Rede von Dr. Sima Samar, Paul Grüninger Preis 2001:

Honorable president, ladies and gentlemen;

It is indeed an honor for me to be the recipient of this prestigious award. I am indebted to the honorable members of the foundation for the recognition that they have extended to the plight of the Afghan people. Surely, hope is of vital currency to a nation that is, as much in despair as Afghanistan, and this honor shall remind us that our cause is still alive and that eventually the humiliation and degradation of war and poverty shall one day be alleviated.

I would like to offer a brief background to my activities. Afghanistan is an underdeveloped and landlocked country in Central Asia. Even before the war and the invasion of the Russian troops, Afghanistan ranked amongst one of the poorest and the most underdeveloped countries in the world. The predominant majority of the country’s population is Sunni Muslims with approximately one third Shiite Muslims. The population is also divided along the major ethnic divisions of Pushtoon, Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek with several other minor population groups living in the country as well. Over the past few centuries, Pushtoons were in political control of the country and even before the Russian invasion, the rights of all the different population groups were not ensured.

Afghan society has traditionally been male dominated with females relegated to secondary position and considered as property. After the Saur Revolution in 1978, and the intrusion of the Soviet troops, the position of women deteriorated even further. On the one hand in Soviet dominated areas women were allowed nominal freedom and rights in pursuing education and careers. Unfortunately, these reforms were only superficial and concentrated more on the perversion of rights and freedom of women. Furthermore, these reforms were introduced with disregard for the social and religious institutions of the country and with little investment in actually changing the social attitudes. Consequently, these reforms not only produced limited effects but also caused mass revulsion. The opposition that unfortunately was the recipient of indiscriminate assistance from Western and neighboring countries, reacted to the reforms introduced by the Moscow backed regime and promoted a policy of ultra conservativeness. The world community chose to ignore these developments in the singular obsession of defeating the Soviet Union. As a result, other facets of life in Afghanistan such as the promotion of equal rights for all the inhabitants and the pursuance of more rights for women was totally ignored as men received all the aid and assistance. In the field of education, only Afghan refugee children living in camps in Pakistan received some religious education. Even then the sole purpose of this education was to provide the next generation of anti-communist fighters that will fight the invading troops. Families, who were very poor and could not afford to provide food and shelter for their families, often sent their children to these institutions.

In the meanwhile, no effort was invested in promoting health care for women and children. During this period extensive indoctrination and propaganda in the name of Islam was carried out against permitting women to work in the fields of education and health. As a result, women were relegated to the confine of their households even further. Whenever educated Afghan women tried to venture outside their homes while pursuing occupations, they became the subject of threats by numerous agencies and some were even put to death for their defiance.

I personally was a victim of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. My ethnicity from one of the most ostracized groups in the country and my gender, brought much censure and ridicule upon me, and also brought me face to face with the reality of women being treated as personal property.

In 1984 I migrated from Afghanistan and settled in the Quetta city of Pakistan. I was employed at one of the local Hospitals that operated a special section for Afghan refugees, and also periodically visited one of the nearby refugee camps. It was during these years that I came to realization that the prospect of treatment for women was so bleak in an environment where several institutions exist for assisting male patients but none are existent to help the equally needful Afghan women and children. After much deliberation, I was finally able to secure some assistance from an aid agency to start a hospital for Afghan refugee women and children. This attracted a lot of criticism from the Islamic resistance parties that were based in Pakistan and the Pakistani government as well. There was no shortage of hindrances and physical threats, the details of which would be too lengthy to recount here. But despite all the problems, I was able to start a hospital in Sang-I-Masha, Jaghori within Afghanistan. Again, the hospital became the target of several episodes of looting and plundering by the dominant Islamic resistance parties of the area.

Even though I was personally unable to visit Afghanistan because of threats on my life, my dedicated associates were able to negotiate the establishment of several schools in Hazarajat. This was no mean task by any standard or measure as the poor and illiterate people were heavily indoctrinated with an attitude of condescension towards formal education and a priori association of such a participant as an unbeliever. It was precisely this attitude that has caused many of the educated and professional Afghans that formed only a meager 5-10 % of the population to flee the country for the safety of western countries. The few remnants of a feeble education network were soon subjected to the wrath of the people who were thought to immediately associate all formal education as the handiwork of the Russian infidels that had laid ruin to the country. Attitudes however came to change gradually as the war progressed and people came into more contact with the outside world. Fortunately now, I administer 5 hospitals, 12 clinics and 48 schools for both males and females outside and inside Afghanistan.

It must be mentioned that the political situation prevalent in Afghanistan has induced such stratification on the various United Nations and other relief agencies, that very few of them will assist projects that involve Afghan women and children as their direct recipients. Finding funding and assistance for such projects was not easy, and at times even donor agencies that did take the initiative were threatened.

After the withdrawal of Russian troops and the subsequent collapse of the pro-Moscow regime, the country slipped into absolute and total anarchy. The first edict that followed the Islamic resistance parties into power was the covering up of all women in ”Islamic Hijab”. This off course was symbolic of their condemnation to the confines of their residence and withdrawal from all public occupations and institutions. After years of civil war, another political force emerged which relegated women to a position of even further wanton neglect and humiliation.

At present, Afghanistan is seemingly the only country whose ruler has officially edified that girls have no right to education and women are not allowed to work outside their homes. The proper attire to be worn by women is legally defined – with this being the most fundamental indicator of the fact that women’s rights or human rights hold absolutely no currency with this regime. Such absurd is the state of affairs, that even children are denied their that most fundamental of child’s right – the right to play – let alone their right to education.

What I have done so far is by no means neither special nor outstanding. It’s only against the depraved and desolate settings of Afghanistan where a workingwomen is considered a transgressor that my activities hold some currency. Rather, I consider this as a duty incumbent upon the humanity to help and assist each other. Ultimately, it is the realization of the individual’s role in the wider social context that matters, and that is the responsibility that I strive to fulfill.

I stand honored as the recipient of this prestigious award, and I accept it on behalf of millions of Afghan women who lack even the most fundamental of rights, and on behalf of those hungry and beleaguered children whose task in life and investment in hope is rich and beautiful despite all the prevailing darkness. I must render my deepest gratitude to the donor agencies that have made my activities possible. Outstanding amongst these is my most dignified and selfless of friends, Vreni Fraunfelder who has dedicated her entire lifetime to helping and assisting the beleaguered Afghans. And finally, I would like to thanks the Grüninger foundation and especially Mrs Roduner- Grüninger for the very special award that I have received here today.

As an Afghan, what is perhaps implicit but most important in this ceremony is the recognition of our suffering and the much more lucrative hope that most certainly we shall not be alone in one day attaining the hope that not a single women will ever be again threatened with death for being a human being and exercising her rights as such, and that no child retains her right to education and awareness as a dream. Surely our task is monumental, but the accomplishments and selfless help of individuals such as the honorable Paul Grüninger keep us company in our efforts. We surely need to take heed of the hope and dedication that these beacons of light represent.

In hope of equality and justice for all.

St. Gallen, 16. März 2001