Diplomatic Impunity

Okay, so this is a start:

OTTAWA (Canadian Press) — Canada summoned Afghanistan's ambassador and expressed "deep concern" about legislation that would make it illegal for Shia women to deny sex to their husbands.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affair Minister Lawrence Cannon said officials called in Afghan Ambassador Omar Samad on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

"We have informed the Afghan government of the damaging effect that the law could have and we pointed out that across the country, Canadians are following the issue closely," said a Foreign Affairs news release.

"We understand that the Afghan government intends to continue to review the law and discuss it with civil society. We are monitoring closely developments and will continue to make our principled position known."

Spokeswoman Catherine Loubier said Cannon also discussed the issue with Afghanistan's foreign affairs and interior ministers in The Hague this week at an international meeting on the country's future.

Canadian diplomats have also met officials in President Karzai's office in Kabul and are seeking clarification on possible implementation of the law.

As noted yesterday and the day before, this has been a hot topic during Question Period, and at the G20 Summit. 

And so it should.

Canada has lost 116 soldiers and spent up to $10 billion to support the Karzai government.

The father of one slain soldier called the law an insult.

"My son gave his life up for all these causes and to have President Karzai's government bring in a law like that, that's insulting," Jim Davis said Wednesday.

His son, Cpl. Paul Davis, was killed in Afghanistan in 2006.

The proposed Shia family law has cast a shadow over the international conference in The Hague.

Critics say Karzai approved the law in advance of his country's elections in the hope of winning critical swing votes from conservative Shia men.

But the law remains shrouded in mystery: it has not been published, Karzai's office has refused to comment on it, and its alleged details have only been made public by the Afghan parliamentarians who opposed it.

Here's the Star's lead editorial today:

What are Canadian troops fighting for in Afghanistan? In Prime Minister Stephen Harper's mind, there was never any doubt: to thwart terror after 9/11, of course, but also to help the Afghan people shed the brutality and oppression of the Taliban era.

"Because of you the people of Afghanistan have seen ... democratic elections, the stirring of human rights and freedoms for women, the construction of schools, health-care facilities and the basic infrastructure of a functional economy," Harper told our troops on a May 23, 2007 trip to Kandahar. "Friends, you are helping the Afghan people make a better life for themselves and their children."

Even Canadians who had doubts about our $11 billion investment in Afghanistan, and our rising casualties, could take pride in defending women's rights and educating girls.

I think that we should recall the US Puppet Karzai.

Put a bunch of women in charge of Afghanistan.

Bet it gets better, and fast.

It couldn't possibly get worse.

UPPITY DATE: Here a snip from a Foreign Affairs news release:

We have informed the Afghan government of the damaging effect that the law could have and we pointed out that across the country, Canadians are following the issue closely.

We understand that the Afghan government intends to continue to review the law and discuss it with civil society. We are monitoring closely developments and will continue to make our principled position known.

Oooh. Tough talk.

UGH DATE: Get a load of what's in this law.

One of the most controversial articles of the law stipulates that the wife "is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires."

"As long as the husband is not travelling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night," Article 132 of the law says. "Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband."

One provision of the law also appears to protect the woman's right to sex inside marriage, saying that the "man should not avoid having sexual relations with his wife longer than once every four months."

The law's critics say Karzai signed the legislation in the past month only for political gains several months before the country's presidential election.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women, or UNIFEM, said the law "legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband."

"The law violates women's rights and human rights in numerous ways," a UNIFEM statement said.

The issue of women's rights is a continuous source of tension between the country's conservative establishment and more liberal members of society. The Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 banned women from appearing in public without a body-covering burqa and a male escort from her family.

Much has improved since then. Millions of girls now attend school and many women own businesses. Of 351 parliamentarians, 89 are women.

But in this staunchly conservative country, critics fear those gains could easily be reversed.

UP ON THE HILL DATE: Here's The Star's Bruce Campion-Smith on the story.

Comments

[croghan27]

"We are monitoring closely developments and will continue to make our principled position known."

Didn't the leader of the Liberal Party say that to PM Harper, just before he voted for both Harper's budget and $3 billion or so in funds to be passed out with little to no oversight.