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1 amnesty international International Secretariat Peter Benenson House 1 Easton Street London WC1X 0DW United Kingdom Website: www.amnesty.org Contents: 1. Introduction 3 Research for this report 5 2. Due Diligence 7 3. An ongoing culture of violence 8 4. Political and security environment for women 9 5. The nature and scale of violence 12 6. Forms of violence against women 12 Forced marriages 12 Child marriages 15 Poverty and forced marriage 17 Violence in the family 18 Violence by armed groups 20 Death by self-immolation 23 Perceptions of violence 25 7. Afghan women human rights defenders 27 8. Women and access to justice 29 Failure to investigate by the police 30 Failure to understand the applicable law and the crime of ‘running away’. 31 Failure to provide legal representation 32 Women in prison 32 Testimonies of some female inmates in Mazar -e-Sharif and Kandahar women’s prison – 34 9. Customary and informal justice systems 36 10. Afghanistan’s domestic laws and policies 38 The new Constitution 38 Penal Code 39 11. Violence against women in international law 39

2 12. Conclusion 42 13. Recommendations for the protection of women suffering violence 44 National laws and practices 45 Protective measures by the state 46 Informal justice systems 46 14. Access to and protection by the justice system 47 Law enforcement and protection 47 Education and employment 48 Provision of assistance and support 48 Amnesty International calls on the Afghan authorities to: 48 To the international community and donor states 49 To NATO member states contributing to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF): 49 To the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) 49

Afganistan Women still under attack- a systematic failure to protect Afghanistan Stop Violence against Women Introduction “At the moment, there are more pressing issues… a civil servant has too much on his mind to deal with women’s rights. It’s a matter of priorities.” Governor of Kandahar, Amnesty International interview,13 September 2004. “Today, wo men play an important role in Afghanistan…of course women in Afghanistan still face challenges. Girls are married in their childhood or married off to resolve disputes. These practices are cruel, against our religion and no longer acceptable”.¹ President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, International Women’s Day, Kabul, 8 March 2005 Throughout the world, women are victims of violence on a daily basis whether in the context of peace or in conflict. Perpetrators may be officials of the state, armed opposition 1 President Karzai Congratulates Women on International Women’s Day – Excerpts from President’s Speech”, press release from the office of the spokesman to the President, 8 March 2005. groups or individuals – including family members. Violence against women and girls in Afghanistan is pervasive; few women are exempt from the reality or threat of violence. Afghan women and girls live with the risk of: abduction and rape by armed individuals; forced marriage; being traded for settling disputes and debts; and face daily discrimination from all segments of society as well as by state officials. Strict societal codes, invoked in the name of tradition and religion, are used as justification for denying women the ability to enjoy their fundamental rights, and have led to the imprisonment of some women, and even to killings. Should they protest by running away, the authorities may imprison them. Afghanistan is in the process of reconstruction after many years of conflict, but hundreds of thousands of women and girls continue to suffer abuse at the hands of their husbands, fathers, brothers, armed individuals, parallel legal systems, and institutions of the state itself such as the police and the justice system. There are reported increases in forced marriages; some women in difficult situations have even killed themselves to escape such a heinous

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 4 situation whilst others burn themselves to death to draw attention to their plight. ² Husbands, brothers and fathers are the main perpetrators of violence in the home but the social control and the power that they exercise is reinforced by the authorities, whether of the state or from informal justice systems such as shuras and jirgas.³ Members of factional and militia forces are also responsible for perpetrating violence. In some instances, female members of the family have a role in upholding patriarchal structures, and may also commit violence. However, male members of society perpetrate the overwhelming majority of acts of violence against women. Violence against women is widely tolerated by the community and widely practiced. It is tolerated at the highest levels of government and judiciary. Abusers are rarely prosecuted; if cases are prosecuted, the accused are often exonerated or punished lightly. Impunity seems to exist for such violence. The authorities seldom carry out investigations into complaints of violent attacks, rape, murders or suicides of women. Women who report rape face being locked up and accused of having committed crimes of zina.⁴ Laws frequently discriminate against women and are otherwise inadequate to protect the rights of women. International laws place a duty on the Afghan state to refrain from committing violations of human rights and to protect women from violence committed not only by agents of the state but also by private individuals and groups. Under international human rights standards, states are accountable if they torture, arbitrarily detain, violate the right to life or discriminate in their laws, policies and practices. They must also exercise due diligence to secure women’s 2 Although the exact rate of self-immolations, by which such apparent suicides are known, (khud-soozi in Dari) remains unknown across Afghanistan, the sub offices of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), in Herat in particular, has recorded numerous cases over the last two years. ³Jirga (Pashtun) or shura (Dari) are gatherings of almost exclusively male elders. ⁴Zina laws are laws which criminalize sexual relations outside marriage. rights, including the right to equality, life, liberty and security, and freedom from discrimination, torture and cruel and inhuman and degrading treatment. They must have laws, policies and plans to fulfil these rights, to protect women from abuses of these rights, and provide redress and reparation to those whose rights have been violated. States are accountable not only for their own acts but also for the acts of others such as armed groups, informal justice mechanisms, or individuals, such as family members if there has been a widespread failure of effort on their part to end violence against women. The challenge to repair almost three decades of breakdown of law and order is visible through ongoing insecurity throughout Afghanistan and particularly manifested in widespread violence against women. The unstable environment reinforces inequality and discrimination whilst the rule of law remains elusive. In comparison, traditional and customary practices and codes have shown a remarkable resilience in maintaining their role as conduits of social order, raising disturbing questions as to the male dominated society’s understanding of violence perpetrated against women. Nevertheless, the need to combat violence against women is gaining ground and support in Afghanistan. Emerging networks of women human rights defenders are advancing a women’s rights agenda across urban and rural areas. Some women are coming forward in small numbers, mainly in urban areas, and are beginning to report violence, particularly in the family, to their local Afghan Independent Human Rights Offices (AIHRC). Victims of family violence, mainly from urban areas have started to assert their rights, notably to divorce, and contributed to bringing the issue of the protection of women to national attention. This report highlights the failure of the state to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of women and girls. It is not a comprehensive study of violations and abuses perpetrated against women in Afghanistan. It seeks instead to

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 5 provide examples that highlight the inability, and at times the lack of will, of the government and its institutions - in their current state - to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of women. It documents abuses perpetrated against women and girls in Afghanistan, including; forced and underage marriage; sexual violence; violations of the right to mental and physical integrity; deprivation of life and liberty; denial of freedom of movement; and the very present risk of torture and ill-treatment. Amnesty International calls on the state to ensure that women are free from violence, whether committed by the institutions or agents of the state; members of the community; informal justice systems or by a family member, the state is required also to hold perpetrators to account. The organization also calls on the international donor community for Afghanistan to encourage and support the Afghan government in ending crimes against women through sustained commitment to rebuilding of the country in ways that enable women to realise their rights. Afghanistan has ratified, without reservations, the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as well as other relevant human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It is obliged to bring its domestic law and practice into conformity with these treaties. In particular, the government has the responsibility to ensure that customary and religious practices which are in conflict with these treaties in general, and which abuse women’s human rights in particular, are prohibited. According to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women; “ States should condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination. In order to eliminate gender-based violence, the Declaration urges states to ‘Refrain from engaging in violence against women;’ and to ‘ Exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons.’⁵ Research for this report This report is part of the global Amnesty International campaign to Stop Violence Against Women. The campaign highlights the need for states to meet their international and national commitments to stopping violence against women. It calls on states and communities to refrain from committing violence, to prevent violence being committed by others and ensure that discrimination in law, custom and practice is ended. It holds to account states to ensure that a secure environment is created for women to access justice and make their rights a reality. Amnesty International undertook research for this report in February, August and September 2004. The researchers visited Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-e Sharif. Interviews were held with women detainees in Mazar-e Sharif, Kandahar and Kabul and with provincial representatives of; the judiciary and police, administrators and prosecutors; the Ministries of Women’s Affairs (MOWA), Justice, Interior, Education, Culture and Information and Islamic Guidance (Ershad – group sessions were held with women, in Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif. Discussion groups were held with men in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif. In a few instances, Afghan men and women were willing to talk in a joint forum with Amnesty International delegates, in all the aforementioned cities. Amnesty International held in-depth interviews 5 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, A/RES/48/104

