Afghanistan – Government Takeover of Women’s Shelters
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: July 22, 2005
WUNRN
Amnesty International
Afghanistan Government Takeover of Women’s Shelters
©
Amnesty International
By Horia Mosadiq, Amnesty
International’s
Researcher.
The recent move by
Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA) to take control of women’s shelters is deeply
worrying. I have spoken to NGO workers who run these shelters, and they
have been outraged by the new legislation.
Over the past few years I have
personally been able to see the work of five of these shelters out of a total
of 14 set up around the country by NGOs after the Taleban’s fall. The shelters
house hundreds of Afghan women and girls whose lives are at risk due to forced
marriage, underaged marriage, and other forms of violence.
Amnesty International urges the Afghan government to
reconsider this terrible piece of legislation and, instead, recommit itself to
protecting the women of Afghanistan and those courageous human rights
defenders, many of them women, who are trying to counteract years of
discrimination and sexual violence against the women of Afghanistan.
As an Afghan woman I was
extremely proud of the work of my colleagues in establishing these shelters,
despite lack of resources, cultural prejudices, and intimidation. Intimidation,
from the family members of the women seeking shelter, from the government, from
political figures supposedly allied with the government, and from the Taleban
and other anti-government groups.
In one case, in 2008, the founder
of one of the NGOs running a shelter was effectively detained for a full day by
high officials in the Attorney General’s office, simply because she was trying
to resolve a case of domestic violence that affected the family of a government
official.
Now, instead of supporting the efforts
of these brave Afghan women, the MoWA legislation tries to take control of the
running of the shelters, and oversee who is eligible for protection via an
eight-person admission panel stacked with representatives from government
ministries.
The legislation also introduces a
requirement of a ‘forensic medical examination’ if requested by the admission
panel, a term referring to the examination that women are subjected to when
accused of adultery – a criminal offense in Afghanistan.
This test examines women for
evidence of sexual activity – not to protect them in case of sexual abuse, or
gather evidence against their abusers, but rather to see if they are somehow
morally at fault, and therefore, subject to prosecution!
The women who run the shelters
rightly see the MoWA legislation as an insulting provision that will
re-victimise women. It could even be an avenue that is open to abuse for
those in power who wish to put these vulnerable women behind bars for
‘adultery’.
The admission panel itself will
not only complicate the process and deny protection to women and girls who need
it, but also raise the very serious risk that women who have fled abuse by
those with government connections will be put at even more risk, and be sent
back to more abuse.
The panel will consist of
representatives from the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Afghanistan Independent
Human Rights Commission, Supreme Court, General Attorney’s Office, Ministry of
Interior, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, Ministry of Public Health, and
Ministry of Justice, A civil society representative appointed by MoWA will make
the final decision.
©Amnesty
International
The legislation has clearly not
been designed to guarantee the wellbeing and protection of vulnerable
women. Not only does it insult them and increase intrusive government
control over their fate, it fails to mention any guarantee or monitoring of
wellbeing or protection for the women and girls if they are taken into care by
their relatives or discharged from the shelters.
The Afghan government and MoWA
should repeal this new legislation and let the NGOs who know better than anyone
how to care for and support women at risk to do their jobs.
If the Afghan government really
wants to be more supportive of vulnerable women, it should provide better
funding to the shelters instead of restricting their work.
Categories: Releases
