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Effort to Strengthen an Afghan Law on Women May Backfire Effort to Strengthen an Afghan Law on Women May Backfire
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KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan women, and sometimes even little girls, are sold or traded to pay family debts. So-called honor killings are a constant threat to women, especially in the country’s vast rural areas, where even talking to a man who is not a close relative can be perceived as a transgression punishable by death. Betrothals of girls as young as age 7 are not unknown; in some parts of the country, girls are routinely married at puberty. KABUL, Afghanistan — Even with some legal protections in place, Afghan women, and sometimes even little girls, are sold to pay family debts. In the country’s vast rural areas, just talking to a man who is not a close relative can be punishable by death. Betrothals of girls as young as 7 are not unknown; in some parts of the country, girls are routinely married at puberty.
The only law that at least attempted to hold families accountable for such treatment is now itself in danger, as the country’s tiny women’s rights movement faces an unenviable decision: leave the law intact despite its flaws or continue to try to present changes to Parliament, where a growing conservative movement could dismantle the protections entirely. And now, preserving any protections at all appears to be in question, as the country’s tiny women’s rights movement faces an unenviable decision: leave intact the only law that tried to halt such abuses, or continue to present changes to Parliament and run the risk that a growing conservative bloc could dismantle the law entirely.
The dangers of trying to amend the law became evident on Saturday, when a bid to add more robust protections was rapidly withdrawn in Parliament amid stinging rebukes. Angry mullahs and conservatives who never supported the law in the first place complained that the law and the proposed revisions were un-Islamic and asked who could better decide than they who and when their daughters should marry. Some women in Parliament were not supportive either, citing the measure’s backing of shelters for battered women. Many Afghans believe shelters are seen as brothels and tarnish a girl’s reputation. The quandary became evident on Saturday, when a bid to add more robust protections was rapidly withdrawn in Parliament after stinging rebukes. Angry mullahs and conservatives who never supported the law in the first place complained that it and the proposed revisions were un-Islamic and asked who could better decide than they who and when their daughters should marry.
The protests were strong enough that it became clear that even the law’s minimal legal protections could be at risk if the debate continued. The proposal for revisions was sent back to the committee that had worked on it. Some women in Parliament were not supportive either, citing the measure’s backing of shelters for battered women. Many Afghans believe shelters are seen as brothels and tarnish a girl’s reputation.
The push to bring up the law at all had split Afghanistan’s small women’s rights community in recent days, with fears that the conservatives would undo it entirely battling a sense that quick action had to be taken before the exit of the United States, after which conservatism will most likely gain strength. The United States, as well as the European Union, have championed better lives and protections for Afghan women. To cut off the onslaught, the proposal was sent back to committee, its future uncertain.
“We know who is in the Parliament,” said Soraya Sobrang, a women’s rights activist and part of a hastily organized effort to stop the law from coming up in Parliament, referring to the former militia commanders, mullahs and other conservatives who take a dim view of many of the Western-backed changes in Afghanistan. What would stop them, she asked, “from pulling a list from their back pocket” of changes that would weaken the protections against child marriage or even rape? The push to bring up the law in Parliament has split the small group of Afghan women’s rights advocates. Some argued for doing so, saying that quick action had to be taken before the exit of the United States, which, along with the European Union, has championed better lives and protections for Afghan women.
The drive to amend the law was led by one of Afghanistan’s more visible champions for women’s issues: Fawzia Koofi, who gained a seat in Parliament in 2005. But others resisted. “We know who is in the Parliament,” said Soraya Sobrang, a women’s rights activist and part of a hastily organized effort to stop the law from coming up in Parliament, referring to the former militia commanders, mullahs and other conservatives who take a dim view of many Western-backed changes. What would stop them, she asked, “from pulling a list from their back pocket” of changes that would weaken the protections against child marriage or even rape?