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 6 with staff of the sub offices of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in all four locations. In addition, representatives of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), UNIFEM, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), donor governments, and national non- governmental organisations (NGOs) were interviewed. Gathering information on this sensitive issue proved to be a difficult task. Whilst it was relatively easy to discuss the topic with the Afghan government, NGOs and international governmental organisations (IGOs), obtaining direct interviews with female victims proved more problematic. Some of those interviewed told Amnesty International delegates that violence against women was excessive, but most were unwilling to name their experiences as violence, indicating that violence was widespread and normalised. Some men were often unaware that women have concerns relating to their human rights. Amnesty International wishes to thank the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) for its invaluable support in allowing access to its staff and information in the aforementioned cities and for coordinating visits to the women’s prison in Kabul and Kandahar. The organization wishes to thank all individuals and agencies in Afghanistan, both Afghan and international, for their valuable insights, time and knowledge. Above all, Amnesty International is grateful to the numerous victims, women and girls, who courageously allowed us to highlight their plight and suffering and who experience liberation in name only. Violence against women The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women⁶ states in Article 1: “…the term ‘violence against women’ means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” According to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,⁷ gender-based violence against women is violence “ directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.” While CEDAW makes no reference to violence against women, the contemporary understanding of this violence grounds it, to a large extent, in ongoing, pervasive discrimination against women and their subordination in daily life. As the UN body monitoring the implementation of this Convention, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, explained, “ Gender-based violence, which impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms under general international law or under human rights conventions, is discrimination within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention. These rights and freedoms include: (a) The right to life; (b) The right not to be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; 6 UN General Assembly Resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993. 7 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, General Recommendation 19, Violence against women, (Eleventh session, 1992), Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, UN Doc. HRI\GEN\1\Rev.1 at 84 (1994), para. 6.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 7 (c) The right to equal protection according to humanitarian norms in time of international or internal armed conflict; (d) The right to liberty and security of person; (e) The right to equal protection under the law; (f) The right to equality in the family; (g) The right to the highest standard attainable of physical and mental health; (h) The right to just and favourable conditions of work.”⁸ This means that gender-based violence against women may constitute a violation by the state of its obligations under CEDAW, where the state fails to exercise due diligence to prevent, stop or punish it. Amnesty International in Afghanistan Earlier (2002-2003), Amnesty International reports focused on the reconstruction of the criminal justice system. In its report, “Afghanistan: No one listens to us and no one treats us as human beings” (ASA Index ASA: 11/023/2003), the organization investigated the needs and treatment of women in the justice system. Almost two years later, Amnesty International found that justice, security and redress remain outstanding issues for women and that women and girls continue to face major obstacles in seeking and obtaining protection and remedy from key law enforcement institutions. Due Diligence A state must act properly and effectively to prevent violence against women and investigate and punish such violence after it occurs, otherwise the state can itself be held ⁸Ibid, para. 7. responsible for the violation. This is known as the standard of “due diligence”, which determines the efforts that a state must undertake to fulfil its responsibilities to protect individuals from abuses of their rights by non- state actors. The first UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Radhika Coomaraswamy wrote, that amongst other obligations: “States must promote and protect the human rights of women and exercise due diligence: (a) To prevent, investigate and punish acts of all forms of VAW whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society, in custody or in situations of armed conflict; (b) To take all measures to empower women and strengthen their economic independence and to protect and promote the full enjoyment of all rights and fundamental freedoms; (c) To condemn VAW and not invoke customs, traditions or practice in the name of religion or culture to avoid their obligations to eliminate such violence. (d) To intensify efforts to develop and/or utilize legislative, educational, social and other measures aimed at the prevention of violence, including the dissemination of information, legal literacy, campaigns and the training of legal, judicial and health personnel.”⁹ The obligations of states under international law are not limited to ensuring that their agents do not commit violations. In the case of Afghanistan, the state must take effective steps to prevent and punish such acts by non-state actors, for example abuses by a violent husbands; or by an opposition group or by a 9 Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Report to the Commission on Human Rights, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/75, 6 January 2003, para. 85.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 8 parallel justice system that exerts informal authority within the community. The term non- state actors may also encompass armed political groups.¹⁰ Amnesty International recognises the challenges facing Afghanistan as it emerges from many long years of conflict and attempts to rebuild its institutions and establish the rule of law. However, as the situation currently stands, state institutions, through their lack of effective and prompt action in response to complaints of violence and threats of violence against women and their failure to bring perpetrators to justice, are allowing widespread discrimination and violence against women to continue. The police frequently fail to investigate or press charges against perpetrators of violence against women. Women are not encouraged to bring complaints against their attackers and fear bringing “dishonour” on the family as well as facing reprisals from the attacker and relatives. Women receive almost no effective protection from the state and it is rare for a court to convict and punish a perpetrator. Traditional attitudes of judges, whereby women are held responsible for having been attacked, raped or killed, show a shocking failure to uphold the law by its custodians and have contributed to influencing the generally permissive attitude toward violence against women. The failure of state institutions to protect women’s rights, to ensure that abusers are brought to justice and provide redress points to official apathy towards, and at times blatant sanctioning of violence against women. The state of Afghanistan should exercise due diligence not merely by legislating and criminalizing discrimination and violence against women; further, the state should adopt a whole range of measures including the 10 Amnesty International holds such groups responsible for human rights abuses they commit, whether they are fighting the state or other groups, and regardless of whether they control territory, under principles derived from the laws of armed conflict. (For more on violence against women by armed groups, see: Making rights a reality: Violence against women in armed conflict , ACT 77/0502004). training of state personnel, the adoption of policies and mechanisms to protect women’s rights and ensuring that the law and those charged with enforcing it are accessible to women who have experienced any form of violence and would work to best serve their needs. An ongoing culture of violence Violence against women and girls and other violations of their rights have been widely reported and documented by Amnesty International and other human rights organisations. In 2000, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, in her report to the Commission on Human Rights, wrote “Most countries of the world appear to tolerate some practices that discriminate against women, but only in some countries is discrimination official policy. In Taleban controlled areas of Afghanistan, discrimination against women is officially sanctioned and pervades every aspect of the lives of women.”¹¹ Although the Taleban is no longer in power, a cultural legacy remains. Nader Nadery, a commissioner with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said, more than three years later, that the cycle of violence for many women continues and “comes out of negative practices from Afghanistan’s long history that have created a culture of violence against women.”¹² Women have suffered widespread violations throughout the bloody, long and internecine conflict.¹³ Many women were raped, abducted 11 Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, “Mission to Pakistan and Afghanistan (1 -13 September 1999)”, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2000/68/Add.4, 13 March 2000, para. 13 12 IRIN press, Rally to stop violence against women, Kabul, 24 November 2004. 13 See Amnesty International reports, including: Lives blown apart, Crimes against women in times of conflict, ACT 77/075/2004, Afghanistan: No-one listens to us and no-one treats us as human beings: Justice denied to women ASA 11/023/2003,

