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Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 3:07 PM
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Subject: Afghanistan - Rape a Serious Problem but No Law Protection for
Victims
WUNRN
Rape
a "Huge Problem" in Afghanistan - UN
08
July 2009
Source:
Reuters
By
Golnar Motevalli
KABUL,
July 8 (Reuters) - Afghan law does not protect rape victims and for too long
communities have turned to traditional forms of justice which tend to
criminalise victims of a profound problem, the United Nations said on
Wednesday.
"This
is an issue that is under-reported and to a significant extent concealed, but
it is a huge problem in Afghanistan," Norah Niland, the United Nations'
human rights representative in Afghanistan, told a panel of Afghan women.
A
U.N. report, the full version of which is yet to be published, described rape
as an everyday occurence.
A
summary of the report said that in northern Afghanistan, for example, more than
a third of cases analysed showed rapists were directly linked to local leaders
who are immune from arrest.
Those
likely to commit rape are close family members, men who work in prisons or
orphanages and men in powerful positions either in state-run institutions or in
armed groups and criminal gangs, it said.
In
many communities, shame is attached to a victim of rape rather than the
criminal, the report said.
Families
will often resort to the traditional and religious practices of
"baad" and "zina" to save face, either by insisting the
victim marry the rapist or prosecuting her for sexual relations outside of
marriage.
Afghanistan's
penal code does not explicitly address the crime of rape or define it,
something which the government must address urgently, the report said.
Sima
Samar, head of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, said the
government had been reluctant to face the problem of rape, a taboo in
conservative Muslim Afghanistan, but it should implement a new rape law soon.
"I
have to admit that they are not very receptive ... but we have to resist and
change that," Samar said.
She
said existing laws treat adultery and rape as the same crime.
Samar
also said that too much attention had been paid to military efforts in
Afghanistan, often at the cost of implementing effective programmes which
address the country's deep social problems.
The
report recommended that traditional community meetings and councils, such as
"jirgas" or "shuras", should not be used to address rape
cases because they do not respect women's rights and often lead to baad or
zina.
Although
the panel consisted of urban, educated Afghan women, Samar said that shuras in
rural parts of Afghanistan should be receptive to the report's message.
"It depends who takes that risk and breaks that taboo and silence,"
she said. (Editing by Paul Tait)
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