Mr. President, every time we hear in this Parliament about the denial of basic human rights, like the right to vote or the right to stand for election, it should serve to strengthen our own resolve to promote and improve democracy in all parts of the world. So, although the vote of the Kuwaiti National Assembly on 30 November to deny those very rights to women in Kuwait was a deep disappointment, it offers some hope for the future. The closeness of the vote in November has strengthened the resolve of the women and men in Kuwait who are working for this change in the law. They have pledged not to give up the campaign. They have set the 2003 general and municipal elections as their target for the first time that women will ever vote in Kuwait. They are going to put forward a women's rights bill every year in the National Assembly until they succeed in doing that.

While we condemn the decision of the Kuwaiti National Assembly on 30 November it is also important for us to use our elected positions as parliamentarians to encourage and support those who want to bring about change. After all, it is not so long ago that women in many European Union countries were engaged in years of campaign and protest to win the right to vote and stand in elections. This was what brought about that change.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the suffrage movement was set up in 1860. It was not until 1918 that some women - not all - got the right to vote. It was not until 1928 that all women in the United Kingdom got the right to vote. So we have been through these campaigns before in other countries. If we look at an international level, by 1990 women had the right to vote in almost every country where men could vote as well. Only Kuwait extended the vote to men and not to women.

While it is difficult for most of us even to comprehend this kind of system, we have a responsibility to the people working there to support them in every way we can.

Mr President, I echo the sentiments of the two previous speakers in wholeheartedly welcoming this motion unequivocally to condemn the appalling human rights record of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and in particular the persecution of Afghan women in the name of religion and culture.

Women have borne the brunt of tragedy in Afghanistan through years of war. They have suffered a multitude of human rights abuses: rape, sexual assault, forced marriages and prostitution. The intimidation of women has been used as a means of dishonouring and dehumanising entire communities.

Since the Taliban regime took over in 1996, the plight of Afghan women has continued. A barbaric social code has been imposed, based on intimidation, humiliation and coercion of a female population that has been stripped of all its fundamental human rights. For Afghan women freedom of expression, freedom of employment, freedom to attend health and family-planning courses, access to education, all those things as we know them simply do not exist. Yet it was not until 15 October this year that the European Council took action on an air embargo and a freeze on funds to the Taliban. That was not as a result of the apartheid-style policies of the regime vis-à-vis women, but as the result of the Taliban protection of Mr Bin Laden. Nevertheless, I believe that this action should continue until the unacceptable discrimination against women in Afghanistan comes to an end.

The first speaker put it very well in saying that this resolution can play a part in that process. It may be a small part, but we certainly have a responsibility as a Parliament to play some part in bringing this regime and its inhumane policies to an end.