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 9 and killed by persons affiliated to or part of various regimes from 1979 – 14 Some were attacked for belonging to particular religious and ethnic groups. Others were forced into marriages with members of armed groups. Women were consistently denied rights to physical security, freedom of movement, freedom of association, education, health, employment and the right to choose a spouse with consent. In April and May 2005, four women were killed, in two separate incidents in northern Afghanistan. In late April, 29- year old Amina, from Badakshan province in north-eastern Afghanistan was unlawfully killed, allegedly by family members, following the decision by the local ulema (religious council) to ‘sentence’ her to death by stoning, after they found her guilty of adultery.¹⁵ In early May 2005, three women from Pul-I Khumri town, Baghlan province were found murdered. The victims were reportedly raped and strangled. The exact motive remains unknown despite the discovery of a note close to the bodies, which allegedly linked the killings to their association with non- governmental organisations (NGOs) in Afghanistan. Despite, the welcome move by the Afghan authorities to investigate these deaths, Amnesty International is not aware of the perpetrators, in both cases having been brought to justice in either case. Afghanistan: Women failed by progress in Afghanistan, ASA 11/015/2004, Afghanistan: Abduction and rape at the point of a gun ASA/11/013/2004, Afghanistan: Re-establishing the rule of law ASA 11/021/2003 Afghanistan: making human rights the agenda, ASA 11/023/2001,Afghanistan: massacres in Yakaolong, ASA 11/008/2001, Afghanistan: executions in Panjshir, ASA 11/040/2001, “ Afghanistan: women in Afghanistan: pawns in men’s power struggles, ASA 11/011/1999 14 See: Amnesty International press releases: Afghanistan: Calling for fair and thorough investigations for crimes against women” ASA/006/2005 and Afghanistan: Stoning to death- human rights scandal” ASA/005/2005 15 See: Amnesty International press releases: Afghanistan: Calling for fair and thorough investigations for crimes against women” ASA/006/2005 and Afghanistan: Stoning to death – human rights scandal” ASA/005/2005 Regardless of periodic peace and change of regime, in the last twenty six years, a consistent feature of Afghan life has been that women live with a high risk of violence and discrimination. Political and security environment for women Afghanistan is still facing an internal armed conflict and is ruled by a fragile government. The Bonn Agreement in December 2001 paved the way for transition from conflict to peace and signalled the formal end of international hostilities. Although the Bonn Agreement briefly addressed the issue of accountability, there was no explicit reference to a mechanism for ensuring that those who had committed crimes, including against women, were held to account. In June 2002, an Emergency Loya Jirga was held, in which elected delegates chose Hamid Karzai to preside over the transitional government.¹⁶ The Constitutional Loya Jirga, in December 2003, where the draft Constitution was debated was marred by reports of harassment and intimidation of elected delegates. A female delegate, 25 years old, Malalai Joya, from Farah province was subjected to intimidation and threats after she voiced her criticism of some of the former Mujahedin participants and their role in the destruction of the country. In October 2004, Hamid Karzai was elected President, following landmark and fairly peaceful Presidential elections. Parliamentary and municipal elections are to be held in September 2005; the inauguration of Parliament would signify, under the Bonn Agreement and Constitution, the end of the transitional government. However, the vast majority of Afghan women continue to shoulder the burden and face the impact of an insecure environment, inadequate institutional protection mechanisms and pressure to conform to strict interpretations of traditional 16 A Loya Jirga (General Assembly) is a traditional Afghan decision making body dating from the 18^th century

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 10 and religious norms. In March 2005, Kofi Annan, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General stated: “while the status of women and girls has improved, overall progress has been uneven. The volatile security situation and traditional and social and cultural norms continue to limit women’s hopes and girl’s role in public life and deny them the full enjoyment of their rights.”¹⁷ In contrast to the last decades where women were almost absent in all facets of political and public life, progress can be observed in these spheres. In January 2004, a new Constitution was adopted which proclaimed that “the citizens of Afghanistan – woman – (Article 22). It also provides for a minimum representation of women in both houses of parliament with 27 per cent of seats reserved for them in the lower house; the first female Presidential candidate stood for elections in October 2004; in January 2005, the first woman was appointed as Governor of a province; the head of the national human rights commission is a woman. Although few in number and lacking decision-making power, women are employed in the criminal justice sector; and an active, vigorous civil society is emerging, wherein women are actively participating. Women’s involvement in many spheres is improving; over 40 per cent of women were registered as voters in 2004; there has been an increase in the number of girls enrolled in schools and women are officially allowed to seek employment, albeit with permission from family members. Women’s employment is mainly concentrated in international organisations and sectors of the government. The Afghan government has taken incremental steps to begin to address the issue of the 17 Report of the Secretary General, “The Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, E/CN.6/2005/5, 22 December 2004, summary. realisation of women’s rights and gender equality. In the Berlin Conference in late March 2004, the Afghan government outlined to international donor states its commitments to promote the participation of women in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and to ensure equal rights in the political, social and economic sphere. As part of concrete measures to promote gender equality, a gender unit has been established in the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.¹⁸ An inter- ministerial Task Force has been created, which is committed to combating violence against women. Relevant ministries signed a declaration of intent to end this violence, which has been submitted to President Karzai.¹⁹ The Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) has begun consultations with various ministries to develop a national action plan for women. MoWA is in the process of attempting to integrate a national policy plan for women into the larger national development strategy for Afghanistan, currently being drafted.²⁰ There are indeed considerable and substantive measures at state level that seek to improve the position of women in Afghanistan and are very much welcomed by Amnesty International. A significant constraint to such initiatives remains, however, in the form of the failure to provide physical security for Afghans, particularly women. The climate for enabling women and men to speak out freely is inhospitable. Although the government has slowly established its control over larger parts of the country, it does not have control over the whole territory. Private armed groups under the leadership of powerful regional leaders continue to exert de facto control and engage in factional clashes. Despite pledging 18 Efforts to establish gender units have been stalled by a shortage of funds. Amnesty International interview with Meryem Aslan, Director of UNIFEM, Afghanistan, April, 2005. 19 The Inter-ministerial Task Force consists of representatives, including the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Justice, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Information and Culture, Public Health, Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, Islamic Affairs, General Prosecutors and the Supreme Court. 20 Amnesty International interview with Meryem Aslan, Director of UNIFEM, Kabul, April 2005.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 11 allegiance to the government, local officials are reported to have close connections with regional armed leaders, who are in control of large parts of Afghanistan. Many international organisations have drawn attention to the lack of security and the inadequate response by the Afghan government to the instability.²¹ The mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been extended under UN Security Council Resolution 1563, and provides for the; “ progressive expansion of the International Security Assistance Force to other urban areas and other areas beyond Kabul.”²² However, despite the establishing of small teams of NATO led Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), (consisting of between 30 – military officials); their deployment to all major provincial cities; and an explicit reference in 1563 to ongoing threats to international peace and security in Afghanistan, ISAF continues to lack a mandate to protect civilians. ²³ The national process of disarmament of official militia has begun under the aegis of the Afghan New Beginnings Program and supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Although initially slow, it is being accelerated. However, the disarmament strategy failed to incorporate irregular militia groups, which continue to wield arms and power. Despite efforts to demobilise and disarm, weapons remain a mainstay of Afghan 21 Agency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief (ACBAR) letter to NATO, 22 June 2004 http://www.acbar.org/downloads/ACBAR%20PRESS%20RELE ASE%20Kabul%2022June%202004.pdf CARE and Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO) Insecurity continues to impede aid delivery in Afghanistan, May 9, 2005, www.care.ca/downloads/publ/afhhan/20050505 ansocare.pdf and Medicins sans Frontieres press release, MSF pulls out of Afghanistan. Kabul, 28^th July 2005, www.msf.org. ²²UN Security Council Resolution 1563, adopted by the Security Council’s 5038^th meeting, 17 September 2004. 