Leaders of the Afghan Taliban militia group stated that they are willing to discuss their decree prohibiting girls from attending school with U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson Friday, but they will not promise reforms. Afghan women and girls attended schools and universities for years before the Taliban took control in September 1996.
The Taliban militia group now controls 85 percent of the country. Since their takeover, they have passed decrees requiring women to wear a debilitating head-to-toe covering whenever they are in public. They have also prohibited women from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a brother, husband or son, and prohibited girls from attending school.
5/20/2013 Afghan Violence Against Women Law Blocked in Parliament - On Saturday, the Speaker of the Lower House of Afghan Parliament delayed a vote on the Elimination of Violence against Women law after two hours of vociferous debate between conservative religious and more liberal members of Parliament. . . .
5/20/2013 Walmart, American Retailers Refuse to Join Bangladesh Accord - Walmart, along with 13 other major North American companies, refused to sign a legally binding agreement to improve working conditions for overseas factory workers that manufacture their clothes after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh killing an estimated 1300 workers, the New York Times reports.
The agreement requires retailers pay $500,000 to improve worker safety measures over a five year period. . . .
