KABUL(SW):Studies carried out by United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), suggest that some 87 percent of Afghan women have experienced at least one form of violence and 62 percent have experienced multiple forms of violence in their lifetime.
Sharifullah Haqmal, an envoy at the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Monday at “Journalist Orientation Workshop on Gender-based Violence” that the rate of violence against women differs from province to province.
He said the difference between the violence depends on the community one lives in. He said that based on their findings, 35 percent of women faced direct violence. He added that 70 percent of such violence are committed by the close members of the victims’ families.
Officials at the UNPF said that humiliation, beating and curse words could be considered as sexual and psychological violence. They also said that out of physical violence, psychological and sexual abuses have been on the rise.
Abdul Basit, an envoy at the UNPF, said that most of the victims who have experienced sexual abuse for various reasons feel absence of a specific body to register their complaints. The victims also hesitate in registering what they have gone through.
Abdul Basit said that some victims fear embarrassment for reporting the violence they have fallen victim to, which could be another reason why they remain unnoticed.
Based on the studies, victims face huge challenges after the violence.
UNPF and the Ministry of Public Health have set-up facilities and centers where victims can seek psychological treatment. These centers have been active in Kabul, Nangarhar, Herat, Balkh, Bamiyan and Baghlan provinces since 2013 and have treated 140 victims so far. Most of the complaints registered in these centers, have been related to physical and psychological violence.
Violence against women surges in Samangan
Officials at Women’s Affairs Department in Samangan, said that the rate of violence against women has increased in the first eight months of the current year compared to last year.
Khadija Hasani, Head of Women’s Affairs in Samangan, told a press conference on Monday that 123 cases of violence against women were registered during the last year in Samangan, however in the first 8 months of the current year, 185 cases of violence have been registered.
Mawlawi Hanifi, one of the religious scholars in Samangan, blamed lack of awareness, forced marriages and the practice of exchanging girls in feuds as the main causes for the surge in violence.
He urged all religious scholars to preach legal rights of women in the light of Islam. Afghanistan is one of 187 countries, which have signed the conventions for eradicating violence against women and is obliged to act accordingly but despite all efforts, this phenomenon still widely exists.
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