DATE=12/6/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON - TALIBAN (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256899
BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton has condemned human rights
violations by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement,
and has announced new aid to Afghan refugees who flee
what the United States describes as the Taliban's
repressive policies against women. Mr. Clinton made
his comments at a ceremony Monday commemorating the
51st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights this week. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports
from the White House.
Text: The Clinton administration has long been
concerned about what it sees as the Taliban's denial
of women's rights to employment, health care, freedom
of movement and security, and the President Monday
stepped up his call to the muslim fundamentalist
movement to end the abuse.
He left it to his wife - First Lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton, a long-time women's rights advocate - to
detail the administration's concerns.
// H-Clinton actuality //
It is a violation of human rights when women are
beaten because their ankles are showing under
their burqas, it is a violation of human rights
when women are barred from working -their means
of supporting their families stripped away,
along with their dignity, it is a violation of
human rights when girls are kept from
classrooms, when their voices are silenced, and
when their presence is erased from public life.
// end act //
Joining the Clintons at the White House ceremony was
Belquis Ahmadi, a 27-year-old Afghan rights activist
who fled her country shortly after the Taliban took
power in Kabul in 1996. She movingly recalled how one
woman died from a minor injury at the gates of a
hospital because the Taliban had suspended medical
services to women.
// Ahmadi actuality //
I felt I had no hope at all. I hated to be a
woman. I tried to understand what was
happening. I asked myself if the world cared
about Afghan women. Would the world community
take action if all men in Afghanistan could not
go to the hospital anymore?
// end act //
Ms. Ahmadi appealed to the United States to make every
effort to find an end to the conflict in Afghanistan -
arguing that an end to 20 years of war in her home
country is the only long-term solution to restoring
human dignity there.
Mr. Clinton vowed to to continue to work toward
bringing about an Afghanistan with a government that
reflects the will of its people - and, in the
meantime, he offered new assistance to Afghan women
and children refugees.
// Clinton actuality //
I am pleased to announce we will spend next
year at least two million dollars to educate and
improve the health of Afghan women and children
refugees. We are also making an additional one-
and-a-half million dollars available in
emergency aid for those displaced by the recent
Taliban offensive, and we are dramatically
expanding our resettlement program for women and
children who are not safe where they are.
// end act //
Mr. Clinton also called on the US Senate to ratify the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women.
// rest opt //
The President singled out other areas in the world
where he is concerned about about human rights
violations - including Chechnya, where civilians have
suffered casualties and been forced from their homes
by Russia's bloody military campaign against Islamic
insurgents there.
He also took issue with Beijing's crackdown on the
Falun Gong spiritual movement, and urged the
government to respect freedom of conscience and
association. He said the only way China can maintain
stability at home is by meeting the growing demands of
its people for openness and accountability.
Mr. Clinton used the occasion to honor five human
rights leaders - including the Reverend Leon Sullivan,
whose `Sullivan's Principles encouraged companies
working in South Africa to take steps to end
apartheid, and Sister Jean Marshall, a Dominican nun
in New York city, who founded a center to help
immigrants find employment and social benefits.
(Signed)
NEB/DAT/PT
06-Dec-1999 18:26 PM EDT (06-Dec-1999 2326 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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