23 PRTs, some of whom are NATO led and others members of the U.S.led Coalition, are deployed in Bamiyan, Herat, Kandahar, Gardez, Mazar-e Sharif, Kunduz, Jalalabad and have orders to engage in activities that include construction of schools, clinics, bridges and training of police. life with a large number still circulating amongst ordinary Afghans and factional forces. In spite of the general improvement of women’s situation following the collapse of the Taleban regime, Amnesty International was informed by women and girls in focus groups and interviews that they felt their situation had remained largely unchanged. Interviews conducted with women in Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif, highlight the vulnerability of women to abduction, rape, sexual violence and the fear that this brings. As women told Amnesty International delegates; “Our current concerns are security of our girls and children. In Karte Se [a district in Kabul], we hear of students and teachers disappearing. Most of them are under the age of 18. If a girl is 18 or more, she is more aware of her environment. The government must provide protection. Some kidnappers do go to jail but then they just bribe their way out”.²⁴ “Here in Kabul, I want to study but I don’t like Kabul. I am afraid of another war. There’s no security. Sometimes, I don’t feel safe in my area. I just want to feel safe. I felt physically safe in Iran. I want to walk alone, not with a bodyguard. This is what you need here.”²⁵ “We feel we do not have security here. Schools can be closed. The Taleban can do anything. Schools recently closed and reopened. Parents are not letting their girls go to school here because of the insecurity.”²⁶ Women are disproportionately affected by violence during and after conflicts. In Afghanistan, the conflict may have formally 24 Amnesty International focus group interview with women and girls from Karte Se area, Kabul, 1 September 2004. 25 Amnesty International interview in Kabul with an 18-year-old female returnee from Iran, 6 September 2004. 26 Reported in Amnesty International focus group, girls school, Kandahar, 14 September 2004

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 12 ceased with the collapse of the Taleban regime but factional violence, growing anti government attacks and targeted violence towards national and international aid workers is contributing to an ongoing state of conflict. Women have not witnessed a significant improvement in their abilities to enjoy their human rights. Discriminatory practices institutionalised prior to and during the war have not disappeared and in some ways have grown stronger. The insecure environment exacerbates this further. In the Afghanistan context, violence suffered during the conflict years was an extreme manifestation of the discrimination and abuses they suffered in before the conflict began as well as the unequal power relations between Afghan men and women. Such attitudes contribute to the widespread acceptance of domestic violence, rape and other forms of sexual abuse against women. Women’s right to choose a marriage partner is still severely curtailed and subject to the authority of male members of the family; they continue to be abducted and forced into marriage; early marriage and childbirth is commonplace; and prohibited interaction between unrelated men and women greatly inhibits women’s access to, amongst others, higher education, the workplace and both formal and informal justice mechanisms as these bodies continue to be almost exclusively male and largely segregated. The nature and scale of violence Research by Amnesty International in Afghanistan highlights a disturbing acceptance of violence against women as a norm of life by many women interviewed. Violence by partners and male relatives in the home was defined by respondents according to the level of brutality of the act(s), rather than questioned intrinsically. In discussions on violence perpetrated by armed groups or armed individuals, participants were reluctant to speak about possible ordeals suffered by them or female family members. Crimes of rape and abduction are regarded as more heinous than domestic violence because the perpetrator does not always marry the victim. Such views indicate the acceptability of compelling a woman to remain in an abusive relationship as well as social attitudes toward unwed rape victims. There are no statistics on the number of women and girls suffering from abuse in the family and other forms of violence making it difficult to understand the prevalence of these phenomena. Anecdotal knowledge is the best indication that currently exists and now needs to be supplemented by more systematic data collection exercises, which the state can support by funding, staff resources, facilitation and public support. Forms of violence against women Forced marriages “Girls can’t say no. The men say that women are like animals and dolls, take their hand and do anything”.²⁷ Forced marriages are strictly prohibited under international human rights law, including treaties to which Afghanistan is a state party. Article 23(3) of the ICCPR provides that, “No marriage shall be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses.” Article 16 CEDAW provides, among other things: “ 1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and 27 Amnesty International interview with a female teacher in Kandahar, 14 September, 2004.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 13 family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women: (a) The same right to enter into marriage; (b) The same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent.” Forced marriage, in contrast to arranged marriage, has been described as “any marriage conducted without the valid consent of both parties and may involve coercion, mental abuse, emotional blackmail, and intense family or social pressure. In the most extreme cases, it may also involve physical violence, abuse, abduction, detention, and murder of the individual concerned.” 28 Arranged marriages have been the subject of discussion not only in South Asia but also in the U.K and European countries with large South Asian communities. “ It is also vital to understand the difference between an arranged and a ‘forced’ marriage. Whether a couple meet through work/studying together, or whether they meet by way of introduction by family/friends, as long as there is no force applied to either party in accepting a proposal, this is a legally valid marriage. It is important for parents to be involved in their child’s life from an early age, and to provide support and guidance in choice of a marriage partner. However, where any force is exerted to achieve consent of either party to marriage, then this becomes an illegitimate marriage.”²⁹ Under Afghan national law, forced marriage is a crime.³⁰ The failure of the judiciary, the police and the wider society to treat forced marriage as a criminal offence, due to deep- 28 Ain O Salish and Shirkat Gah, Information Gathering Exercise on Forced Marriages, submission by Interights to the Home Office Working Group, UK, March 2000. 29 Muslim Parliament campaign, UK, http://www.stopforcedmarriages.org/Islam_and_Marriage.php 30 See: Chapters 7 and 8, Afghan Criminal Code (1976). seated attitudes towards women, has ensured that there is a consistent failure by the state to initiate criminal proceedings against perpetrators. Examining the issue of forced marriages is a particularly complex undertaking in Afghanistan.³¹ They should be distinguished from arranged marriages to which the couple may have fully and freely consented, which are an accepted, traditional practice throughout South Asia. Arranged marriages are conceptually distinct from forced marriages, in that the former do not necessarily have had an element of compulsion. It is true that in arranged marriage force or duress may also be present but it is not automatically so. There is thus both a distinction and an overlap between the two; nevertheless they should not be confused. Arranged marriages are the dominant, almost exclusive form of marriage in Afghanistan. However, research has indicated that there is a degree of coercion in the vast majority of marriages, with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs placing the figure as high as 80 per cent.³² Some of those interviewed by Amnesty International indicated their belief that almost all marriages were forced. For instance, women interviewed by AI delegates have said: “Only Kabul educated people marry by choice. No others marry through choice.”³³ “Girls marry according to their parents. The reputation of a family goes for generations if a girl confesses to fall in love.”³⁴ 31 See Amnesty International “Afghanistan: No one listens to us and no one treats us as human beings”, AI Index ASA 11/023/2003 and “Afghanistan: Re -establishing the rule of law”, AI Index ASA 11/021/2003. 32 Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 4 April, 2004. 33 Female participants in an Amnesty International focus group in Kabul, 14 September 2004 34 Ibid.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 14 Malalai was 17 years old when her father arranged her marriage, “I had no choice. I did not know my husband, he was already married but had no children. My husband was 53 then. Now he’s 70 years old.”³⁵ Remaining unmarried is generally not a viable option for Afghan women and is seen as unacceptable. Seventeen-year-old Fatima is a recent returnee from Pakistan, “I was three when I left Afghanistan. I would like to marry at the age of 20 or so. After 20 the age of marriage is gone. I have many proposals but I don’t want that yet. It’s necessary to get married.” Afghans articulate various reasons for the increase in reports of forced marriages. Alleviation of debt, threats from armed groups and individuals, in areas where the families have little recourse to and protection from the law is widely believed to be major factors for the rise in forced marriages. Afghan interviewees informed Amnesty International delegates that poorer families are accepting proposals of marriage for their young daughters in a bid to stave or settle debts. In addition, prevailing lawlessness and impunity of armed individuals has created an environment in which families believe early marriage to be the only route to a safe and secure future for their daughters. The presence of armed men and groups is a contributory factor in unwanted marriages. In some instances, powerful government and factional leaders are directly supporting perpetrators. The AIHRC in Herat has documented numerous cases of women and girls being forced to marry individuals affiliated with armed factions. Rahima was engaged from infancy.³⁶ Her fiancé was a foot soldier of the powerful factional leader, Ismail Khan, the former Governor of Herat. When she refused to marry him, Ismail Khan is reported 35 Names have been changed to protect the individual. 36 Names have been changed to protect the individual. to have rejected her plea to absolve the engagement. On his orders, without any judicial or other proceedings, she was imprisoned for 6 months. Following her release, she was sent to her finance’s home by the authorities. Amnesty International was told that the former Governor forced her to marry the man. The victim was desperate to escape her situation and had come to the offices of AIHRC and threatened to kill herself.