Afghan authorities are failing to enforce the law to protect women from murder, beating, rape and other violence and being sold into marriage and prostitution, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) revealed in a report that only a small number of cases of violence against women have been prosecuted under the Elimination of Violence Against Women law, passed more than two years ago.
Prosecutors in Afghanistan filed indictments in 155 cases of 2,299 estimated incidents of violence against women, the UN mission said in the report. Just 101 cases were brought to court for final judgments.
“There is still a long way to go to ensure that more cases of violence against women are prosecuted,” UNAMA human rights director Georgette Gagnon told reporters.
She said cases that are prosecuted “sends a message that these are crimes and they need to be stopped and perpetrators… need to be punished”. Women had few rights under the harsh rule of the Taliban, who were ousted in 2001, and an improvement in the lot of women has been a top priority of Western backers of the government of President Hamid Karzai, who has ruled since then.
