Kabul, December 07: A new Human Rights Watch report has criticized Afghanistan’s government for failing to protect women from crimes such as rape and murder.
“Women will not seek help because of their fears of police abuse and corruption, or their fears of retaliation by perpetrators of violence,” said the report, which was published Monday.
The situation for women in Afghanistan is dismal in every area, according to the report that is based on 120 interviews from different provinces.
The report highlights rights violations in attacks on women in public life, violence against women, child marriage and marriage by coercion, the lack of access to justice for women and the lack of access to secondary education for girls.
It cites cases in which the government has pardoned rapists, imprisoned girls and women for running away from home and charged rape victims with adultery. It also mentions a number of cases in which women in public life have been murdered.
Last week, the United Nations called the violence against women — including the rape of women — in Afghanistan a problem of profound proportions.
——-Agencies