WORLD> Middle East
UN criticises Afghan women's law
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-20 01:26

KABUL: A new family law ratified by Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month falls short of his country's international commitments on women's rights and should be revised quickly, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

President Hamid Karzai, who approved the law earlier this year, was forced to review the decision after the law, on family rights for the country's Shi'ite minority, drew wide condemnation over its harsh provisions on women.

US President Barack Obama called the law "abhorrent."

An amended version of the Shi'ite Personal Status Law was submitted last month and published in the official gazette on July 27, bringing it into effect weeks ahead of the August 20 presidential poll.

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Women's rights campaigners say they only discovered last week that the law had come into effect, and accuse Karzai of passing it to win votes in Thursday's presidential election.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Afghanistan had signed up to international treaties and needed to make sure it was upholding its commitments to safeguarding women and children's rights.

"The new law falls well short of the standards set by these treaties," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for OHCHR.

"Afghan authorities should amend the law as soon as possible to bring it in line with constitutional guarantees and Afghanistan's international human rights obligations," he said.

"Serious deficiencies"

He stressed that his criticism of the law was in no way connected Thursday's election, in which polls show Karzai leading but not by enough to avoid a second round run-off.

The legislation is meant to govern family law for minority Shi'ite Muslims, who make up about 15 percent of Afghanistan's roughly 30 million people.

It says women should satisfy their husband's sexual appetites, an article which critics have said could be used to justify marital rape and which provoked an outcry from Afghanistan's Western allies and rights groups around the world.

Karzai has said Western concerns about the law were "inappropriate" and may have been based on "misinterpretations", but promised last April to make changes if it was found to violate the constitution.

The new version incorporates many changes, but Colville said the revisions had not gone far enough.

The amended law showed "partial" improvements, but still contained "serious deficiencies" such as allowing under-age girls to be forced into marriage and giving only men guardianship rights over children.

Colville said a new law passed earlier this year on eliminating violence against women should in theory take precedence over the new Shi'ite law and may counteract some of its most contentious provisions.

"In practice, this will depend very much on how the judiciary balances the content of the two laws," said Colville. "The new law could also be challenged on the grounds that it does not accord with the Afghan constitution."