After Kabul TV aired old footage of a popular singer performing without a headscarf, Afghan officials reimposed a ban against women singing on state television. The supreme court had protested the broadcast, saying it insulted Islam. Earlier this month, the Grand Council adopted a new constitution proclaiming Afghanistan an Islamic democracy. The constitution guarantees equal rights for women, but also says that no laws can be contrary to Islam.
The Bush administration praised the constitution, but some human rights advocates are concerned about how some of the provisions might be interpreted.
One of those concerned is Michael Young, dean of the George Washington University Law School in Washington and chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advises the Department of State.
Dean Young, welcome. What's your assessment of the new Afghan constitution?
Dr. MICHAEL YOUNG (Dean, George Washington University Law School): Well, I think the constitution certainly has some good provisions in it. It makes reference to the international human rights documents and the protections those contain. It has some provisions respecting equality between men and women and those are all very good, I think. The concern is, though, with respect to the freedom of religion provisions -- that they appear to provide protection to religion as a group to engage in their ceremonies and their rituals, but no protection to the individual within the religion. So, for example, if you disagreed with somebody's interpretation, you could be charged with blasphemy, and the penalty for that is often death in those societies. In addition, if you thought about the religion, had a dialogue -- people unwilling to change the religion in a way that you thought appropriate -- you can't convert to another religion. There are anticonversion laws. Those make it very difficult to have internally a dialogue about where the society ought to be going, because if any political view is viewed as heresy and blasphemy, you can't talk about it.
Dr. YOUNG: Well, I think it certainly would have been if we had particularly pressed this point. The average Afghan would like to be able to live their life without fear of being stoned to death if they disagree. They would like to be able to choose their own occupation, teach their children what they believe. They say that in all of the focus groups that have been done and so forth. They want the same things. If we could have generated a dynamic that would have permitted a discussion of these issues -- I think we could have and I don't know why we didn't. It seems to me a serious oversight.
