The government of the South Asian state of Afghanistan, formerly considered a conservative country by the Taliban, has approved the inclusion of the mother's name on children's birth certificates.
In Afghanistan, only the father's name is written on children's birth certificates, while it is considered improper to write women's names on wedding invitations and even on their grave books.
Due to the growing population and the fact that the father has the same name as the children, there have been some identity problems in Afghanistan in recent years, after which women's rights organizations and activists have included the mother's name in the birth certificate. The campaign was launched.
For some time now, there has been a campaign in Afghanistan with the hashtag 'Where is my name' and during the same campaign, Naheed Farid, Chairman of the Committee on Women's Affairs of Afghanistan and Member of Parliament, introduced a bill to amend the birth laws.
According to Reuters, the proposed law, introduced by Naheed Farid, proposed to include the mother's name in the birth certificate, and the Afghan cabinet met on September 1 to discuss the bill.
A meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee was held under the chairmanship of Vice President Muhammad Sarwar Danish, in which the proposed law presented by Naheed Farid was reviewed and approved.
The Cabinet Committee approved an amendment to the Population Registration Rules and allowed the inclusion of the mother's name in the birth certificate.
With the approval of the Cabinet Committee, the bill will now be introduced in Parliament, after which the President will sign the bill.
Although the government has allowed the inclusion of the mother's name in the birth certificate, it is thought that the proposed bill in parliament will face opposition from conservative politicians and the government may fail to pass the bill. Whatever happens.
The government is trying to get the bill passed by the parliament, which will continue till September 21 this month.
While the government has allowed the inclusion of the mother's name in birth certificates, the decision has been criticized by those who held key positions in the Taliban era in the past, calling it a law of Europe and the United States.
On the other hand, organizations and leaders working for women's rights expressed satisfaction over the government's decision, saying that the decision would give women their identity centuries later.
