Rape is a major issue in Afghanistan. A number of human rights organizations have criticized the country's rape laws and their enforcement.
Rape is a major issue in Afghanistan. A number of human rights organizations have criticized the country's rape laws and their enforcement.
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration perpetrated against a person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent. This can include one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent. [1] [2] The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault.
Violence against women in Afghanistan reached record levels in 2013, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). Women are respected for their virginity, and even if the woman gets pregnant after being raped, it is uncommon for her rapist to marry her. Thus a woman is now punished for being "impure". The Taliban authorities treat such cases as zina (adultery). Zina has been reported from every province of the country. [3] Even if the woman is not punished, she remains rejected by society as "dishonorable" (badnaam in Pashto), while the rapist is not considered dishonored. [4]
The consent of underaged girls for sex is not covered by laws in Afghanistan but underage marriage, forced marriage, beating, rape, "baahd" (the giving of a female relative to another family to settle a debt or dispute), humiliation, intimidation and food refusal was made illegal during Hamid Karzai's Presidency. [3]
A woman was convicted of zina (adultery) and sentenced to death by stoning to death when she declared that she was raped by her brother-in-law; the judge considered her pregnancy as proof of adultery since her husband was in jail at that time and she was unable to produce witnesses for the rape. [5]
Islamic law (Shari'a), as interpreted in the local context and influenced by tribal customs, although uncodified, stopped successful prosecution of some rape cases in the country. The Quran does not specifically mention a punishment for rape, but under one interpretation of Shari'a, local tribal elders leaders may treat rape as a form of adultery, punishable by stoning to death or 100 lashes of the whip, although there were no reports of such cases during the year. [3]
Adultery, rape and morality crimes may lead to honour killings if the family feels the honour has been lost and occasionally authorities claim that the detention of women accused of these acts is for their protection as they may be murdered otherwise. [3]
Afghanistan also passed the Shia Family Law in 2009 under Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The United Nations Development Fund for Women, NATO, Canada, United States, Germany and other nations have come forward expressing concern over the oppressive nature of the law. The Shia Family Law takes away women's rights within a marriage and specifies that Shia women must submit to their husband's demands. It even specifies that they must have sex with their husbands at least once every four days except in the case of illness. The law will only apply to Shia women, who total around 6 million in Afghanistan. The argument in favor of this law is that it is an improvement upon the customary regional law imposed previously. [6]
Rape in Afghanistan is a crime which can be legally prosecuted, but in practice it is very rarely reported and most of laws for rape are not implemented, as such there are immense risks that women face if they report it. Rape victims in the country face a double risk of being subjected to violence: on one hand they can become victims of honor killings perpetrated by their families, and on the other hand they can be victimized by the laws of the country. Women also undertake many smaller personal risks to their social status and daily life: [7] They can be charged with adultery, a crime that can be punishable by death. Furthermore, they can be forced by their families to marry their rapist which is especially likely if the woman becomes pregnant. [8] Due to a number of high-profile instances, the risk of being prosecuted for Zina creates a strong disincentive for women not to report being raped in Afghanistan today. [5]
Rape victims in Afghanistan are more stigmatized than the rapists. Women who are raped can be and often are punished, while their male counterparts rarely face jail time when accused of rape. Raped women are often punished for zina under adultery laws instead of getting justice. Women are often persuaded to marry their rapist in hopes of restoring honor to her family. This is also done so the rapist can avoid facing charges. Thus putting women in the, very often dangerous, position of either marrying the man who raped and attacked them or facing honor crimes, possibly murder, at the hands of their own family members. [9]
In 2012, Afghanistan recorded 240 cases of honor killings and 160 cases of rape, but the number for both honor killings and rapes is estimated to be much higher and unreported, especially in the more rural areas.