³⁷ The AIHRC wrote to the court informing them that Rahima was a victim of forced marriage but the court refused to grant her a divorce. In Afghanistan, where powerful, armed groups exert control over the police and judiciary, investigation of forced marriages by the state and justice for victims is rare. Cases of forced marriage by armed individuals may only come to light when victims take their accounts outside the home. Following the removal of Ismail Khan as Governor of Herat, Rahima lodged a complaint with MoWA, and having been unsuccessful in her bid to obtain a divorce, MoWA and the AIHRC supported her to travel to Kabul where she appeared on television to highlight her situation. Rahima’s desire to publicise her plight was only possible with the removal of the threat of Ismail Khan and the support of MoWA and human rights groups like the AIHRC. Amnesty International is not aware of any action taken by the state against Ismail Khan or Rahima’s husband. Twenty year-old Hana tried to obtain a divorce through the provincial court.³⁸ A resident of a district in Herat, she claims she was abducted from her home at the age of 18 by four armed men; the perpetrator claims she was his wife and has been since before the fall of the Taleban regime – Hana claimed that her abuser forcefully married her, that she was forced to live with him for three months after which she escaped to her father’s house. She filed a complaint with the police who forwarded the case to the 37 Amnesty International interview with staff of the AIHRC, Herat, September 2004. ³⁸Ibid.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 15 AIHRC. Her husband is said to have fled Herat for another district. Amnesty International was informed by the AIHRC in September 2004, that the city prosecutor had taken no action to date and the case remained unresolved. Other cases have reached court and await judgements. Najia’s is one such case - Najia is from a district close to Herat city.³⁹ She was eight years old when she was married to Ghulam (age unknown) who later became the bodyguard of the district governor.⁴⁰ In December 2000, Najia lodged a complaint with the district prosecutor, claiming domestic violence following years of abuse. After presenting witnesses to the abuse to the prosecutor, she was threatened by the district governor. Nonetheless, Najia proceeded with her request for a divorce.⁴¹ On 29 March 2002, the district court granted her a divorce but her husband refused to accept the decision of the court and filed an appeal. Following the upholding of the decision by the provincial court, Ghulam lodged an appeal with the High Court in Kabul. He threatened to kill Najia if the decision from the High Court allowed the divorce. District police later arrested Najia’s brother-in-law and she was told by local officials to go back to her husband. The AIHRC spoke with the district governor who disagreed with the court’s decision to grant Najia a divorce. They also spoke with Ghulam who openly told the AIHRC that he would kill Najia if a divorce were granted. Amnesty International is aware that the police did not take any action against the threat to Najia. The organization has not been able to obtain any further information on Najia’s situation and remains concerned at the risk Najia faces to her life. Threats and intimidation by armed groups are prevalent throughout Afghanistan. The case of Najia is rare both in that she actually 39 Names have been changed to protect the individual. 40 Reported to Amnesty International by the sub office of the AIHRC, Herat, September, 2004. 41 In Sharia law, a woman can seek divorce on four grounds, impotence of husband being one of them. approached the court and in that the courts have so far upheld her petition for a divorce. Amnesty International welcomes the fact that although the numbers are very small, women are reporting violence perpetrated against them and that the state, in some instances, is taking up these cases. The failure of the police, the collusion of local government officials and lack of protection for victims create “double violence” for the majority of women.⁴² Although the exact scale of such practices remains unknown, they indicate failure of the justice system to assist women in such situations. This may be fuelled by a reluctance to deal with armed groups, “When people are armed, we can’t do anything. When weapons are gone, we can work.”⁴³ Child marriages The issue of forced marriages is interlinked with child marriages; child marriages by definition constitute forced marriage, as a child cannot be considered to have consented freely; Article 16(2) of CEDAW provides that “ The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.” Child marriage also violates the right of children to freedom from sexual exploitation, as provided in Articles 19 and 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. By marrying at an early age, children are further denied their rights to education and health and, crucially, the freedom to determine the course that they wish their lives to take. There is a seeming divergence as to the age of marriage between urban and rural areas, ethnic background and economic circumstances. Many of those interviewed by Amnesty International delegates in Kabul and provincial 42 Quote by Palwasha Kakar, Women’ Officer, AIHRC, Herat. 43 Ibid.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 16 capitals stressed that early marriages are occurring mainly in rural parts of Afghanistan and consider that the increase is owed to unrelenting poverty. Afghan returnees from Iran and Pakistan are also not free from early and other forced marriages. 30-year-old Zainab was married at the age of 10 and lived in Iran for 16 years. Her husband gave her family 700,000 Iranian Rials (equivalent to approximately 78 US dollars) at the time of marriage. Zainab’s husband was 20 years old when they married. After six months of marriage her husband began beating her. “I was comfortable until six mont hs after the marriage when he began hitting me. I tried to run away three times. The first time I went to my parents and my husband came and pleaded with me to come back. I went but he began beating me again after a month. The second time, I went again to my parents. I stayed there for five months. My husband came armed and threatened my family if I did not return. My husband refused to let me come to my parents’ home after that. For one year he was OK and then the beating began again. Once he hit me in (on) the head with a large stone.”⁴⁴ There remains an absence of statistical data for recording births, marriages and deaths throughout almost all of the country. Local clerics conduct marriage ceremonies in communities but it is not clear if they keep records. Clerics are appointed by the state and trained by Ministry of Islamic Guidance Officials.⁴⁵ Amnesty International believes that in the situation where a local cleric is conducting a marriage where one or both parties are underage, it is the state’s responsibility to ensure that the marriage is carried out in a lawful manner; the bride or groom should fulfil the minimum age requirements in order to be married. 44 Amnesty International interview, September 2004. ⁴⁵Amnesty International interview with the Minister of Islamic Guidance, August 23, 2004, Kabul. Through the focus groups and individual interviews, Amnesty International was informed that underage marriages do occur and that the typical age varies from 12 to 16. They believed that girls do marry younger and are generally perceived to be from economically deprived backgrounds with very little, if any education. According to a preliminary survey done by the German NGO Medica Mondiale (MM) the lack of data on child marriages is a huge barrier in understanding the scale of the problem. Their survey also revealed that child marriages are viewed as much more prevalent amongst poorer and illiterate families.⁴⁶ A study conducted by the Ministry of Women’ Affairs in 2004 showed that 57 per cent of women surveyed were married before they were 16. Some were reported to be as young as nine. MOWA highlighted the negative impact of early marriage, including on a child’s health, the denial of education and the repeated childbirth and pregnancy. The MOWA Minister stated: “Child marriage is a serious issue in Afghanistan, because it has a very negative impact on society.”⁴⁷ A UNICEF survey placed maternal mortality in four Afghan provinces 130 times higher than the United States.⁴⁸ Mohammed Amin Fatimi, the Afghan public health minister stated: “Fifty to seventy mothers die every day from birth complications, which is a silent tsunami for Afghanistan.”⁴⁹ Forced and underage marriages not only reduce a woman’s choices in life and compromise her health but also serve to strengthen the inequality of power in society. Under Afghan law, the legal age for marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for men.⁵⁰ This violates the provisions for equality in marriage in the 46 Medica Mondiale, Child Marriage: A Preliminary Briefing, May 2004. 47 IRIN press, Child marriage rate still high – minister, 13 July 2004, Kabul. 48 AFP press, For Afghan women, there are still bigger battles than the right to vote, Faizabad, 18 October, 2004. 49 AFP press, New generation of Afghan midwives fights ‘silent tsunami’, Kabul, 14 April 2005. 50 Afghanistan Civil Law, 1976, Article 70.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 17 ICCPR and CEDAW quoted above. Amnesty International is concerned, as noted, that children are forced to marry considerably younger than ages stipulated by the law. Poverty and forced marriage The devastation of the war years has left many families in debt or economically unable to support their families. Amnesty International was informed that girls are forced to marry to alleviate family poverty. Although early marriages are reported to be historically common, especially amongst poorer families and outside the main urban areas, forced and child marriages have become even more of a common phenomena. Conditions have been exacerbated by a mixture of extreme poverty, aggravated by the war years, debt, confiscation of land by powerful local patrons; and the need to avoid the possibility of abduction by armed groups of young girls. Azra was married at the age of nine.⁵¹ Her mother Halima told Amnesty International “ her father married her at a young age because he had no choice. We are very poor and we received 1000 lakh Afghanis for her.”⁵² The female director of the Afghan NGO, Women’s Organization for the Safeguard and Development of Women’s Rights, in Mazar-e Sharif, told Amnesty International of the case of 15 year old Zohra, from the Tashkurgan area of Mazar-e Sharif, who was married to a 55 year old male. In return her family received a substantial amount of money to settle their debts. In the Gorzargah Transit Centre (GTC) shelter in Herat, a victim of forced marriage articulated her definition of forced marriage as “when the father sells or exchanges her for 51 Names have been changed to protect the individual. 