PRINTER'S NO. 1085
No. 94 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY C. WILLIAMS, CURRY, JOSEPHS, MUNDY, STURLA, TIGUE,
WATERS, WOJNAROSKI, BARD, BEBKO-JONES, BELARDI, BELFANTI,
CALTAGIRONE, FRANKEL, FREEMAN, HENNESSEY, HORSEY, JAMES,
LEDERER, MANN, MAYERNIK, McGILL, McILHATTAN, MYERS, ORIE,
PRESTON, READSHAW, ROBINSON, THOMAS, WALKO, J. WILLIAMS,
B. SMITH AND RUBLEY, MARCH 14, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
MARCH 14, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Condemning the Taliban's discrimination and violence against
2 Afghan women; calling upon the President and the Congress of
3 the United States to take whatever action is necessary to
4 ensure that women and girls gain immediate access to health
5 care and education; and urging negotiations to resume
6 humanitarian assistance.
7 WHEREAS, During the past four years, the Taliban has gained
8 military control over virtually all of Afghanistan; and
9 WHEREAS, The Taliban's earliest action upon establishing rule
10 in Kabul was to impose strict segregation of clinics and
11 hospitals by gender and to prohibit access by women and girls;
12 and
13 WHEREAS, The Taliban has prohibited most women from working,
14 required the wearing of an enveloping burqa on pain of
15 punishment, denied girls access to schooling, prohibited women
16 from leaving their homes without a close male family member for
17 escort and imposed other draconian restrictions on women's
1 mobility and access to humanitarian aid, health care and
2 education; and
3 WHEREAS, A full-length study of the effects of the Taliban's
4 policies on women's health and human rights, conducted by the
5 human rights organization Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), was
6 published in the August 1998 edition of the Journal of the
7 American Medical Association; and
8 WHEREAS, The study showed that 81% of respondents reported a
9 decline in their mental health, 42% met the criteria for post-
10 traumatic stress disorder, 97% met the criteria for major
11 depression and 86% demonstrated significant symptoms of anxiety;
12 and
13 WHEREAS, The women interviewed by PHR overwhelmingly rejected
14 the Taliban's interpretation of Islam and of Afghan history and
15 culture and expressed their strong support for women's equality
16 and immediate access to health care and education; and
17 WHEREAS, In July 1998, the Taliban ordered all humanitarian
18 nongovernmental organizations out of Afghanistan for refusing to
19 move their living quarters into a facility on the outskirts of
20 Kabul which lacked water and electricity; therefore be it
21 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
22 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania condemn the Taliban's
23 discrimination against women; and be it further
24 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
25 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize the President and the
26 Congress of the United States to publicly disapprove of these
27 atrocities, take whatever steps necessary to end the
28 discrimination and violence against women and urge the full
29 restoration of their rights; and be it further
30 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
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1 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the United Nations'
2 humanitarian organizations to negotiate with the Taliban
3 reasonable conditions for their return to Afghanistan so that
4 they may resume providing humanitarian assistance, including
5 programs for women and girls in health care, education and
6 income-generating projects; and be it further
7 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
8 the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
9 each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
10 Pennsylvania.
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