Feminist Peace Network

The British organization Womankind’s latest report “Afghan Women and Girls Seven Years On” provides yet more documentation of the horrendous situation faced by women in Afghanistan. Here are some of the findings:

• Violent attacks against females, usually domestic, are at epidemic proportions with 87 per cent of females complaining of such abuse – half of it sexual.
• More than 60 per cent of marriages are forced.
• Despite a new law banning the practice, 57 per cent of brides are under the age of 16.
• The illiteracy rate among women is 88 per cent with just 5 per cent of girls attending secondary school.
• Maternal mortality rates – one in nine women dies in childbirth – are the highest in the world alongside Sierra Leone.
• And 30 years of conflict have left more than one million widows with no enforceable rights, left to beg on the streets alongside an increasing number of orphans.
• Afghanistan is the only country in the world with a higher suicide rate among women than men.

The report offers some substantive ideas for ways to address this ghastly situation:

“The vast majority of international aid goes directly to the Afghan government rather than non-governmental organisations. Activists are calling on the British to ring-fence some of the funding for human rights issues – such as gender-based projects – and to ensure the money reaches appropriate beneficiaries.

Womankind is calling for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which says women in conflict zones should be offered protection and recognition of their role in the peace process as well as their human rights. Across Afghanistan women’s organisations, such as (the Afghan Women Resource Centre), are now turning their attention from providing basic needs to empowering females, teaching them their rights and urging them to vote.”

Filed under: Uncategorized, Atrocities, Militarism, U.S. Politics, Misogyny, Gender-Based Violence