52 Interview with Halima and Aziza, mother and daughter in Kandahar Women’s prison, 12 September 2004. drugs and money, beats the girl into coercion and exchanges her to settle debts.”⁵³ Sixteen - year-old Heena returned from Iran in August 2004 and is a resident of the shelter.⁵⁴ Heena told Amnesty International delegates that she was living with her uncle and his family, following the death of her husband and child in 2004. Heena was exchanged to her cousin’s future father in law. She fled her home soon after the wedding. When Amnesty International delegates interviewed Mahmuda she was 15 years old.⁵⁵ Mahmuda and her sister (age 12) were classified as ‘unaccompanied females’ and had been housed in the GTC shelter since July 2004. Mahmuda was 14 years of age when she was forced to marry. Her father received two million Iranian Rials (equivalent to US dollars $225) from Mahmuda’s husband, “ I was against the marriage and cried. He (Mahmuda’s father) beat me a lot. I had to marry. He was my cousin. I lived with him for two months and he started to beat me. I went to my father’s house who sent me back. I stayed for another month and he carried on hitting me. I ran away to Tehran and the police picked me up.” The testimonies above demonstrate the treatment of women and girls as commodities in a male-dominated society instead of being equal in dignity and rights to men. 53 In Dari, gorzargah means transit place. The Gorzagah Transit Centre (GTC) in Herat houses single and married females who have travelled unaccompanied from Iran to Afghanistan. It also houses victims of violence from Herat, women who have been imprisoned by Afghan authorities for committing crimes such as elopement and victims of domestic violence and underage and forced marriages. Generally, the GTC shelter is not used as a refuge for women who have been released after imprisonment. Interview conducted with residents by Amnesty International delegates, 3 September 2004. 54 Names of the individuals have been changed to protect their identity. 55 Names of the individuals have been changed to protect their identity.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 18 Violence in the family The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women has stated: “violence against women in general, and domestic violence in particular, serve as essential components in societies which oppress women, since violence against women not only derives from but also sustains the dominant gender stereotype and is used to control women in the one space traditionally dominated by women, the home.”⁵⁶ In Afghanistan, violence against women by family members is widespread and can range from deprivation of education to economic opportunities, through verbal and psychological violence, beatings, sexual violence and killings. Many acts of violence involve traditional practices including the betrothal of young girls in infancy, early marriage and crimes of “honour”, where a female, is punished for having offended custom, tradition or honour. From infancy, girls and women are under the authority of the father or husband, have restricted freedom of movement from childhood, restriction on their choice of husband and very limited possibilities to assert their economic and social independence. Most unmarried and married women are faced with the stark reality of enduring abuse. Should they try and extricate themselves from the situation of abuse, they invariably face stigma and isolation as well as possible imprisonment for leaving the home. The UN Development Fund for Women has found that cultural factors associated with higher levels of family and community violence includes sexual double standards; rigid gender roles; lack of access to education; women’s isolation and lack of support; community attitudes that tolerate physical ‘punishment’ of women and children; and 56 Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, UN doc.E/CN.4/1996/53,6 February 1996, para 27. acceptance of violence as an appropriate means of resolving conflict.⁵⁷ Nooria has asked for her story to be published. 58 She would like people to know what happened to her in order to highlight abuses endured by her and the injustice she has experienced. Nooria would like the Afghan state and its institutions to be aware of what she and countless others in similar situations have suffered. Nooria is 20 years old and from western Afghanistan. She was 16 years of age when she was informed that she would be married. It was implied in the neighbourhood and family that for a girl not to be married by the age of 16, she must have a fault or an imperfection. Her family received a marriage proposal from a member of her extended family. Nooria had not been asked whether she consented to the marriage. On the wedding night, her husband Zia slapped her because he felt the neckline on her dress was revealing. From that moment on, he began hitting her, criticising her; he forbade her leaving the house without his permission, and forced her to do all the household chores. After eight months of marriage, she fell pregnant. Returning from a visit to her doctor, Nooria was met by Zia who beat her for daring to leave the house. Nooria suffered a miscarriage as a result of the beating. Her father advised her not to even think of leaving her marital home and told her that divorce would bring shame upon the family. Nooria became pregnant again but her husband carried on beating her regardless. She was able to carry the child to full term giving birth to a girl at home. Her husband was angry at the birth of a girl child and beat Nooria. Over the months, the intensity of the beatings worsened. 57 UN Development Fund for Women, Not a Minute More: Ending Violence against Women, New York, 2003, pg, 207. 58 Case reported to Amnesty International by a family friend and member of an Afghan NGO in Herat, 5 September 2004, following a request by the individual. Names have been changed to protect the individual.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 19 When her child was three months old, during one of her husband’s rages, he picked up their child and threw her across the room. On that same day, when her husband was out of the house, Nooria picked up her baby girl and left for her parent’s house. Her parents told her she should return to her husband’s house and were not prepared to accept her back home. After a while, her parents agreed to let her and her child stay. Nooria had been at her parent’s home for one year. Her husband had come to see her and asked her to return. She felts that no one in her family had supported her decision to leave her husband. Although she wanted to obtain a divorce, she knew that it was unlikely. She feared that if she sought a divorce, the shame and stigma of being a divorced woman would destroy the marriage chances of her two younger siblings. In May 2005, Amnesty International was informed that Nooria had returned to her husband. Her decision was based on traditional attitudes and prejudice from her family and community in which a woman must not leave her marital home, regardless of the suffering she may be enduring. Nooria’s story is by no means unusual. Countless Afghan women suffer violence from a husband or male family member. Like Nooria, they have no means of support and protection from the state or their families. Very few women will go to court. Most are unaware of their rights and the stigma attached endangers not only the victim but also the reputation of her family. Some fear reprisals from angry husbands and even from their own families – Despite the Afghan government’s declared commitment to stop violence against women, concrete services for victims of violence remain few and far between. Amnesty International is aware of four shelters operating in Kabul. In 2004, the German NGO Medica Mondiale, financed by UNHCR, had begun a project in Mazar-e Sharif, aimed in creating a mechanism to foster coordination between various government ministries, law enforcement agencies and NGOs in providing services to victims who have been subject to domestic and other forms of violence. In Herat, the GTC shelter houses unaccompanied females and victims of violence. Amnesty International is not aware of the existence of shelters in Kandahar or Jalalabad. The increasing presence of agencies such as the AIHRC and Afghan and international NGOs has begun to offer the local population channels through which to register complaints of violence and abuse. There is an apparent resistance from municipal and central government officials to the concept of shelters.⁵⁹ There is a sense that shelters are not part of Afghan culture and are breeding ground for “immoral” and “un -Islamic” behaviour. The women who seek refuge in such places are perceived to not only transgress traditional norms and codes of behaviour for Afghan females but are also liable to influence other girls and women to leave their families and homes. In Herat, the GTC shelter has generated a negative response from residents and non-residents. The residents complained of their isolation and inability to leave the compound and the non-residents believed it was ‘safer’ for them to remain in the shelter because as unaccompanied females, they would be viewed in a negative light by the citizens of Herat.⁶⁰ Divorce is traditionally viewed as un-Islamic in Afghan society and contradictory to Afghan culture and customs. As such, tradition and custom leave women no choice but to stay in abusive marriages; support from other family members, including women, is rare. Women and relatives who support victims have been killed for applying for a divorce. The deputy 59 Based on Amnesty International discussions with various government officials in February, August and September 2004. 60 Based on Amnesty International interviews with residents, international and national organisations.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 20 prosecutor in Kandahar informed Amnesty International of a case in early 2002 where a woman was forced into marriage by her parents and suffered years of abuse. She applied to the courts in Kandahar for a divorce and was accused by the judge of lying, as she could not prove the abuse. Her husband subsequently divorced her because she had complained. After the divorce, the ex husband killed the woman’s father, mother and sister of his ex wife and became a fugitive. Amnesty International is not aware of any state instigated investigation into the deaths of the victim’s family members or any effort by the state to arrest the perpetrator. As a female participant in a focus group in Kandahar told Amnesty International delegates, “ We have no permission to leave the home so no-one (to turn to). We can’t even tell our mothers and fathers, community or mullahs. If we do, they will take our children and our husbands will leave us. (We) can’t even talk to other women. No one knows about human rights.”