Kunduz radio provides independent voice for Afghan women and youth

13 Jul 2016

Kunduz radio provides independent voice for Afghan women and youth

KABUL - Despite having to flee a 2015 Taliban attack on her city, an Afghan woman has been determined to keep her two radio stations operating and providing information to the Kunduz community.

Following the Taliban’s entry into Kunduz in September 2015, many media outlets were closed, with looting and the destruction of equipment, and in some cases the torching of radio and TV stations. Many civilians were killed or wounded, while thousands of people fled the city.

After a period of silence, a small number of broadcasters began operating again. Two of those radio stations are Radio Shaista and Radio Kayhan, both headed by Zarghona Hassan. Shaista focuses on women while Kayhan covers youth-related issues.

In an interview with UNAMA, Ms. Hassan talked about the importance of raising a voice for women and providing them with better opportunities to defend their rights.

UNAMA: What motivated you to open the radio station and to work in radio?

Ms. Hassan: I think women have to have a free and independent voice and dare to raise their voice on behalf of the people of their country and the world. This is in order to work for women and provide them better opportunities, and enable them to defend their rights.

Through radio programmes, I want to encourage women to bring positive changes in their lives, have a happy family and live in peaceful communities.

The UN in a 2011 report called Afghanistan one of the most insecure places in the world. Although the international community, government, human right organizations and donors have tried to improve women’s situation in the country during the last few years, women in Afghanistan are still not secure and face a lot of problems.

I have decided to work hard in order to improve women’s rights because I witnessed violence against women increasing day by day. Women’s presence in the public sphere in this country is only symbolic and still women face many problems.

A lack of awareness among women of their rights, illiteracy, harmful traditional practices, poverty, patriarchy, insecurity and lack of law enforcement are the main factors that prevent women from being visible in society. Women cannot participate in political, social and economic processes in the country.

Such problems for women led me to establish Radio Shaista in Kunduz. The radio station was a way to do something about the obstacles; to raise women's voices and to find solutions to their problems, especially related to women in Kunduz. The station also helps to defend their rights and encourage women to actively participate in decision making.

UNAMA: What risks have you faced and are likely to face?

Ms. Hassan: Threats began in 2009 when I was in charge of Radio Zohra. The Taliban and illegally armed militia told me to close the radio station, otherwise they would destroy it.

We informed the Kunduz office of UNAMA and the National Directorate of Security about the threats. Later, illegally armed men attacked the radio station and destroyed the radio equipment. Luckily, we survived because at that time we were out of the building. They threatened our families as well. I received threats from insurgents two days prior to the collapse of Kunduz city on 28 September 2015. On 21 January, I again received a phone call that the Taliban wanted to kill me.

I escaped with my family to Kabul. After that I decided to send my family abroad.

Now I am living alone in Kabul. Although I have a lot of problems, I am trying to manage both radio stations. When Kunduz fell to the Taliban, many of my staff left, especially the women who were working in the radio stations.

Despite this, I managed to keep the radio stations active. 

UNAMA:  Who exactly is your audience? Mostly women?

Ms. Hassan: Yes, most of the listeners are women, because we have good and interesting content for them. We have news and reports for women; reports about the activities of the Women’s Affairs Department in Kunduz; reports and programmes on human rights, civil society organizations and UNAMA activities. We also have music in our programmes and mostly we play songs by women singers and musicians.

In addition, men are also among our listeners. They want to know about women’s rights and to know what our programmes for women are about. Women call us and share their opinions about our programmes. Sometimes we record and broadcast our listeners’ voices, which in itself encourages women to listen to our radio. It also helps and encourages them to participate in society.

UNAMA: How strong is your radio signal? How far does it reach?

Ms. Hassan: Our pre-recorded and live radio broadcasts cover Kunduz city and reach six neighbouring districts.

UNAMA: What feedback do you get? Is it positive and negative?

Ms. Hassan: Since Radio Shaesta was established several months ago, beside the views of women, we received very positive and hopeful comments from men. For example, some men said that women should engage in economic activity and contribute to family income, and they should participate in their communities’ decision-making processes.

We are receiving men’s views on harmful traditional practices. They are encouraging our staff members to produce programmes for women. At the same time, we also received contrary views about women’s rights. As an example, they blamed us for encouraging women to work outside the home and participate in elections. They said in a situation where security is not good, women should not leave their houses.

UNAMA: Afghans have many different views about the West helping Afghan women. For example, that it is genuine, or alternatively, that it is merely a propaganda ploy to justify Western military intervention in Afghanistan. What do you think?

Ms. Hassan: It’s true, there are different views. In the past 14 years, some organizations -- supported by various countries -- worked in support of Afghan women’s lives. Some of these agencies are still working for this purpose and their efforts have had a positive impact on the elimination of violence against women to some extent and the raising of women’s awareness about their rights.

In general, we can say Afghan women have been supported and their lives have been improved. We can see visible changes compared to the past or compared to the time of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. As an example, the nomination of Afghan women as presidential candidates, their participation in national assembly elections, and their appointments as ministers and governors. 

UNAMA: There is another debate -- that the liberation of Afghan women has to be developed from within and not imposed by Western feminist ideas, grafted onto the country. What do you think?

Ms. Hassan: There is no doubt that women’s freedom is achieved by women themselves. Afghan women were very keen to get it. However, the current government -- which was established based on the Afghan Constitution -- has also paved the way for the freedom of women.

Afghan women, like men, have suffered a lot from the insecurity in the country. Afghan women believe in freedom and are ready to take a lot of risks -- even sacrificing themselves -- to achieve and maintain freedom.

There is no doubt that the support provided by donor countries and international organizations to the Afghan people has played an important role in achieving the freedom we have today.

Their support provided many opportunities for women and helped in achieving freedom for women.

Overall, Afghan women sacrificed themselves to achieve freedom. In the past few years, we witnessed the killing and injuring of dozens of women’s activists around the country.

It should be noted that, based on Islam, as well as the Afghan Constitution, women and men have equal rights.

Women’s rights are clearly specified in the Afghan Constitution and the religion of Islam. Women can work, get an education, decide about their future and actively participate in the country’s political life.

In the current situation of Afghanistan -- with three decades of conflict -- women and men are facing problems and challenges. The international community can support women to improve their security and safety.

They can also help to fight corruption at high governmental levels so that women will not lose the chance to benefit from continued international support and donations, and invest in women’s economic empowerment and capacity building.

Women should be supported to build their capabilities and participate in political, economic and cultural processes to solve their problems and open a window of hope for the future of all women and girls.