In 2013, Afghanistan made international news in regard to the story of a woman who was raped by a man, jailed for adultery, gave birth to a child in jail, and was then subsequently pardoned by Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai, as international interest and outrage grew but she was forced by Government officials to marry her rapist who claims to have rescued her from shame by marrying her. [10] In 2013, in eastern Ghazni, a man attacked a woman and attempted to rape her, and as a result the relatives of the woman killed both the woman and the man in an honor killing. In Afghanistan, crimes such as adultery, rape and trafficking are often conflated with each other, and it is generally not acceptable for a woman and a man to be alone together (unless married or related), and if this happens the response can be very violent: [11] An Afghan medical doctor and his female patient were attacked by an angry mob who threw stones at them after the two were discovered in his private examining room without a chaperon. [12]
During the Afghan-Soviet war the Soviet forces abducted Afghan women while flying in the country in search of mujahideen. In November 1980 a number of such incidents had taken place in various parts of the country, including Laghman and Kama. Soviet soldiers as well as KhAD agents kidnapped young women from the city of Kabul and the areas of Darul Aman and Khair Khana, near the Soviet garrisons, to rape them. [13] Women who were taken and raped by Soviet soldiers were considered 'dishonoured' by their families if they returned home. [14]
In 2015, Amnesty International reported that the Afghan Taliban had engaged in mass murder and gang rapes of Afghan civilian women and children in Kunduz. [15] Taliban fighters killed and raped female relatives of police commanders and soldiers. The Taliban also raped and killed midwives who they accused of providing forbidden reproductive health services to women in the city. [15] One female human rights activist described the situation: [15]
When the Taliban asserted their control over Kunduz, they claimed to be bringing law and order and Shari'a to the city. But everything they've done has violated both. I don't know who can rescue us from this situation.
According to Amnesty International, since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the group has violated the rights of women and destroyed the system of protection and support for victims of violence. [16]
In 2013, Fereshta Kazemi played the leading role in The Icy Sun, one of the first films to deal openly with rape in Afghanistan. NBC News said that her "film breaks new ground for Afghanistan, where victims of rape can be forced to marry their attackers to preserve their families' honor". [17]
The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) is a women's organization originally based in Kabul, Afghanistan, that promotes women's rights and secular democracy. It was founded in 1977 by Meena Keshwar Kamal, an Afghan student activist who was assassinated in February 1987 for her political activities. The group, which supports non-violent strategies, had its initial office in Kabul, Afghanistan, but then moved to Pakistan in the early 1980s.
Freedom of religion in Pakistan is formally guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan for individuals of various religions and religious sects.
The Hudud Ordinances are laws in Pakistan enacted in 1979 as part of the Islamization of Pakistan by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the sixth president of Pakistan. It replaced parts of the British-era Pakistan Penal Code, adding new criminal offences of adultery and fornication, and new punishments of whipping, amputation, and stoning to death. After much controversy and criticism parts of the law were extensively revised in 2006 by the Women's Protection Bill.
Zināʾ (زِنَاء) or zinā is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, zina can include adultery, fornication, prostitution, sodomy, incest, and bestiality. Zina must be proved by testimony of four Muslim eyewitnesses to the actual act of penetration, confession repeated four times and not retracted later. The offenders must have acted of their own free will. Rapists could be prosecuted under different legal categories which used normal evidentiary rules. Making an accusation of zina without presenting the required eyewitnesses is called qadhf (القذف), which is itself a hudud offense.
The Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, known locally as the Stera Mahkama, is the court of last resort of Afghanistan. Under the current Taliban government, the court has no independence or power of judicial review; the supreme leader of Afghanistan holds the ultimate authority to decide and interpret the law and may overturn any decision of any court. The current chief justice is Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
Hudud is an Arabic word meaning "borders, boundaries, limits". In classical Islamic literature, punishments are mainly of three types; Qisas-diya, hudud and Ta'zeer. Hudud covers the punishments given to people who exceed the limits associated with the Quran and set by Allah, and in this respect it differs from Ta'zeer. These punishments were applied in pre-modern Islam, and their use in some modern states has been a source of controversy.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Afghan members of the LGBT community are forced to keep their gender identity and sexual orientation secret, in fear of violence and the death penalty. The religious nature of the country has limited any opportunity for public discussion, with any mention of homosexuality and related terms deemed taboo.
Human rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime are severely restricted and considered among the worst in the world. Women's rights and freedom are severely restricted, as they are banned from most public spaces and employment. Afghanistan is the only country in the world to ban education for women over the age of eleven. Taliban's policies towards women are usually termed as gender apartheid. Minority groups such as Hazaras face persecution and eviction from their lands. Authorities have used physical violence, raids, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearances of activists and political opponents.
Statistics on rape and other acts of sexual assault are commonly available in industrialized countries, and have become better documented throughout the world. Inconsistent definitions of rape, different rates of reporting, recording, prosecution and conviction for rape can create controversial statistical disparities, and lead to accusations that many rape statistics are unreliable or misleading.
The concept of rape, both as an abduction and in the sexual sense, makes its appearance in early religious texts.