⁶¹ Working females are also not exempt from violence. Forty year-old Raheela had lived in Canada for many years and returned to Afghanistan in early 2002. She married an Afghan man soon after and worked for an international organisation in northern Afghanistan. Raheela was beaten frequently and her earnings taken by her husband, including money sent from her family in Canada. When Raheela demanded a divorce, her husband locked her in the cellar of her home for over a week with a small amount of water. Her neighbours, who were aware of what had occurred, informed her colleagues in her workplace who informed the police. Her family in Kabul was contacted by her workplace colleagues who came and took her away.⁶² 61 Female participant in focus group, Kandahar, 14 September 2004. 62 Amnesty International interview with an international staff member of an international organisation, September 2004. Raheela returned to Canada but most women in a similar situation to Raheela are forced to endure family violence as prevailing social and cultural norms obstruct them from seeking protection. Amnesty International is encouraged by the response of the police in this case but remains concerned that for the majority of women in similar situations, the possibilities of leaving an abusive situation are rare and there are limited means to gain support and outreach services. Violence by armed groups “I’m suffering from what happened to me.”⁶³ Traditional and cultural taboos surrounding rape and other forms of sexual violence have allowed rape to remain unspoken for decades in Afghanistan. As a weapon of war, it was used strategically and tactically to advance specific objectives in the many forms of conflict. In Afghanistan, during the long years of fighting but especially so during the Mujahedin government of the early 1990s, it was used to conquer, expel and subjugate communities.⁶⁴ It is a weapon still being employed in various parts of the country. It terrorizes communities; culturally it is understood to demonstrate the powerlessness of men to defend their family and communities and of course destroys the mental and physical integrity of women.⁶⁵ Rape flourishes where perpetrators of such abuse are not brought to justice by the state. Armed groups and militia members, with reported and actual ties to high- ranking government and local officials and powerful, armed, regional leaders have in very few instances been held accountable. 63 Amnesty International interview with rape victim, Kabul , September 2004. 64 See Amnesty International Afghanistan: Abduction and rape at the point of a gun ASA/11/013/2004 65 See Amnesty International, Lives blown apart, crimes against women in times of conflict, ACT 77/075/2004.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 21 The Afghan NGO, Women’s Organization for the Safeguard and Development of Women in Mazar-e Sharif recounted to Amnesty International delegates the case of a 12-year- old girl who was abducted by an armed commander in 2002. She was engaged to another man at the time. The commander came to her parents’ house and forcibly took the girl. She was taken to Peshawar and later sold into prostitution. Most Afghan women are reluctant to talk about sexual violence. However, in focus groups and interviews with women and girls, some women provided Amnesty International with direct testimonies of rape and abduction. Women linked the absence of security to the widespread circulation of arms, the power exerted by local armed groups in their communities and stories of girls and women they were aware of who had been raped or forced into marriage. The extent and prevalence of rape and abduction remains unknown. International and national organisations do not have access to large parts of Afghanistan resulting in limited ability to monitor and estimate the prevalence of such crimes. The failure to establish security and government control in large parts of the country leaves women and girls at continued risk of sexual violence and intimidation. Courts and the police are often powerless and in many instances unwilling to arrest perpetrators. If an arrest is made, judges are often reported to be subjected to intimidation and/or offered bribes to respond by releasing the suspected offender. In some cases, offenders have links to local administrators and officials who therefore do not take action. Women do not have confidence in a male dominated police force, knowing that some members have colluded in such abuses. Women also fear being arrested for having committed the crime of unlawful sexual activity and risk being imprisoned. Amnesty International’s research on violence against women in Afghanistan has been limited to largely urban areas owing to the difficulties in safely accessing large parts of the country and the reluctance of victims to speak out. The failure of the Afghan government to establish security and legitimate government in many parts of the country has left women and girls at continuing risk of rape, sexual violence and intimidation. Beyond Kabul During the research, Amnesty International delegates were informed of human rights violations occurring in the remote areas of the central highlands, particularly Daikundi province, central Afghanistan, where the scale of the human rights violations are unknown. During the last 25 years, some of the population have left for Kabul. This section will focus on those who have been displaced to Kabul since the Afghan transitional government came to power and primarily on abuses suffered by the women and girls. Many of the families who have left the province have done so following the rape of family members, beatings, intimidation, confiscation of land and/or murder.⁶⁶ Daikundi is a fertile area for opium production and displaced communities report being forced to produce the drug for local factional leaders. Farishta, a twenty -year-old woman, currently living in Kabul, told Amnesty International delegates of her ordeal, including rape, at the hands of a particular armed leader, who controls areas of Daikundi.⁶⁷ On 9 October 2003, at around 800am, the local armed factional leader raped twenty-year-old Farishta, in the vicinity of her village. In September 2004, she told AI: “I’m suffering from what happened to me. I was washing dishes in the spring well close to 66 Amnesty International delegates were unable to travel to Daikundi and its findings are based on interviews with male and female family members in Kabul as well as interviews with members of national human rights organisations and international agencies of the UN, working in Daikundi. 67 Names have been change to protect the individual.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 22 my home. I felt a touch on my shoulder, turned around and saw it was the local commander of the village. He grabbed me, threw me on the ground and raped me. The whole village could hear my screams, saw what was happening to me but would not help me. My father in law and three brothers in law came running to help me and were beaten and threatened by the commander and his men. They were released but the commander told them he would not touch them now but that he would make sure he would kill them. We left that same night and walked through the mountains to Kabul. This man and his brother have raped many women in this district. He has been commander of this area for four years and many families have left because of his violence, looting and killing.” “I don’t want our story to remain a secret. We want everyone to know. For many years we have complained but no one listens to us. We have complained to the authorities and many others. The authorities cannot do anything in our area as the commander is the one who is the authority”. Other sources have also reported that the commander and his brother have raped many other women in the village.⁶⁸ The father in law of Farishta told Amnesty International that the factional leader’s armed men have abducted girls and taken them to the brothers. The factional leader holds a position in government administration. Some girls have been abducted on their way home from school. The armed individual is alleged to ‘covet’ women and girls and is committing crimes of sexual violence with impunity. When male members of families attempted to confront the perpetrator, armed members of his militia are alleged to have threatened, beaten and even killed them. Over 100 families have left the district since early 2002 as a consequence of the violence.⁶⁹ 68 Interview by Amnesty International with father in law of the victim (Farishta), head of an Afghan NGO and brother in law of Farishta. 69 Amnesty International was shown statistics of displaced families by an NGO, assisting the families. Sixty-year-old Jamila and her family are also victims of the factional leader’s brutality.⁷⁰ Following a dispute with the armed leader, Jamila’s brother fled to Iran approximately three years ago. The armed leader arrested another brother and kept him in custody around six months. Jamila claims that her brother was badly tortured and a few months after being released he died. Amnesty International was informed by the family of Farishta and members of similarly displaced families that they have reported, to government officials in Kabul, the crimes perpetrated against them by the factional leader and his armed associates. The organisation understands that high-ranking officials, including the Ministry of Interior and Justice are aware of the allegations against the armed individual in Dauikundi. The AIHRC in Kabul is reported to be aware of the circumstances of the displaced families. In January 2004, the alleged perpetrator was arrested at Kabul airport but released shortly after. ⁷¹ Efforts by the government to address the human rights violations in Daikundi province have seen a decrease in the reports received of human rights violations committed there. In 2005, new district and provincial officials were appointed, including a new Governor. International intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), including UNHCR and UNAMA as well as the AIHRC have a full time presence, monitoring the human rights situation in the province. Residents of Daikundi have reported to IGOs of relative improvements in their security and a few displaced families have returned.⁷² However, the commander looms large and is still present in the area, and perceived to be enjoying support from the 70 Names have been changed to protect the individual. 71 Interview with victims, members of the displaced community and head of an Afghan NGO involved in the issue. Interviews have also been conducted through the telephone with members of the international community working in/on Daikundi province. 72 Amnesty International telephone interview with members of international and national organisations. April 2005.