“There is a step back on women’s issues,” Ms. Koofi said in explaining her drive to revise the legislation in the plenary session of Parliament this weekend. “The government used to be more supportive.” The drive to amend the law was led by one of Afghanistan’s more visible champions for women’s issues: Fawzia Koofi, a headstrong, ambitious woman who gained a seat in Parliament in 2005.
Ms. Koofi is a somewhat controversial figure. Closely allied with the predominantly Tajik former Northern Alliance faction in Parliament, she has often been criticized as pursuing policies for her own political gain. She has insisted that her motivation to amend the women’s law was meant to help solidify it, though not all supporters of women’s rights here agree. “There is a step back on women’s issues,” Ms. Koofi said, explaining her drive to revise the law in the plenary session of Parliament this weekend. “The government used to be more supportive.”
Ms. Koofi said the proposed changes would allow the government to prosecute cases of abuse even when the woman who had been abused withdrew her claim. She said she also added a provision prohibiting sexual harassment, saying it is becoming increasingly pervasive as more women go to work in offices. And, she said, she included a provision to require men to pay women child support if they leave them or take other wives. However, as no written version of the amendments was easily available, it was difficult to verify their contents or wording. Ms. Koofi is a somewhat controversial figure. Closely allied with the predominantly Tajik former Northern Alliance faction in Parliament, she has sometimes been criticized as pursuing policies for her own political gain. However, she insisted that her motivation to amend the women’s law was to help solidify it, though not all supporters of women’s rights here agree.
But her prime worry was that because the law — the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act — was issued in 2009 as a decree by President Hamid Karzai, it might be annulled by another president. Elections are in less than a year. Parliament’s endorsement would enshrine the law more securely, she argued. Ms. Koofi said the proposed changes would allow the government to prosecute cases of abuse even when the woman who had been abused withdrew her claim. She said she also added a provision prohibiting sexual harassment, calling it increasingly pervasive as more women go to work in offices. And, she said, she included a provision to require men to pay women child support if they leave them or take other wives. No written version of the amendments was easily available, so it was difficult to verify their contents or wording.
” The law — the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act — was issued in 2009 as a decree by President Hamid Karzai. In a first for the country, it outlined basic protections from practices common throughout Afghanistan, including child marriage, forced marriage, physical abuse and the practice of giving women in marriage to settle disputes between families, called baad.
Other women’s advocates, however, doubted that it would be possible to discuss the law without inviting a siege. They say they are resigned to the possibility that it may already be too late to make protections more robust, and simply want to safeguard what is there. Ms. Koofi said her prime worry was that, with elections due in less than a year, the law might be annulled by a new president. Parliament’s endorsement would enshrine it more securely, she argued.
“It’s gambling with the law with this kind of Parliament,” said Mahbooba Saraj, a women’s advocate who joined a news conference at the offices of the Afghan Women’s Network, the main domestic women’s rights organization, to urge that Parliament remove discussion of the act from its agenda this weekend. “It’s a gamble with the lives of Afghan women.” “If we wait for the best moment when there is no opposition, we will wait forever,” she said. “Our worry is that things will get worse after 2014, and there’s no guarantee that the next president will support the women’s issues. We should have done it even earlier.”
When it was issued, the act for the first time outlined basic protections for women from practices common throughout Afghanistan, including child marriage, forced marriage, physical abuse and the practice of giving women in marriage to settle disputes between families, called baad. Some said they were resigned that it might already be too late to do more in Parliament than safeguard the current law.
The law lacks a definition of honor crimes and offers little clarity on how the police or prosecutors should treat a woman who runs away from home to escape violence. Often a woman who runs away from home is imprisoned on charges that she intended to commit adultery, although numerous women interviewed in jails by the United Nations for its 2011 report on the law’s enforcement said they were trying to avoid a forced marriage or domestic violence. And when a woman withdraws a complaint, the authorities drop any investigation, so women come under enormous family pressure to drop any charge of domestic violence they might have managed to press. “It’s gambling with the law with this kind of Parliament,” said Mahbooba Saraj, a women’s advocate who joined a news conference at the offices of the Afghan Women’s Network, one of the larger women’s rights organizations here, to urge that Parliament remove discussion of the act from its agenda this weekend. “It’s a gamble with the lives of Afghan women.”
