Wednesday December 11, 2013
Kabul (BNA) The oppressed Afghan women despite confronting various social issues and challenges have proved their effective role and potentials in different sectors including human rights, women rights, democracy, politics, health and education and with consideration of their great roles various world countries have honored them with several awards and prizes and in a recent development the Afghan woman lawmaker Ms. Fawzia Kofi won the Remio Minerva Italian Award for 2013. In an exclusive interview Kofi said that the prize was firstly recommended for peace and stability following the termination of the 2nd World War to recognize the contribution of those who work for peace and security in the world.
“The award is granted to the male and female activists who works for civil society, human rights and who play effective role in political spheres, this year the program held under the Theme “Woman and Education” and 2013 Remio Minerva Award was granted to me and I am proud of that said lawmaker Fawzia Kofi, saying that the award belongs not only to me but also to the people of Afghanistan.” “The award has been fashioned with pervious stones and jewels and it gives me peace when I look on that, said the chairperson of parliamentary commission for women affairs Ms. Fawzia Kofi.” “As a chairperson of parliamentary commission for women affairs and member of the civil society I struggled more to bring betterment to the lives of women in the center and provinces, the parliamentary commission for women affairs works in three spheres including legislation, overseeing and representing the legislation process, so far we have passed several laws and tried to focus on women rights in the laws, Ms. Kofi pointed out.”
The chairwoman of parliament’s commission for women affairs also pointed out the legislations which have been done in the national assembly and said, “The law is a social phenomenon and women placement should be clarified in laws, we have had several ups and downs in the ratification of laws, we also received development and in some cases backslide, 25 percent seat reservations have been considered for women in the provincial councils, unfortunately, some lawmakers have a different perspectives towards the women.” “Until now we haven’t succeeded to ratify the law on prevention of violence against women, however the law was implemented in the country on the basis of a presidential legislative decree, but we still await its official approval and the civil society institutions and women rights activists have expressed their concerns about it, Ms. Kofi highlighted, adding that we strived to expand the contribution and representation of women to 30 percent including economy, politics and recruitment in the government institutions.” We also strived to focus on budget for gender and tried to allocate $three million.” Responding to a question with regard to role of women in the upcoming presidential elections Ms. Kofi said that the elections without larger women participation could question legitimacy and credibility of the elections and the government of Afghanistan should work hard to pave the way for women participation in the upcoming poll.
