Posts tagged women

Afghan Outlook reports, as many do, on the recent UN report  - ‘A Long Way To Go’ - on the implementation of the EVAW (Elimination of Violence Against Women) law in Afghanistan. This is a law - only two years old - that criminalises violence against women and children, forced marriage and marriage to settle disputes as well as forced self-immolation. Before this law, there was no specific legal basis for police to bring cases against these crimes. So how well has the law been used? At the UN press conference I attended yesterday, the spokespeople plus Afghan womens rights tried to put a positive spin on the fact that, at least in some cases, the law was being used to prosecute cases. But, the facts are pretty grim. Of 2,229 cases of violence against women (and that’s only the cases that were reported), only 4% eventually came to court under the law. Folks, that includes murder, rape (of children as well), forced prostitution and self-immolation through family pressure. A recent case that has found much publicity is one of an Afghan women forced to marry her rapist or face 12 years in prison. This CNN piece takes a look at the story, while Jerome Starkey from The Times has brought to light that a documentary about her has been ‘censored’ by the EU, apparently for the safety of the woman in question. Steffan de Mistura, the senior UN representative in Afghanistan said that women’s rights would be the legacy of the international effort in Afghanistan, but apart from in the most urban centres (and often not even here), women find it hard to exercise even basic rights like leaving the house or sending their daughters to school. Sure, more girls are in school now than ever, but that’s because it was outright banned during the Taliban times and now a lot of money and effort is going into making sure girls are in school. Women’s issues are always tricky in Afghanistan, because you’re treading on the toes of deeply held cultural pride. Women are property to many and you’re not going to change that attitude in a few years. There are some very brave, very clever Afghan women leading advocacy groups like Women for Afghan Women or Young Women for Change. The latter led the widely publicised march through Kabul against street harassment that I blogged about last July and, recently, one of the founders has blogged about at the New York Times. But they face great problems, even from the government, who recently tried to shut down all privately run women’s shelters, calling them ‘brothels’. In fact, the government run shelters are little more than prisons, where women running away from abuse can often expect to be charged with ‘moral crimes’ (including rape being considered adultery) or, even worse, being handed back to their abusers. It’s the tendency in Afghan culture to mediate. Afghans are great negotiators and diplomats and keeping the peace in a community often takes priority. It’s understandable in a country where discord has led to tragedy, war and genocide. But often the sacrificial lamb at the centre of mediation are women and children - bought and sold to resolve these disputes. A two-year-old law passed by a weak and distant government and implemented by nobody in distant rural areas is unlikely to change this. Read the report here (downloads PDF file).

Afghan Outlook reports, as many do, on the recent UN report  - ‘A Long Way To Go’ - on the implementation of the EVAW (Elimination of Violence Against Women) law in Afghanistan.

This is a law - only two years old - that criminalises violence against women and children, forced marriage and marriage to settle disputes as well as forced self-immolation. Before this law, there was no specific legal basis for police to bring cases against these crimes.

So how well has the law been used? At the UN press conference I attended yesterday, the spokespeople plus Afghan womens rights tried to put a positive spin on the fact that, at least in some cases, the law was being used to prosecute cases. But, the facts are pretty grim. Of 2,229 cases of violence against women (and that’s only the cases that were reported), only 4% eventually came to court under the law.

Folks, that includes murder, rape (of children as well), forced prostitution and self-immolation through family pressure.

A recent case that has found much publicity is one of an Afghan women forced to marry her rapist or face 12 years in prison. This CNN piece takes a look at the story, while Jerome Starkey from The Times has brought to light that a documentary about her has been ‘censored’ by the EU, apparently for the safety of the woman in question.

Steffan de Mistura, the senior UN representative in Afghanistan said that women’s rights would be the legacy of the international effort in Afghanistan, but apart from in the most urban centres (and often not even here), women find it hard to exercise even basic rights like leaving the house or sending their daughters to school. Sure, more girls are in school now than ever, but that’s because it was outright banned during the Taliban times and now a lot of money and effort is going into making sure girls are in school.

Women’s issues are always tricky in Afghanistan, because you’re treading on the toes of deeply held cultural pride. Women are property to many and you’re not going to change that attitude in a few years.

There are some very brave, very clever Afghan women leading advocacy groups like Women for Afghan Women or Young Women for Change. The latter led the widely publicised march through Kabul against street harassment that I blogged about last July and, recently, one of the founders has blogged about at the New York Times.

But they face great problems, even from the government, who recently tried to shut down all privately run women’s shelters, calling them ‘brothels’. In fact, the government run shelters are little more than prisons, where women running away from abuse can often expect to be charged with ‘moral crimes’ (including rape being considered adultery) or, even worse, being handed back to their abusers.

It’s the tendency in Afghan culture to mediate. Afghans are great negotiators and diplomats and keeping the peace in a community often takes priority. It’s understandable in a country where discord has led to tragedy, war and genocide.

But often the sacrificial lamb at the centre of mediation are women and children - bought and sold to resolve these disputes. A two-year-old law passed by a weak and distant government and implemented by nobody in distant rural areas is unlikely to change this.

Read the report here (downloads PDF file).

"Hollering Back" against street harrassment in Kabul

It’s to my great shame that I was unable to attend the march against street harassment in Kabul, organised by Young Women For Change, the other day.

It was covered by friend Atia Abawi at NBC and very deftly by my favourite link-to blogger, Una Moore at UN Dispatch here and here.

I can’t emphasise how brave these women (and a few men) were to take to the streets in the face of men openly spitting at them. They had protection from the police today, but, next time they face harassment in the street alone, I’ll put a lot of money on the police not only failing to protect them, but joining in.

A woman walking the streets alone in Kabul is widely interpreted as an invitation to harass - men will shout at you, follow you or try to touch you. Being very tall, I’m able to walk around my neighbourhood mostly unbothered apart from the constant, ‘how are yous?’ that are less friendly enquiries and more attempts to unsettle and intimidate you.

But women more slightly built than I or walking in less friendly neighbourhoods than mine are targets for much worse. One friend of mine was grabbed by her chest in an alleyway and another was slapped very hard on the rear. Both were shocked and the first was lucky to get away. These were both in broad daylight.

It doesn’t matter if you’re covered up, be it your head, face or entire being. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, single or married. But the reaction from police or officials is widely that women somehow deserve that kind of treatment by simply being on the street. A simple task to buy food for dinner becomes running the gauntlet.

Of course, this kind of behaviour is not confined to Afghanistan or even the east. I’ve blogged before about street harassment in London here. But in Kabul it can be far more threatening, even life-threatening in some cases like when girls going to school have acid thrown in their faces. It’s also a very clear sign of the rise of conservatism within the Afghan government. Yet another friend of mine reported that, until recently, she used to walk in Shar-e-Nau park with a group of female friends every Friday. These days, men shout at them to get out and boys throw stones. You have to wonder whether these people have mothers or sisters.

The presence of international media at the march has helped get the message out, but I do worry that the association of these Afghan women marching for change with foreigners may set the conservative mind even more against them. But better that they are heard than not, I suppose. Once again, these are very brave women tackling an incredibly difficult subject.