Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Bob Carr. Can the minister update the Senate on the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan?

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Improving the lives of women and girls around the world is a top priority for this government. It is an important feature of Australia's ambitious aid program. We have advocated and continue to advocate for it strongly. I am proud to say that we will be hosting UN Women's Michelle Bachelet in Australia next week. She is an inspirational challenger for women's rights, and we are a great supporter of UN Women's work. We expect to be its second largest donor by 2015-16.

Afghanistan is an example of where practical programs are making a real difference. Afghanistan remains, of course, one of the worst countries in the world in which to be born female. Every two hours a woman dies in the country from pregnancy-related causes. Female life expectancy has increased, but it is still only 44 years. Over 80 per cent of women are illiterate, and violence against women is estimated to affect over 80 per cent of women. But our assistance is beginning to make a real difference. Under the Taliban there were virtually no girls in school. Today there are more than 2.5 million. We are seeing better representation in parliament: currently 28 per cent of parliamentarians in that country are women. So the challenges are very great, but the contribution we are making is already contributing to a better condition for girls and women in this war-torn country.

I said earlier that we will welcome Michelle Bachelet to Australia next week. She is an inspirational champion for women's rights. I expect to be able to talk to her about programs in Afghanistan where we are helping more girls to get an education and more women to deliver their babies safely, and reducing violence against women and girls.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for his answer, but can he advise the Senate of what the Australian government is doing to actually improve the situation there?

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Senate will appreciate that Australia has a great responsibility in Oruzgan province, where our lead role has made a difference to security outcomes. But, in terms of the contribution of Australian development aid, I can report with pride—and I think every Australian is entitled to be proud of this statistic—that we have constructed 227 schools in this province, including 39 girls schools. They were schools not there before Australia assumed these responsibilities. They were schools that did not exist when the Taliban ruled in Afghanistan. Five hundred women will participate in literacy groups. Eighty per cent of women in Oruzgan will receive at least one antenatal visit. We have trained 30 female master teachers trainers to get more women into the teaching profession.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister actually advise, particularly in relation to maternal health in the province, of what Australian support can offer?

Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One very sobering indicator out of Oruzgan province—again, an indicator of the poverty and the background of the whole country—is that every year around 300 mothers and 3,000 children under the age of five die. Nine out of 10 women give birth at home without any skilled support. AusAID is working with Save the Children to train midwives in Oruzgan. Forty-four female health workers have been recruited and 25 women have enrolled in the new midwifery school. The work is already saving lives. Twenty-three-year-old Basnura was trained through this program and is now training other midwives. She has experienced the all-too-common problems of women and their babies dying during childbirth. She now takes joy, with this training provided by Australia, in saving the lives of babies, in saving the lives of mothers and in teaching others to do the same. (Time expired)