Uncounted and Discounted, a study of more than 1,300 cases reported to
authorities between January 2003 and June 2005, found that violence against
women – whether sexual, physical or psychological – affects all branches of
Afghan society, regardless of the woman’s marital status or her level of
education or employment.
At a briefing in Kabul today, UNIFEM’s Afghanistan Director Meryem Aslan told
reporters that local women seeking help from violence need improved access to
public services, given that the traditional support structure for women – the
family – is often the source of the violence.
“I would guess if Afghanistan progresses better economically, and women and
men in this country get a better economic situation, women will at least be able
to seek help more easily,” she said.
More than eight out of every 10 acts of violence is committed by a family
member such as a husband, father-in-law, son or cousin. In many of the remaining
cases the perpetrator is someone known to the woman. The study found that women
committed about 10 per cent of the violent acts.
Ms. Aslan cited several examples of cases examined in the study, including
one where village elders ruled that a six-year-old girl who had been promised in
marriage to an older man who then died should marry another member of his family
instead, despite the girl’s refusal. In another case, a woman was charged and
jailed for adultery was then raped by prison guards and not allowed to see her
children.
The study was conducted in part because there is very little research or
formal records of violence against in women, Ms. Aslan added, and most experts
suspect that the violence is widely under-reported.
But she said there are limited attempts to tackle the problem, including safe
houses for victims of domestic violence in the cities of Kabul, Herat and
Mazar-e-Sharif and some legal aid programmes. __________________________________________________________________