Afganske kvinder udsættes fortsat for overgreb så som vold, børneægteskaber, køb og salg. Det på trods af specifikke love, der beskytter kvinder. Senest er en lokal direktør for en “afdeling for kvinders anliggender” blevet myrdet.
KABUL, 11 December 2012 (UN News Centre): Afghan women continue to be targeted by acts of gender-based violence despite specific laws designed to protect them, a new report released by the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has warned.
Enacted in 2009, Afghanistan’s Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law criminalized numerous forms of violence, including
* child marriage,
* forced marriage, the selling and buying of women for the purpose or under the pretext of marriage,
* the traditional practice of ba’ad which requires the giving away of a woman or a girl to settle a dispute,
* forced self-immolation (selvbrænding) and
* 17 other acts of violence including rape and physical abuse.
The law specifies punishment for the perpetrators.
Fin lov, men håndhævelsen er nærmest ikke-eksisterende
Nevertheless, according to the new UN study, entitled “Still a Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence again Women in Afghanistan”, the use of the three-year old law continues to remain low and is frequently hampered by “dramatic” under-reporting of violence as well as a lack of investigations into most reported incidents.
In the Afghan capital of Kabul, UNAMA’s Human Rights Director, Georgette Gagnon, suggested that the under-reporting of incidences of violence against women was not only due to cultural restraints, social norms, and taboos.
“Prevailing insecurity and weak rule of law have further hampered women’s access to formal justice institutions,” Ms. Gagnon said.
She added, however, that of the 470 reported cases of violence against women, prosecutors had filed indictments (rejst tiltale) on 163 resulting in the conviction at trial of 100 cases – a 61 per cent success rate.
“This shows that in the small number of cases of violence against women that were investigated and prosecuted, use of EVAW law was more likely to result in justice for the women,” continued Ms. Gagnon.
The 42-page report, which covered 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, found an increase in the number of incidents registered by police and prosecutors compared with UNAMA findings from a year ago.
At the same time, it noted that insecurity and growing anti-Government activities were also dissuading women from reporting violence in volatile areas such as eastern Laghman province.
Skudt ned på vej til arbejde
While the increase in reports of violence against women represented a positive turn of events in the Central Asian country, Ms. Gagnon told the news briefing that much work remained to be done.
“Those incidents that reach law enforcement, that actually get to the court, or receive public attention due to their egregious nature represent only the tip of the iceberg of incidents of violence against women throughout the country,” she added.
On Monday, the acting Director of the Women’s Affairs Department in Laghman, Nadia Sidiqi, was shot and killed by two unidentified gunmen while on her way to work on a motorised rickshaw.
The UN Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Nicholas Haysom, said that women officials like Ms. Sidiqi were “targeted specifically for her high profile advocacy on issues of violence against women and promoting human rights.”
Man kan hente (downloade) hele den dystre rapport på
http://unama.unmissions.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Qy9mDiEa5Rw%3d&tabid=12254&language=en-US
Citat fra rapporten:
“I got married to a man in Sawa village of Anjil district five months ago. My husband and my father-in-law had beaten me without any reason several times. The repeated mistreatment had forced me to complain, but all in vain as the prosecutor (anklager) overlooked my petition and warned me to either withdraw the complaint or face imprisonment”.
Gift, 15-årig pige fra Herat-provinsen, hvis sag den afghanske FN-mission fulgte, og som blev udsat for gentagne slag og knivstik og endte med at sætte ild til sig selv 16. februar i år. Hun døde 23. februar efter forgæves behandling i Tyrkiet.