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 23 highest levels of central government, enjoying impunity for his crimes. Sultana Bibi was 18 when she was found buried, in early 2004, in the village of Qalacha, near Balkh province, Mazar e Sharif.⁷³ Sultana’s relatives recount that soldiers loyal to a local armed commander had abducted Sultana from her village and taken her to Zia Uddin, the brother of her deceased fiancé, who forcibly married her. Sultana’s fiancé had died and his family had ordered her to marry one of his brothers. Sultana’s family were against the marriage and had refused to allow it to go ahead. In October 2003, her father was kidnapped. Sultana had reported the threat of the forced marriage by Zia Uddin to the police. An officer from the Balkh police force later admitted that Sultana had not been assisted, as there was ‘no one to hear her and protect her.’ After Sultana was abducted, her father was freed and stated that he had been held in a military compound belonging to one of the two main armed factions in the north, Jamiat-e Islami. Sultana’s mother told the International War and Peace Reporting organisation (IWPR), that Zia Uddin, his first wife and son, had beaten Sultana. Zia Uddin confessed to killing Sultana and was arrested. An investigation by the police was instigated following her death. Amnesty International welcomes the investigation but believes her death could have been prevented had there been a prompt response when Sultana initially sought help. Armed militia and factional leaders are a reality in Afghanistan. To date, the Afghan government has not addressed the issue of accountability for past human rights violations committed by such groups. The international community has also been reluctant to take steps to address this issue. In the meanwhile, women bear the brunt of atrocities committed by these groups. A female university lecturer and director of a women’s group, in Mazar-e Sharif stated, “Arm ed men are intervening in 73 ARR news, Forced marriage leads to tragedy, ARR No.113, I April, 2004 every sector of human life and breaking the laws. Forced marriage is part of these interventions.” 74 Amnesty International acknowledges that the judiciary and police have arrested individuals in some cases but is aware that in most instances, perpetrators are rarely detained and women continue to live in fear. Death by self-immolation Over the last two years, there have been increasing reports of Afghan women and girls attempting suicide by dousing themselves with petrol and setting themselves alight. Some have died whilst others suffer horrific burns for life. Although this phenomenon has been most commonly reported from Herat, it is not limited to the one city but is taking place across the country. Such acts of desperation suggest that women have a sense of being overwhelmed by their situation, perhaps through increased pressures, discrimination and violence. The causes of such deaths were addressed through the course of a two day workshop, chaired by the AIHRC, in October 2003, resulting in the book, “Why self - immolation?” From 22 September 2003 until 19 April 2004, the AIHRC office in Herat documented 380 cases, some of which were attempted suicides and others that actually resulted in death. Eighty percent are attributed to family violence, but it is not clear if family members are setting the women alight or if the victims have committed the act independently. From 20 March to 21 September 2004, 184 cases were reported with again eighty percent due to violence from a family member. Between 22 September and 21 December 2004 eighty cases were reported, again the overwhelming majority of the victims reported that they had attempted to kill themselves as a result of violence in the family. 74 ARR news, Forced marriage leads to tragedy, ARR No.113, I April, 2004

Afghanistan: Women still under Attack- A systematic failure to protect AI Index: ASA 11/007/2005 Amnesty International May 2005 24 According to the AIHRC in Herat, the decrease in number of cases of self immolation in the latter part of 2004 was the result of the AIHRC workshops and seminars, the increase in families approaching the office of the AIHRC to discuss family problems and the appointment of a ‘security commander’ a s a contact point with families of burns victims. This person has powers to investigate the reason for the act. It is not clear to Amnesty International if the ‘security commander’ is a government official and whether he has powers to charge individuals held responsible for the act The AIHRC does not have the resources to be able to undertake a comprehensive research of the issue and the cases were compiled following visits to hospitals and reporting by family members to the AIHRC. Medical staff treating the victims have pointed to forced and underage marriages, restrictions on women’s movement by husbands and family members and violence in the home as causal factors in such acts of self-harm. The acuteness of the problem in Herat has been articulated as a struggle by women to assert their rights, “In Kabul, women probably don’t have as many problems because they have more rights – and they are free to work and study. In Kandahar, women have no rights and they have accepted that they should not go outside the house or work. But in Herat women are struggling to get their rights, they are trying to go out and work and study but the men in their family are sometimes opposed to this and that’s what creates this problem.”⁷⁵ Amnesty International research suggests that self-burning by Afghan women is not exclusively a result of the conflict years and their legacy but in fact has existed as a practice for a long time. However, the increased reports of women and girls attempting and taking their own lives in such a painful manner indicate an 75 Dr. Nesar Ahmed Ferehmand, “Forced marriages to blame for self-immolation by Afghan women”, AFP, 7 March 2004. immense pressure and inability to cope with the oppression and violence in their lives. A member of the AIHRC, who worked previously in Herat, commented that such acts highlight the desperation of the women and their need to show communities and families the extent of their suffering. Having interviewed some of the victims in hospital, he believed that the women do not want to die but have no other way of showing their distress. Many had either suffered violence from family members or did not consent to a marriage. The majority were forced to change their stories when in hospital, once surrounded by family members, claiming they fell victim to accidents in the home. Facilities for burns victims are basic and the possibility of surviving horrific burns is decreased by the lack of medical equipment and medicine for victims. Some male and female government officials and community leaders demonstrate a lack of awareness of the extent to which rising violence is related to women and girls taking such extreme measures. Various reasons were provided by government officials for self- immolation, including increasing material demands upon husbands by wives, the influence of Iranian television and last minute change of wedding venues. Amnesty International delegates were told by a male community leader in Herat, that he was aware of a young girl who had recently set herself on fire following a last minute change to her wedding venue. A female colleague intervened and explained that the young girl was opposed to the marriage and that the bridegroom was already married. In a meeting with the then governor Ismail Khan, Amnesty International delegates were informed by the governor that self – immolation could be attributed to reasons ranging from ignorance to minor social limitations, reflecting a more widespread ambivalence towards women’s needs and concerns.