The Women's Protection Bill which was passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on 15 November 2006 is an attempt to amend the heavily criticised 1979 Hudood Ordinance laws which govern the punishment for rape and adultery in Pakistan. Critics of the Hudood Ordinance alleged that it made it exceptionally difficult and dangerous to prove an allegation of rape, and thousands of women had been imprisoned as a result of the bill. The bill returned a number of offences from the Zina Ordinance to the Pakistan Penal Code, where they had been before 1979, and created an entirely new set of procedures governing the prosecution of the offences of adultery and fornication. Whipping and amputation were removed as punishments. The law meant women would not be jailed if they were unable to prove rape and their complaints of rape would not be seen as confession of adultery.
An honor killing, honour killing, or shame killing is a traditional form of murder in which a person is killed by or at the behest of members of their family or their partner, due to culturally sanctioned beliefs that such homicides are necessary as retribution for the perceived dishonoring of the family by the victim. Honor killings are often connected to religion, caste, other forms of hierarchical social stratification, or sexuality. Most often, it involves the murder of a woman or girl by male family members, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought dishonor or shame upon the family name, reputation or prestige. Honor killings are believed to have originated from tribal customs.
Women's rights in Afghanistan are severely restricted by the Taliban. In 2023, the United Nations termed Afghanistan as the world's most repressive country for women. Since the US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban gradually imposed restrictions on women's freedom of movement, education, and employment. Women are banned from studying in secondary schools and universities, making Afghanistan the only country to prohibit females from studying beyond the sixth grade. Women are not allowed in parks, gyms, or beauty salons. They are forbidden from going outside for a walk or exercise, from speaking or showing any part of their face or body outside the home, or even from singing or reading from within their own homes if they could be heard by strangers outside. In extreme cases, women have reportedly been subjected to gang-rape and torture in Taliban prisons.
Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times.
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's dictatorship after assuming the position of sixth president of Pakistan began on 16 September 1978 and ended with his death in an aircraft crash on 17 August 1988. Zia came to power after a coup, overthrowing prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and imposing martial law in 1977.
Gulnaz is an Afghan woman and rape victim. She was raped by her cousin's husband in 2009 and became pregnant. She was then charged with zina, a crime in Afghanistan. She was initially sentenced to two years in jail, which was later raised to twelve, and she gave birth to a daughter in jail.
Rape in Saudi Arabia is regulated by Saudi Arabia's interpretation of Sharia law, under which someone convicted of the criminal offense of rape can be sentenced to a variety of punishments, ranging from flogging to execution. In 2019, eight executions took place in Saudi Arabia for rape.
In Islam, human sexuality is governed by Islamic law, also known as Sharia. Accordingly, sexual violation is regarded as a violation of moral and divine law. Islam divides claims of sexual violation into 'divine rights' and 'interpersonal rights' : the former requiring divine punishment and the latter belonging to the more flexible human realm.
A marry-your-rapist law, marry-the-rapist law, or rape-marriage law is a rule of rape law in a jurisdiction under which a man who commits rape, sexual assault, statutory rape, abduction or other similar act is exonerated if he marries his female victim, or in some jurisdictions at least offers to marry her. The "marry-your-rapist" law is a legal way for the accused to avoid prosecution or punishment.
War crimes in Afghanistan covers the period of conflict from 1979 to the present. Starting with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, 40 years of civil war in various forms has wracked Afghanistan. War crimes have been committed by all sides.
While military operations in the country were going on, women were abducted. While flying in the country in search of mujahideen, helicopters would land in fields where women were spotted. While Afghan women do mainly domestic chores, they also work in fields assisting their husbands or performing tasks by themselves. The women were now exposed to the Soviets, who kidnapped them with helicopters. By November 1980 a number of such incidents had taken place in various parts of the country, including Laghman and Kama. In the city of Kabul, too, the Soviets kidnapped women, taking them away in tanks and other vehicles, especially after dark. Such incidents happened mainly in the areas of Darul Aman and Khair Khana, near the Soviet garrisons. At times such acts were committed even during the day. KhAD agents also did the same. Small groups of them would pick up young women in the streets, apparently to question them but in reality to satisfy their lust: in the name of security, they had the power to commit excesses.
A final weapon of terror the Soviets used against the mujahideen was the abduction of Afghan women. Soldiers flying in helicopters would scan for women working in the fields in the absence of their men, land, and take the women captive. Soviet soldiers in the city of Kabul would also steal young women. The object was rape, although sometimes the women were killed, as well. The women who returned home were often considered dishonored for life.