed by president in year 2009 related to women's right were opposed by some of the conservative members of Parliament. Afghanistan has a cultural society where from the past and still up to this time majority of people abuse women and are opposed to the liberty of women in country. Still there are families who are ashamed of having a girl still there are families where a wife is considered to be as a slave, and still there are families who behave with a Mother as an enemy since she was not able to born a boy rather than a girl. The decree passed by President Hamid Karzai was due to the high percentage of violation against women in the country, where more than 3000 violence cases were record against women. This decree was based on the article 22 of Afghanistan constitution, which states that “The citizens of Afghanistan, men and women, have equal rights and duties before the law" (Afghanistan, 2004). Based on this article of constitution we can find out that men and women are equal before law and this law insures all the liberty given to a man will be same for a woman. Unfortunately, according to biannual report given by Human right commission "violence against women" there are four different type of violence practiced against women in different parts of country. The main reason behind the violence taking place against women are related to Economical condition of a family, literacy level of a family, cultural background of the family as well as usage of drug has caused several violation act by husband and their family members against a woman. In addition, the result of violence is almost same in every place of country (beating, Sexual abuse, forced marriages, denial access to education, Emotional and Psychological Abuse and murder). In this paper I will focus on the policies taken place by the government of Afghanistan and their failure; as well, I will focus on establishing some policies in order to limit or to band all the abuses happening against women in the country.
From the 1950’s until around 1985 the Soviet Union had Afghanistan under its control. This Soviet involvement in Afghanistan caused the ideologies of communism to spread into the Afghanistan culture. One of the communistic ideas that were assimilated into was the thought that every person is equal. This idea made life a lot easier for the women of Afghanistan. One of the freedoms they were given under Soviet control was the allowance of woman being educated, “The government had sponsored literacy classes for all women. Almost two-thirds of the students at Kabul University were women now… women who were studying law, medicine, engineering” (135) Hosseini expresses this through the character Laila. Laila’s father, Babi, was a professor and strongly urged the necessity for Laila to get an education. He was so dedicated that he would help out Laila with her homework every night. Hosseini expressed this when Laila claimed “Babi thought that the one thing that communists had done right- or at least intended to- ironically, was in the filed of education… More specifically the education of women.” (135). To Babi there was nothing more impertinent than the education of woman in Afghanistan. He knew that when half the population is illiterate the country cannot properly aspire to new and better things. Along with the new right to learn, women’s requirement to cover their skin was relaxed all throughout Afghanistan. ...
Islam has influenced many cultures around the world. For centuries, Islam has had an immense influence on the Afghan culture. According to this religion, women have no rights. The men took advantage of this system by translating only what they wanted from the Koran; to enslave the women in our culture for their own desires. From the beginning, the women on no account had any civil rights or have power over their own lives, and most were uneducated and had accepted what their teachers taught in schools and mosques. My family moved to the US when the Russians invaded Afghanistan. I thank god to be one of the lucky women who did not have to live in Afghanistan and for giving me a better place to live in America. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the majority of the Afghan women. Under the cruel Taliban government the women were banned to work, and were not allowed outside their homes without being escorted by a man. The film Osama, inspired by a true story, is about Osama, a young girl who did lived in Kabul while the Taliban regime. Through Osama's story, I had a chance to see what it was like to live in Afghanistan as a woman. This is a story of a girl whose faith was in the hands of many different people: her family, the Taliban soldiers, and the city judge. Osama and I have different lives on different continents; however, we both could have had more rights and better life if we were born men.
"Taliban Gun Down Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights." New York Times. N.p., 9 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Farkhunda, a Muslim woman who lived in Afghanistan, was murdered nearly six months ago and justice has yet to be done. Farkhunda’s memorial is frequently visited but it is not likely that justice will be fully served any time soon. She had been falsely accused of burning the Koran, which led to a mob to lynch her. Since then, there have been protests by thousands of Afghans demanding justice for Farkhunda as well as bringing awareness of the violence still committed towards women today.
The most prominent influence on education which Staples describes is how the Taliban, the religious ruling government, have affected children of all ages by limiting access to education for all school aged children. The Taliban govern from a strict interpretation of the Muslim faith and anyone disobeying the strict interpretation of the Koran is punished immediately regardless of age or gender. In the book the Taliban comes for the Golestan Village and takes Baba-Jan and Nur to go fight with other Taliban members. The Taliban conscripts the boys for the military thereby preventing them from continuing their education. "Again Mada-Jan tries to go to him, but I grab her by the arm. “"We can not stop them," I whisper. "They might hurt Baba-Jan and Nur if we resist" I hold on to her with all my strength, and she throws back her head and wails"”(Staples 14). "I wanted to study, but the Taliban shut down the schools in our village and all the villages of Kunduz. There were no schools for girls, and the only school for boys was the madrassa, where the mullahs were very strict and taught people to hate. My father would not allow Nur to go to the madrassa" (184). Najmah wishes that she could go to school and get educated, but the Taliban has prevented girls such as Najmah to get educated. Since Nusrat has a
This choice has been made to equip women with the most practical tools they needed on an everyday basis. As a matter of fact, if AIL didn’t really understand what were the most useful subjects for the Afghan women they might have though them about mathematics or French literature. Sakeena is a highly educated women but she was also able to understand the specific needs and challenges of this population. By providing them with subjects that are practical she was able to help them. Her non-confrontational approach also helped her bypass the political regime.