U.S. and U.N. concerned about Afghan Shi'ite law

By Golnar Motevalli

KABUL (Reuters) - A new law for Shi'ite Muslims in Afghanistan has provoked anger among some lawmakers and the United States and United Nations said they were concerned about its impact on women's rights in the former Taliban state.

The law passed by parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, but not yet promulgated in the official gazette, is meant to legalise minority Shi'ite family law, which is different from that of the majority Sunni population.

Shi'ite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the population.

"We are very concerned about these reports with regard to the legislation. We ourselves are reviewing the legislation and we urge President Karzai to review the law's legal status to correct provisions of the law that ... limit or restrict women's rights," U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.

The U.N.'s agency for women, UNIFEM, said in a statement it had yet to study the final draft of the Shi'ite Personal Status Law, but said it "remains seriously concerned about the potential impact of this law on the women of Afghanistan."

A copy of the bill obtained by Reuters shows many of the articles which had initially angered lawmakers, such as the age of marriage for women and the age at which children can stay in their mother's custody after a divorce, have changed.

The age of marriage for women has been raised to 16 from nine and the age at which a mother can keep custody of her daughter after a divorce was raised to nine from seven.

But Shinkai Karokhail, a woman parliament member, said the law would take women's rights backwards in Afghanistan: "I cannot support this law, personally I really feel hurt ... it will really increase brutality in our lives."