UN calls for concerted efforts to end violence against women in Afghanistan

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United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called for concerted national efforts to end violence against women in Afghanistan, according to a statement of the entity released here to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, on Saturday.

“Violence against women in Afghanistan must immediately stop,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative for Afghanistan and head of the UNAMA said in the statement.

“For Afghan women to achieve their full potential and their immense capacity in development, in peace and in security, the violations of the rights of women and girls, particularly through violence, must cease,” the statement quoted the UN top official in Afghanistan as saying.

In the conflict-hit Afghanistan, violence against women and girls, according to Afghan Independent Human Right Commission (AIHRC), is a matter of concerns as women and girls are facing variety of violence ranging from underage marriages to physical beating.

Afghan Independent Human Right Commission (AIHRC) in a statement released Saturday said that the watchdog had registered 3,778 cases of violence against women in Afghanistan in the past 10 months.

Among the registered cases of violence against women over the past 10 months, according to the watchdog, 1,351 are physical harassments, 186 are sexual violence, 1,093 are using abusive languages and the remaining includes variety of violence ranging from underage marriages, forced marriage to economic violence.

“The UN family in Afghanistan stressed that alongside the effective legal and institutional mechanisms for access to justice, stopping violence against women requires an effort from all of us, from every individual, to speak out against violence in homes, workplaces and social settings,” UNAMA statement added.