Afghan Woman; the Victim of ultra-conservatism and ultra-liberalism
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission released its annual report on violence against women last week (11 March, 2018). This report states that 4340 cases of violence against women became recorded in 1396 (2017) which shows a rise of 11.7% in compare to the records of 1395 (2016).
Violence against women in Afghanistan is considered one of the biggest social challenges in the country and hence the Afghan woman has been a victim of present ultra-conservatism and ultra-liberalism in the society. 8th of March has been also celebrating in Afghanistan where Afghan officials continuously talks about women’s human rights in the country; however, the situation is practically concerned due to existed ultra-conservatism and ultra-liberalism.
On one hand, if news on murdering of women as a result of demotic violence is published; on the other hand, sometimes, the shocking news of Honor cases are heard as well; and the most interesting things is that some high-rank officials and powerful people, in some cases, are involved in such issues. As an example of the latest incident, Pajhwok Afghan News reported that the second vice-chair of the Afghan Senate had tried to marry a married woman. [1]
Violence against women, the basic reasons behind it and the solutions for alleviating violence against women in Afghanistan are analyzed below.
Violence against Women in the World
The problem of violence against women is not limited to a region or a country, but this phenomenon is everywhere, especially it is widely present in the Western world. For example, only in 2013, about 13 million women were physically abused and 3.7 million others faced sexual aggression in the European Union. [2]
Also, every 9 seconds in the US. A woman is assaulted or beaten. On average, near 20 women per minute are physically abused. 1 In 5 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of sexual abuse in their life time[3]. According to a report by the FBI, 79770 rape cases were recorded in 2013 only[4].
The above statistics show that violence against women is not limited to a country or a geographical terrorist and that this phenomenon is existed in the entire countries of the world; however, it does not mean to condone the increasing and pitiable cases of violence against women in Afghanistan and not to make efforts for resolving this issue in the country.
Violence against women in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a traditional and religious society and most of its people are illiterate and they are unaware of women rights in Islam. Therefore, women are excluded from their natural and Islamic rights, even it is considered a “shameful action” and “taunt” if women ask for their legacy!
There was violence against women in Afghanistan in the past; but there was not a system for recording these cases and a lot of these cases were kept hidden. Of course, the cases of violence against women are being enlightened and recorded by counter-violence administrations, laws and media.
Despite establishment of a separate ministry for women in 2001 and after the formation of new system, women’s participation also became increased in the government and thus, Afghanistan is even forerunner from a lot of counties in the world in this regard. For example, the share of women in present Afghan Parliament is more than what it is in France, Russia, Japan, India, Pakistan and many other countries. There share is also increased in education, government and NGOs in compare to the past. Besides that, some law in support of women’s human rights became ratified; yet, violence against women in different types of it is in upsurge every year.
According to information by Afghan Attorney General’s Office, more than 1700 cases of violence against women were recorded from the beginning of 1396 till its eight month which included 995 cases of beating, 147 cases of rape, 134 cases of verbal abuse and 115 cases of harassment.
Moreover, the latest report of Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission also indicates increase in violence against women in compare to previous year. 1420 cases of physical violence, 228 sexual violence, 1317 cases of verbal and physiological violence, 749 cases of economic violence and 629 cases of other types of violence against women became recorded in 1396 (2017) only by this report.
Reasons behind Violence against Women
The main factors behind violence against women in the country are as following:
Unawareness of people about Women Rights in Islam: Illiteracy and sciolism in the country has resulted in unawareness or misinterpretation of some people when it comes to Women Rights and Position in the Islamic Law.
Ultra-Conservatism and Ultra-Liberalism: The human rights of women are overridden in our country from one hand; and from other hand; there is a detesting condition of ultra-conservatism that, contralto to entire social values, has excluded the Afghan women and has impacted the support of women’s human rights in the society negatively. Furthermore, laws and rules for tackling violence against women are made that are not only contrary to the Islamic prescriptions, but, in meantime, they provoke harsh and adverse reaction of the community as well.
Ultra-conservatism and ultra-liberalism has resulted in sensitivity of people to thes issues and thus, it is counted as the most important reason behind related shocking events that the case of Farkhunda, a young girl killed in 1393 in Kabul city, could be exampled.
Ignorance and Lack of Education and Knowledge: Ignorance, illiteracy or sciolism are other important factors behind violence against women in the society. It is why most of the heinous cases came to ground in remote and rural areas and so the cases of violence against women by illiterate or unlearned persons in the country are on the rise.
Impact of Align Culture: From 2001, due to the uncontrolled freedom of media, the alien culture is being promoted in the country and it still has had very negative impacts on the Afghan society. It is due to this strange culture that the rate of divorce had increased, women are being abused in public places and the cases of rape are also on the rise, and such incidents even also took place with relatives and children as well.
Corruption and Weakness in Implementation of the Law: Lack of rule of law and existence of corruption in judiciary organs of Afghanistan are also counted as factors behind increase in cases of violence against women in the country.
What should be done?
As the scale of violence against women in the country is on the rise every year, so rising the public awareness on women’s rights, raising educational level, especially in the remote areas of the country, considering the role of Ulema in making people to understand about women’s rights in Islam and struggle against corruption in judiciary and security organs are most needed in order to prevent such unsavory cases in the country.
The Afghan government is yet to have any efficient performance, especially in remote areas of the country, when it comes preventing the rise of heinous incidents of violence against women, contrary to that, there are beliefs in the community that not only the efforts of government and international community were not effective in improving women’s conditions, but these efforts are considered as incentive of uncontrolled freedom in this issue which naturally results in ultra-conservatism.
The End
[1] Please refer to Pajhwok Afghan News for details:
[2] See Online: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-vaw-survey-main-results-apr14_en.pdf
[3] See the statistics of American national coalition against domestic violence in the link below:
http://www.ncadv.org/learn/statistics
[4] See the details for statistics of rape issue in the official website of FBI:
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/1tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_1_crime_in_the_united_states_by_volume_and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1994-2013.xls