Last week, the Afghan Women’s Network along with a number of Kabul-based civil society organizations began sending out alarmed e-mails to embassies and international organizations, as well as reporters, to rally opposition against the effort to bring the law to Parliament. Last week, the Afghan Women’s Network, along with a number of Kabul-based civil society organizations, began sending out alarmed e-mails to embassies and international organizations, as well as reporters, to rally opposition to the effort to revise the law.
Western diplomats in Kabul also strongly advised Ms. Koofi not to push ahead with a full debate unless she was absolutely sure that the law could be protected from evisceration.Western diplomats in Kabul also strongly advised Ms. Koofi not to push ahead with a full debate unless she was absolutely sure that the law could be protected from evisceration.
Enforcement of the current law is still woefully insufficient: in the first full year of implementation from 2010-2011, courts relied on the law in just 4 percent of the 2,299 reported episodes that could be defined as crimes under the law, according to a November 2011 report by the United Nations Human Rights division. However, prosecutors are using the law, especially in the larger urban areas such as Kabul and Herat. Human rights groups hope that as prosecutors become familiar with it, they will use it to bring cases more frequently. Georgette Gagnon, the head of the human rights office for the United Nations here, who has studied the law’s implementation, described taking the measure before the Parliament as “fraught with all kinds of risk.”
At a minimum, the law provides something that prosecutors, judges, lawyers for women and women’s advocates can point to. For instance there has been great discontent with requirement that girls be at least 16 before marriage. In some areas of rural Afghanistan, girls and boys are betrothed even as infants. Several women said they feared that members of Parliament would try to roll back the age of marriage to 9. “Ultimately, the losers could be millions of Afghan women,” she said.The existing law is far from ideal. Human rights lawyers say it lacks a definition of honor crimes and offers little clarity on how the police or prosecutors should treat a woman who runs away from home to escape violence. Often a woman who flees is imprisoned on charges that she intended to commit adultery; numerous women interviewed in jails by the United Nations for its 2012 report on the law’s enforcement said they ran to avoid a forced marriage or domestic violence. And women come under enormous family pressure to drop any charge of domestic violence they might have managed to press.
“The potential risk of opening of this Pandora’s box is enormous,” said Heather Barr, the director of the Human Rights Watch office for Afghanistan. “Just look at the Parliament; what planet would you have to be on to think that they would vote to send themselves to prison if they married off their under-aged daughter, or sent themselves to jail if they beat their wives?” Enforcement remains woefully insufficient: in the first full year of implementation from 2010 to 2011, courts relied on the law in just 4 percent of the 2,299 reported episodes that could be defined as crimes under the law, according to a November 2011 report by the United Nations human rights division. However, prosecutors are using the law, especially in the larger urban areas like Kabul and Herat. Human rights groups hope that as prosecutors become familiar with it, they will use it to bring cases more frequently.
At a minimum, the law provides something that prosecutors, judges, lawyers for women and women’s advocates can point to. For instance, there has been great discontent with a requirement that girls be at least 16 before marriage. In some areas of rural Afghanistan, girls and boys are betrothed even as infants. Several women said they feared that members of Parliament would try to roll back the age of marriage to 9.
“The potential risk of opening this Pandora’s box is enormous,” said Heather Barr, the director of the Human Rights Watch office for Afghanistan. “Just look at the Parliament; what planet would you have to be on to think that they would vote to send themselves to prison if they married off their under-aged daughter, or send themselves to jail if they beat their wives?”

Jawad Sukhanyar and Rod Nordland contributed reporting from Kabul.

Jawad Sukhanyar and Rod Nordland contributed reporting from Kabul.