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Women's rights and violence against Muslim women in Afghanistan.The protection of women's human rights must be ensured for their self realization and
participation in society, we must build ways for women to win justice and redress when they are
targeted for violence. Women always fight against violence but in Afghanistan they aren’t
protected, that’s why a lot of measures are taken to screen them.All over the world, women must have the right to obtain education, they have a role
in society, they work, give their opinion. They have the right to be heard and to get rewards for
what they have done. A woman must apply what she gets from her education, she has an independent property and is free to do what she wants. She has the right to choose her own husband and isn’t obliged to get married to a man that she doesn’t love. If she has problems with her husband she can ask for a divorce and have custody of her children. Women have almost the same rights as men.
Unfortunately, violence has dominated women nowadays. The number of raped women
has increased in many countries. There is also a serious problem of sexual abuse of women in
state and federal prisons. Women are victims of this violence because in some areas it is allowed
to beat a woman. As a result of domestic violence, eighty percent of the women in Pakistan and in South Africa are victims of domestic violence; there were 49280 reported rapes there in 1998.
In Peru there were 28000 reports of domestic abuse. The police and the associations fail to
respond to sexual assault as a crime unless the victim is a virgin or the offender is a stranger.
The worst situation is in Afghanistan because women have been beaten and stoned for
not having a proper attire or for exposing their arms or leaving the country with a man who is a
relative. In Afghanistan women don’t have a role in society; they have been forced from their
jobs and stuffed in their home, no educational opportunities. It’s not allowed for a woman to go
out in public without a relative man. There are also horrid and gruesome rules that women must
follow, for example, the windows must be painted in their houses and they must have silent shoes
so as not to be heard. Husbands and people have the right to beat a woman for exposing her flesh. Before 1996 women had somehow freedom in Afghanistan but their dreams were dashed after the war. So "Afghanistan has no future and is still a troubled place to be a woman" said Surj Begum.
For these many reasons the associations criticize the government for tolerating
widespread violence against women. The Human Rights Watch is an association that tried a few years ago to hail some changes in laws that help make the world safer for women. The U.N. also tried to give equal protection for all victims. Some countries offer help but others don’t and the
court officials failed to invoke their authority for this purpose; so we must prevent the risk
and protect the women by ensuring them all the facilities in their life. The government has to
change and at the same time preserve the honor of a woman. Courts and associations must
work hard on this.A long time ago women fought violence against them and since then they have been
trying to find solutions to this problem; but it is very difficult, especially in Afghanistan and Muslim
areas. Women’s rights is not a small issue and it is unacceptable in these days for a woman to be
treated as a subhuman. Equality and human decency are a Right not a Freedom. So this problem
deserves support.
Page Created on August 6, 2000
Last updated on August 6, 2000
Copyright © 2000 by Nada AbiSamra
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