Alistair Burt MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

20 October 2011

Dear Alistair,

I am writing about women's rights in Afghanistan in the current context of governmental reconciliation with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have highlighted that whilst there have been some advances in women's rights in the ten years following the overthrow of the Taliban, many people (both within Afghanistan and internationally) fear that these hard-won gains could be seriously compromised as the national government pursues its reconciliation process with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
In areas under Taliban control today, Amnesty International continues to document serious violations of the rights of girls and women. These have included the denial of education, employment, freedom of movement and political participation and representation.
I welcome the UK Government's support for the Afghan Independent Election Commission's Gender Unit, as well as its funding of a project with the NGO Equality for Peace and Democracy which supports female parliamentary candidates. However, I urge you at this critical time to continue such engagement by taking practical steps to ensure women play an equal role in shaping all aspects of the future of Afghanistan.

In particular I would like to enquire whether women's rights specifically are on the agenda of any of your upcoming discussions with the Afghan government? My constituents are also making the following points, which I support:

• Reconciliation talks should be inclusive and reflective of Afghan Civil Society, including minorities, women and the business community. Afghan women should be meaningfully represented in the planning stages and during the reconciliation talks, in keeping with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Campaign pressure groups suggest a target proportion of at least 30% women in all peace and reconciliation processes.

• Any political agreement must include verifiable benchmarks for the parties' conformity with their human rights obligations; for instance by documenting trends in the school attendance, especially of girls; trends in women's access to health care; trends in maternal mortality and infant health; ability of aid workers and civil society activists - in particular, women's human rights defenders - to operate in areas under the respective control of the parties.

• Insurgent groups, along with the Afghan government, must commit to Afghanistan's human rights obligations under international human rights law and domestic law. Reconciliation must not result in impunity for serious violations of human rights and war crimes.

I hope you will agree with me that the withdrawal of international forces must not result in any reduction in hard won rights for women, and indeed must be seen as an opportunity to build on and strengthen those rights.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding these issues, and will forward on your response to my interested constituents.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion