Civil Society Statement on girls harassment in football Federation

Press Release

Serial no: 74

Kabul- Afghanistan

Civil Society Statement on girls harassment in football Federation

The Guardian News reported, reports on girls harassment in the Afghan Football Federation. The report appears to have been published after an interview with a girl from the federation. To follow up the issue, the Afghan government has formed a committee for investigation and follow up under the leadership of the Attorney General's office, which the investigation committee has already begin the questing.

Civil activists and women's rights activists in the country are aware of the sensitivity of the issue and are concerned about worsen the social environment against the brave women and girls. Our brave and courageous athlete, who kept up the national flag of the country and with dramatic victories in the past two decades of sport have made our citizens happy, and made a positive placement to their generations. We are really concerned on the divulged propaganda spread out in the light of lack of information . On the other hand, these concerns can undermine the family's confidence in the support and permitting for presence of their daughters in the federation and in sport, and will cause the fragility of women role in social participation and in the society..

As a result, we demand that the investigation commission to accelerate the investigation process in transparent and impartiality manner in the light of Afghanistan Law provision, and inform the public about its legal practices. This approach can take way forward to avoid spreading out the propaganda and provide the basis for more people's cooperation. Civil society organizations can also cooperate with the committee and informed the community and have the information on the process of investigation and provide information to others. While we welcome the suspension of some federation’s member’s duties, hope that this work will be done carefully and do not enable the environment for of false messages in public opinion.

We hope that fulfilling this investigation will make the people aware of the facts, also, block the way to propaganda of the enemies, and on the other hand, if such a crime has been taken place, the perpetrators will be punished according to the law. We believe that Afghanistan, in such a situation, which has brought its best young talents into sports fields, needs more support from the government and its citizens, and we should not allow the others to play with fortune of our youth athletes. Those who make Afghanistan proud in national and international arenas are deserve to be praised and commemorated, which its praise is the responsibility to every patriot and accountable citizen.

If there is fragility and our athletes are the victims of a crime, we want to implementation of the laws, especially the Elimination of Violence against Women law and the Anti-Harassment Law and the provision of justice for those who are suffered with such cases..