KABUL (SW) – Over 2000 cases of violence against women have been registered in 9 provinces of the country in the past eight months alone.
Officials in the provinces of Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pul, Baghlan, Samangan, Helmand, Balkh, Bamyan, Parwan and Herat said that in the last eight months some 2004 cases of violence against women have been officially registered.
According to officials, rape, murder, expulsion, torture, forced marriage, humiliation, and escape from home are among the cases filed in this regard. Baghlan's women department officials said there have been 150 cases of violence against women here this year so far.
Uranus Atefi, director of women's affairs department in Baghlan, said the incidents included physical abuse, escape from home, and non-payment of expenses, murder, forced marriage and exchange of girl to settle deadly feuds.
Officials in Samangan province say more than 250 cases of violence against women have been registered here. Banu Shirzad, director of women's affairs, said they have resolved close to 100 cases with the support of local elders.
In Herat, officials said 801 cases of violence against women have been registered in the province. Herat's head of women’s affairs, Anissa Serwari, said there is a 21 per cent increase in cases of violence against women in the province.
Jawzjan’s department of women’s affairs, reported a decrease in cases of violence against women. Head of the women’s affairs department, Muslima Ghanizada, said awareness-raising programs through mosques and other educational programs in the provincial capital and districts have reduced violence against women.
Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, and the start of 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, the UN in Afghanistan called on the Government and the Afghan people to further efforts to end sexual and gender-based violence, including impunity for these crimes.
This year’s theme –“Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape”– focuses on supporting and amplifying voices of survivors and advocates for an end to sexual violence and rape.
“We hear the strong voice of Afghan women survivors. Notwithstanding the risks and challenges to their safety, including within their own communities, they stand up to advocate for an end to sexual and gender-based violence. We must stand alongside them,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, who is also head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) “Ongoing impunity and the pervasive normalization of sexual and gender-based violence must end.”
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