File #: Res 1981-2001    Version: * Name: Condemning the Taliban Government of Afghanistan
Type: Resolution Status: Adopted
Committee: Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 6/28/2001
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution condemning the Taliban government of Afghanistan for its continuing repressive practices toward women and religious minorities.
Sponsors: Kathryn E. Freed, Martin Malave-Dilan, Stanley E. Michels, Michael C. Nelson, Michael J. Abel, James S. Oddo, June M. Eisland, Kenneth K. Fisher, Wendell Foster, Julia Harrison, Karen Koslowitz, Morton Povman
Council Member Sponsors: 12
Date Ver.Prime SponsorAction ByActionResultAction DetailsMeeting DetailsMultimedia
6/28/2001*Kathryn E. Freed City Council Approved, by CouncilPass Action details Meeting details Not available
6/28/2001*Kathryn E. Freed City Council Introduced by Council, IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION  Action details Meeting details Not available
Res. No. 1981 Title Resolution condemning the Taliban government of Afghanistan for its continuing repressive practices toward women and religious minorities. Body By Council Members Freed, Malave-Dilan, Michels, Nelson, Abel and Oddo; also Council Members Eisland, Fisher, Foster, Harrison, Koslowitz and Povman Whereas, The Taliban government of Afghanistan, since its inception, has imposed the severest repression upon women, as well as ethnic and religious minorities; and Whereas, Recently, it has been reported that the Taliban has ordered non-Muslim residents to wear a identifying badge or mark on their clothing, distinguishing them from the nation's Muslim majority; and Whereas, This measure, the setting aside and cataloging of an entire group, based on their religion, is a frightening portent, as it opens the floodgates for a whole series of repressive measures that could follow; and Whereas, An ominous glimpse of a possible future, the measure is also a disturbing echo of a terrible past, one of history's darkest chapters, when Jews in Nazi Germany were forced to wear identifying marks on their clothing, a preliminary measure that presaged one of the worst atrocities ever committed; and Whereas, The Taliban regime also employs repressive measures against women, severely restricting their civil rights, and treating them as chattel, possessions of their fathers or their husbands; and Whereas, The regime also requires women to wear burquas whenever in public, heavy full-body coverings which constrain movement tremendously; and Whereas, The Taliban regime continues to harbor Osama Bin Laden, who has claimed credit for a number of terrorist actions against Americans, including the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden Harbor, and who has promised further aggressions against Americans; and Whereas, Acts of persecution, whether against women or against religious minorities, should not be countenanced; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York condemns the Taliban government of Afghanistan for its continuing repressive practices toward women and religious minorities.