Women in Kandahar face huge obstacles to accessing justice, according to participants in an IWPR debate held in the southern Afghan province.
Nearly 100 women took part in a vigorous discussion about gender inequality in which they had the chance to ask tough questions of local officials and activists.
One issue highlighted by participants was a serious lack of support for those who wanted to report domestic abuse or other mistreatment.
Unaware of basic rights
Nuri said her department had managed to resolve 180 complaints made by women in Kandahar city over the past year, but it her department had no capacity whatsoever outside the provincial centre.
Nonetheless, she said, she was liaising with a number of NGOs to help women living in more remote parts of the province.
Women were often completely unaware of their basic rights, she said.
Female court workers sent away for their own safety
Jamshid said the courts had prosecuted 39 cases involving abuse of women over the last year.
He too said that many women were unaware of how to proceed in legal matters.
He agreed that it would be helpful to employ more women to deal with such issues, but said that security concerns made this problematic.
Women retract complaints after threats
Some participants in the debate said the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) was not doing enough to help women.
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