“Judges, prosecutors and police in many parts of Afghanistan have
begun to use the new law which is a positive development, but
unfortunately only in a small percentage of violence against women
cases,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
Pillay.
“Although the law’s implementation is clearly growing, there is a
very long way to go before Afghan women are fully protected from
violence and their equality is properly upheld through this important
law,” she added.
Enacted in August 2009, the landmark Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law criminalises
child marriage, forced marriage, selling and buying women for the
purpose or under the pretext of marriage, baad (giving away a woman or
girl to settle a dispute), forced self-immolation and 17 other acts of
violence against women including rape and beating. It also specifies
punishment for perpetrators.
The 33-page United Nations report entitled A Long Way to Go:
Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women law in
Afghanistan, found both positive progress and gaps in the implementation
of the law in the period from March 2010 to September 2011.
The report is based on 261 interviews with judicial, police and
Government officials and UNAMA/United Nations human rights office
monitoring of numerous violence against women cases throughout
Afghanistan. The report analyses statistical data on the law’s
application by judicial and law enforcement authorities in 31 of
Afghanistan’s 34 provinces in its first full year of implementation (21
March 2010 - 20 March 2011) with additional research over the following
six months.
The report notes that comprehensive official statistics on the number
of cases of violence against women in Afghanistan are not available and
most incidents are unreported. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights
Commission registered 2,299 incidents of violence against women that
could be defined as crimes under the EVAW law between March 2010 and
March 2011. Using the available figure of 2,299 incidents as a baseline
estimate, United Nations human rights officials found that prosecutors
in 28 provinces opened cases in 26 percent of the total 2,299 incidents
(i.e. 594 cases). They filed indictments in seven percent (155 cases)
and primary courts relied on the EVAW law as the basis of their
judgments in only four percent of total incidents (101 cases).
“The justice sector in some provinces has applied the EVAW law which
is encouraging. But the low number of cases prosecuted and tried shows
that a much more active collective effort by justice system actors,
Government decision-makers and others is needed to urge judicial and
local authorities to apply the law to all cases of violence against
women,” said Staffan de Mistura, Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA. “Progress on the
status of Afghan women over the last ten years, including their 38
percent access to schools, their 69 MPs in Parliament and some women who
have qualified as airplane pilots, is undermined by uneven
implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women Law.”
Prosecutors in 17 provinces filed indictments under the law. Herat province led the country, with
68
EVAW law indictments filed and 35 cases tried. The Special Violence
against Women Unit of the Attorney General’s Office in Kabul opened
approximately half of all cases in the country – 285 from Kabul, in
addition to 47 received from 19 other provinces. However, its record of
filing indictments with the courts was comparatively small: a total of
only 21 indictments were filed in Kabul courts from March 2010 to March
2011.
The report determined that many cases of violence against Afghan
women were withdrawn or mediated including serious crimes that would
require prosecution. United Nations human rights officials found that
some murder cases and other serious crimes criminalised under the EVAW
law were instead prosecuted under the Penal Code or Sharia law. This
sometimes resulted in acquittal of perpetrators, reduction of charges to
less serious crimes, convictions with lighter sentences and women
victims themselves being accused of “moral crimes”. The report also
found that police and prosecutors in many regions continued to refer a
majority of cases of violence against women to traditional dispute
resolution mechanisms that did not enforce the EVAW law or adequately
protect women’s rights.
Mediation was used extensively for domestic violence complaints by
institutions including the Police Family Response Unit, Department of
Women’s Affairs, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the
Special Violence against Women Unit of the Attorney General’s Office.
While mediation was sometimes preferred by women complainants, the
report found that authorities often inappropriately pressured women to
withdraw complaints and opt for mediation.
The report said that provincial branches of the Commission for the
Prevention of Violence against Women are struggling to fulfill their
mandate and require more support from provincial Governors, the national
Ministry of Women’s Affairs and other government bodies. Of the 28
provincial branches established since the EVAW law was enacted, only 16
are still functioning currently and meeting regularly.
“As long as women and girls are subject to violence with impunity
that violates their human rights, little meaningful and sustainable
progress for women’s rights can be achieved in Afghanistan,” said
Georgette Gagnon, Director of Human Rights for UNAMA. “Ensuring rights
for Afghan women – such as their participation in public life, including
in the peace and reconciliation process and equal opportunities in
education and employment – requires not only legal safeguards on paper,
but speedy and full enforcement of the EVAW law.”
To improve implementation of the EVAW law, UNAMA and the United
Nations human rights office made 32 recommendations to the Government
and its international partners, including to make a much greater effort
to raise awareness of the law among Afghan women and men and within all
levels of the Government; to have the Supreme Court, Ministry of
Interior and Attorney General’s Office instruct all officials to apply
the law consistently, rapidly and efficiently; and, to train police,
prosecutors and judges on how to apply the law. The report called on
international donors to support and fully fund the 2008-2018 National
Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) and the National
Priority Programs on Law and Justice for All and Capacity Development to
Accelerate NAPWA Implementation.
Excerpts from the Report
Examples of application of the EVAW law:
· Herat prosecutors applied Article 22 of the EVAW law and Article
395 of the Penal Code to pursue a double murder. Two sisters, age 15 and
17, were killed in Karukh district of Herat in July 2010. Reportedly,
the 17-year-old had refused to marry a man her family had chosen for
her. Five people, including her would-be in-laws and two other men
attacked the two girls in their home and killed them. Police arrested
the five in October 2010. The Court of Appeals acquitted three of the
men, but sentenced the would-be husband and father-in-law to 16 years
imprisonment.
· In Jawzjan province, in March 2011, a district court found a former
ANA soldier guilty of forcing his wife into prostitution (EVAW Article
18). Injured and unable to work, the former soldier told his wife to
have sex with their landlord in exchange for rent. The wife refused and
reported the case. The husband confessed and was sentenced to three
years imprisonment; the Court of Appeals increased the sentence to seven
years.
· In March 2011, a woman reported her daughter’s forced suicide to
the (Kandahar) Family Response Unit. Her family had given away their
25-year old daughter in marriage for 300,000 Afghanis (US$6,600). Her
in-laws constantly berated the woman saying “Your parents took so much
money from us you must now pay it back by working in people’s homes.” In
February 2011, after ten years of marriage, the inlaws ordered her to
have sex with three male guests visiting the family. A month later, the
woman set fire to herself in her room. “She was always saying that she
would burn herself one day. I would tell her, please tolerate, this is
life as it comes and one day you will have a bright future,” the woman’s
mother said. Police recorded the mother’s complaint but made no attempt
to investigate. Forced self-immolation is one of several crimes the
EVAW law instructs must be pursued by police and prosecutors even in the
absence of a complainant.
· In Daikundi province, authorities referred a case of serious
violence against a woman to elders for resolution. The case involved a
man who stabbed his sister-in-law multiple times in November 2010. She
survived, was hospitalized and police arrested the perpetrator.
Authorities then reported the case had been resolved through the
informal justice system with the assistance of community elders. Their
resolution was a pledge from the man that he would leave his
sister-in-law in peace instead of prosecution. The prosecutor denied
responsibility, blaming the police for referring the case to the elders.
ENDS
Read the full report:
English: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/AF/UNAMA_Nov2011.pdf
Dari: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/AF/UNAMA_Nov2011_Dari.pdf
Pashto: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/AF/UNAMA_Nov2011_Pashto.pdf
UN Human Rights, country page – Afghanistan: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/AFIndex.aspx
