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Press release

International Women’s Day: A Day to Celebrate Women and Promote their Rights

08.03.2019
This week, provincial Departments of Women’s Affairs and the Afghan-German Cooperation conduct various activities in close cooperation on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8th March. These include celebrations, theatre programmes and the distribution of leaflets that inform about women’s rights and raise awareness of the importance of legal documents such as the Tazkira. In total, more than 3,000 visitors are expected at the events in Balkh, Baghlan, Jawzjan, Sar-e Pul, Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan. Also, a legal helpline for women is now available that offers legal advice free of charge.

A visitor of the celebrations in Badakhshan emphasised, ‘Such a joint gathering of women and men with happy faces inspires a happy and peaceful life for us. We achieved a lot in the last 18 years. I thank the ones who conduct and facilitate such an event to support women and women’s rights.’ Another visitor in Badakhshan happily added, ‘On this day, I congratulate all women in Afghanistan and the world.’

International Women’s Day on 8th March is an opportunity for promoting women’s rights and justice as well as raising awareness of challenges women face in daily life. It is also an occasion to renew commitments to support women’s meaningful presence in society. Women activists and local government officials took the opportunity to promote women’s rights and exchange on related matters at the events. They also expressed their support for women’s meaningful presence in Afghan governmental institutions.

Matching the occasion, a new Legal Helpline for women offered by legal clinics of universities in Balkh, Baghlan, Jawzjan, Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan is available as of today. Women can call the helpline for free legal advice. Professional defence lawyers are available from Saturday to Wednesday, 08:00 am to 03:00 pm, and Thursdays, 08:00 am to 12:00 pm, at the following telephone numbers:

Balkh University: 0729919747                                              Jawzjan University: 0729919757

Baghlan University: 0729919761                                         Takhar University: 0729919746

Kunduz University: 0729919728                                          Badakhshan University: 0729919750

The programme Promotion of the Rule of Law in Afghanistan (RoL) is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The programme aims at ensuring the rule of law, a well-functioning judicial system and legal security in Afghanistan. To ensure legal security for all citizens, RoL has been supporting so-called Huquq bureaus which handled more than 80,000 civil cases since 2013. In the same time, to support higher legal education, RoL provided more than 31,500 books to law and sharia faculties, organised more than 190 courses on legal topics for students and lecturers and awarded more than 60 students with scholarships. The programme also emphasises promoting women’s rights and strengthening their access to justice as well as the job market.

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