Violence against women increasing in Afghanistan: Officials

Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs said on Wednesday that violence against women in Afghanistan has increased in the past year.

Speaking on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the launch of the 16 Days of Activism
Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, the ministry said that 2,582 cases of violence against women have been reported to them in the past year.

They also said that in the past four months, 34 cases, including murders, have been reported to the ministry.

According to the officials the main cause of domestic violence and violence against women is war and insecurity.

“The Ministry of Women’s Affairs carried out a survey in 34 provinces and 250 districts and interviewed 2,000 people. We found that women demand an end to the violence,” said Hasina Safi, acting women’s affairs minister.

“Violence has increased compared to last year. This year 119 murders and sexual abuse cases were registered. The violence increased by 59 percent because of the insecurity,” said Spozhmai Wardak, deputy minister of women affairs.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) raised concerns and said most of the cases of violence could have been prevented.

There have been “22,472 cases of violence against women registered in Afghanistan in the past five years. Fifty two percent of the cases could have been dealt with through counselling and the other cases referred to the Ministry of Interior and Attorney General’s office,” said Shabnam Salehi, a member of AIHRC.

However, Afghan judicial bodies say that most cases of violence against women have been processed.

“The cases that were referred to the court are very unfortunate and the violence against women increased this year,” Anisa Rasooli, a court prosecutor said.

“Violence against women increases day by day. In the current year 2,088 cases have been processed – most of them are sexual abuse and assault,” Zarghona Mostaqbal, an official from the Attorney General’s Office said.

Furthermore officials from AIHRC in Paktia province said that violence against women increased in their province and in the current year 235 cases have been registered in the province.

The Women’s Network in Kabul meanwhile called for unity among the people in order to stop domestic violence.