UNAMA Human Rights launches update report on Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVWA) Law: 8 December 2013

At a news conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul today, UNAMA released ‘

A Way to Go: An Update on Implementation of the Law on the Elimination of

Violence against Women in Afghanistan.’ Produced jointly with the Office of

the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the annual report found

that Afghan authorities registered more reports of violence against women

under the law on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW law) over

the past year, but prosecutions and convictions under the law remained low,

with most cases settled by mediation. “The EVAW law, when it is applied,

has provided protection to Afghan women facing violence,” said UNAMA’s

Director of Human Rights, Georgette Gagnon (shown in right image). “But

most women victims still remain largely unprotected due to a lack of

investigation into most incidents and continued under reporting of

pervasive violence against women and girls resulting from discrimination,

existing social norms and cultural practices, and fear of reprisals and

threat to life.” Enacted in 2009, the EVAW law criminalizes acts of

violence against women and harmful practices including child marriage,

forced marriage, forced self-immolation, baad (giving away a woman or girl

to settle a dispute) and 18 other acts of violence against women including

rape and beating. It also specifies punishment for perpetrators.

 

Photo: Fardin Waezi / UNAMA

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