PAN (Translated by RAWA), December 25, 2008

UNFPA: About 25% Women in Afghanistan Face Sexual Violence

"presently women of our country are in an extremely bad condition and it is possible that they be among the most ill-fated women in the world"

Ahmad Khalid Muahid

Recent statistics show that about 25% of women in the country are subjected to sexual violence.

Younis Payan, deputy of the United Nations Population Fund in Afghanistan (UNFPA), who was giving a speech on the first day of a one-day workshop (A Happy Family and Intact Society from Islam’s Viewpoint), said the survey had been conducted recently.

RAWA: 12-year-old Anisa was gang-raped by five warlords in Sar Pul province, northern Afghanistan, but she says the rapists were arrested but without being trailed they have been released.

According to Younis Payan, the statistics show that about 30.7% women suffer physical violence and another 30% suffer from psychological violence.

Though he didn’t give further details about the survey, he said the causes of these kinds of violence are a low level of literacy and awareness.

But Professor Muzhgan Mustafwi, an official of Ministry of Women’s Affairs called the condition of women “unpleasant”.

He believes that presently women of our country are in an extremely bad condition and it is possible that they be among the most ill-fated women in the world.

He also added, “We want rights for the women of Afghanistan which the Prophet (P.B.U.H) gave his wives.”

In the end of his conversation Mustafwi gave news about the suggestion of a specific budget for making religious schools (Madaris) for girls in all the provinces of the country in the next solar year.

But he didn’t say anything about the amount of the suggested budget.

He added that without the assistance of religious scholars they wouldn’t be able to do anything.

In this workshop Nematullah Shahrani, minister of the Ministry of Hajj and Endowment was also present.

He said, “We see the prosperity of humanity in the application of religious commands. Religion is God’s and God Himself knows better the nature of humanity.”

In the mentioned workshop about forty religious scholars from provinces like Balkh, Samangan, Wardak, Paktia and Ningarhar participated.

In this workshop, the scholars discussed the strong bond of Islam and family, health of mothers, pauses between births and under-aged marriages.

Shahrani continued, “A family is the foundation of a civilized society and the base has to be improved so that the secondary problems are solved.

He said that religious scholars have an important role in social, economical and political fields; however, he added that the government wanted the scholars to talk about important social issues through mosques and other religious places.

He believes that in Afghanistan from old times, customs and ancient traditions have replaced religion and the reason is lack of knowledge about Islam and low level of literacy.

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