Violence against women increases despite activists efforts in Afghanistan

Ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which falls on Nov. 25, the Afghan human rights commission released a report on Saturday, registering 2,762 cases of violence against women within first seven Afghan months.
Violence against women and girls, according to Afghan Independent Human Right Commission (AIHRC), is a matter of concern as women and girls are facing variety of violence ranging from underage marriages to physical beating.
Afghan women activists also expressed concerns over the growing cases of violence against women and said criminal acts, particularly anti-women violence cases should not be informally referred to, but rather should be addressed by formal justice institutions.
"Violence against women who are mother, sister or wife, is a despicable phenomenon and should be fought against, not only by women administrated offices, but also by the men led organs," Farida Nekzad, a known Afghan women activist who is running a women journalist protection center in Afghanistan, told media.
Women and girls facing numerous types of violence in the rural areas of Afghanistan are often not aware of their rights.
Nekzad, director of the Center for Protection of Afghan Women Journalist (CPAWJ), blamed insecurity and rising insurgency across the country as the main reasons that have given rise to violence against women.
She also asked justice and judicial organs to speed up efforts to punish the perpetrators and all those behind the cases.
"During the seven months starting from March 21 to Oct. 22, 2,762 incidents of violence against women were registered in the offices of the Commission, while during the same period of last year, about 2,536 incidents of violence against women were registered. A comparison of the two years shows that violence against women increased by about 8.2 percent this year," a statement posted on AIHRC website read.
Another woman activist and journalist Lailuma Noori also said that what has been made within the past decades, for fighting or preventing violence against women or bringing the perpetrators to justice was very little.
She said women are literally confined to their homes in most of the country's rural areas, where they are badly treated by men, either husbands or other members of their families.
"In the patriarch Afghan society women are not only mistreated by men outdoors, but also within their houses. They are treated as second level members," she said, asking the authorities to fulfil their commitments towards elimination of violence against women.
Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and other Afghan high-ranking authorities have repeatedly condemned violence against women and stressed the need for women's presence at various government levels.
The authorities called violence against women a crime, opposite to national, humanistic values and an intolerable despicable phenomenon.
Meanwhile, Afghan Attorney General Office has said that it had established certain units, 32 of them administrated by women, to curb violence against women and provide them justice across the country.
It said the proportion of female attorneys had increased from 3 percent to 22 percent in the last two years, a spike which the source called an exemplary achievement in recruitment history of the attorney general office.
The office assured that women's access to justice has been improved eye-catchingly compared to the past.
According to AIHRC statement, "the most important causes of violence against women are harmful customs and traditions, lack of security and weak government control in districts and provinces, lack of decisive action against criminals and continuing culture of impunity; corruption and abuse of office."
Interference of influential persons in the handling of violence against women cases, restricted access to justice for women, lack of marriage and divorce registration offices in the remote areas, illiteracy and the low level of public awareness, are also key factors that caused violence against women.
"Poverty and unemployment, and increasing drug addiction are also the contributing factors that cause continued domestic violence against women in the country," said the statement.