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Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women law in Afghanistan has a long way to go

KABUL, 23 NOVEMBER 2011 – Judicial and law enforcement officials are so far implementing sporadically the two-year-old law supporting the equality and rights of Afghan women, and the Government has not yet succeeded in applying the law to the vast majority of cases of violence against women, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report released today.

“Judges, prosecutors and police in many parts of Afghanistan have begun to use the new law which is a positive development; but unfortunately only in a small percentage of violence against women cases,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. “Although the law’s implementation is clearly growing, there is a very long way to go before Afghan women are fully protected from violence and their equality is properly supported through this important law,” she added.

Enacted in August 2009, the landmark Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law criminalises child marriage, forced marriage, selling and buying women for the purpose or under the pretext of marriage, baad (giving away a woman or girl to settle a dispute), forced self-immolation and 17 other acts of violence against women including rape and beating. It also specifies punishment for perpetrators.

The 33-page United Nations report entitled A Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women law in Afghanistan, found both positive progress and gaps in the implementation of the law in the period from March 2010 to September 2011.

The report is based on 261 interviews with judicial, police and Government officials and UNAMA/United Nations human rights office monitoring of numerous violence against women cases throughout Afghanistan. The report analyses statistical data on the law’s application by judicial and law enforcement authorities in 31 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces in its first full year of implementation (21 March 2010 - 20 March 2011) with additional research over the following six months.

The report notes that comprehensive official statistics on the number of cases of violence against women in Afghanistan are not available and most incidents are unreported. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission registered 2,299 incidents of violence against women that could be defined as crimes under the EVAW law between March 2010 and March 2011. Using the available figure of 2,299 incidents as a baseline estimate, United Nations human rights officials found that prosecutors in 28 provinces opened cases in 26 percent of the total 2,299 incidents (i.e. 594 cases). They filed indictments in seven percent (155 cases) and primary courts relied on the EVAW law as the basis of their judgments in only four percent of total incidents (101 cases).