In Afghanistan, there were expectations that ten years after the fall of the Taliban women’s rights –which had been systematically abused during the Taliban’s rule- would be respected. A recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), “I Had to Run Away” The Imprisonment of Women and Girls for “Moral Crimes” in Afghanistan, shows that this is not the case.
The HRW report is based on 58 interviews with women and girls accused of “moral crimes,” and were conducted in three prisons and three juvenile detention facilities. These crimes often involved flight from a forced marriage or different degrees and kinds of domestic violence. In addition, some of the women and girls were convicted of zina, as sex out of marriage is called, after being raped or forced into prostitution.
There have been several initiatives aimed at improving the human rights situation in Afghanistan .In 2001, the Bonn Agreement established the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) as a national human rights institution in charge of protecting human rights and investigating human rights abuses and war crimes. Its existence was solidified by the Afghanistan Constitution of 2004.
This current Afghan constitution, approved by consensus in 2004 after the 2003 loya jirga, promised equal rights for women and men, allowing women to work outside the home and engage in political activity.
Despite some advances, however, in late March 2009, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed into law an internationally repudiated “Shia Family Law.” This law apparently condones spousal rape, child marriage, and imposes purdah on married Afghan women. Purdah is the social system that determines sexual propriety and manages inter-gender interaction and relationships.
That same year, the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women banned and set serious penalties for underage and forced marriage, domestic violence, rape, forced prostitution and other abuses against women. However, discrimination and violence against women continues, and those that try to flee abusive situations face apathy and criminal sanctions for what are vaguely defined as “moral crimes.” Although reliable statistics are not readily available, HRW estimates that in January 2012, there were approximately 400 women and girls imprisoned in Afghanistan for “moral crimes.”
Thus, although there has been an increased participation of women in Afghanistan’s social, educational and political life, prejudices and ineffectual application of laws continue to exact a heavy toll on women, as the HRW report shows. While women who flee abuse often end up incarcerated, the men responsible for those abuses frequently enjoy impunity from prosecution.
Many women and girls are still forced into marriage, often at a very young age and to a much older man. As a result, it is estimated that every two hours an Afghan woman or girl dies of pregnancy-related causes, in part because they are forced to marry immediately after puberty and they give birth when their bodies are not fully developed.
When facing such difficult circumstances, many women leave those unhappy relationships. Their enraged relatives then track them down and accuse them of running away from their marriage or of zina, which is defined by Islamic Law as unlawful sexual intercourse between a man and a woman not married to each other.
Even if charges are not proven, women suffer from invasive medical examinations and severe damages to their credibility and reputation. Only rarely do the police and the justice system investigate claims of abuse cited by women as their reason for fleeing home, and even more rarely are men prosecuted for those crimes.
The Supreme Court of Afghanistan has instructed the country’s judges to treat the “running away” as a crime, despite the absence of this offense in Afghan law which only exacerbates the discrimination against women. Prosecutors often argue that women and girls detained for “moral crimes” are of bad moral character and probably “fabricate” their stories of abuse.
Afghanistan’s justice system should investigate all crimes against women, determine if women’s actions were in response to abuse and prosecute those presumed guilty. Until Afghanistan’s justice system treats all its citizens equally, the country will continue to be a pariah among those that respect justice and women’s rights.
Cesar Chelala, a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award, is an international public health consultant who has written extensively on women’s health and human rights.
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