Judicial & law enforcement officials provide sporadic enforcement/implementation of law supporting the equality and rights of Afghan women + Government has not yet succeeded in applying the law to the vast majority of cases of violence against women based on Report from UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report. “Judges, prosecutors and police in many parts of Afghanistan have begun to use the new law which is a positive development, but unfortunately only in a small percentage of violence against women cases. Although the law’s implementation is clearly growing, there is a very long way to go before Afghan women are fully protected from violence and their equality is properly upheld through this important law,” according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. (See Film Report:-“Afghan Women Regaining Rightful Role” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/afghan-women-regaining-rightful-role/25719 Forces Marriage & Other Abuses: Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) law (2009) criminalizes child marriage, forced marriage, selling and buying women for the purpose or under the pretext of marriage, baad (giving away a woman or girl to settle a dispute), forced self-immolation and other acts of violence against women including rape and beating. It also specifies punishment for perpetrators. The UN Report entitled A Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women law in Afghanistan, found both positive progress and gaps in the implementation. (Full Report is Linked at Bottom of this Article below). Going Around the Law: “The justice sector in some provinces has applied the EVAW law which is encouraging. But the low number of cases prosecuted and tried shows that a much more active collective effort by justice system actors, Government decision-makers and others is needed to urge judicial and local authorities to apply the law to all cases of violence against women, Progress on the status of Afghan women over the last ten years, including their 38 percent access to schools, their 69 MPs in Parliament and some women who have qualified as airplane pilots, is undermined by uneven implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women Law,” according to Staffan de Mistura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA. (See Film Report: - “Afghan Girls-Sports Freedom” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/afghan-girlssports-freedom/23807 Part of the problem may be the lack of women in authority. This may be addressed overtime with more women in such positions including law enforcement. This though is not a problem of a lack of history of professional women. To the contrary, Afghanistan society was at one time considerably ahead on issues of women’s involvement but has regressed over the last 3 decades. Read:- “Afghan Women Law Enforcement” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/blog_post/new-generation-of-afghan-women-law-enforcement-by-ambassador-mo/28661). Report concluded in many cases of violence against Afghan women complaints were withdrawn or mediated including serious crimes. UN human rights officials found that some murder cases and other serious crimes criminalized under the EVAW law were instead prosecuted under the Penal Code or Sharia law. This sometimes resulted: “in acquittal of perpetrators, reduction of charges to less serious crimes, convictions with lighter sentences and women victims themselves being accused of “moral crimes”. Mediation was used extensively but perhaps inappropriately for domestic violence complaints by institutions including the Police Family Response Unit, Department of Women’s Affairs, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Special Violence against Women Unit of the Attorney General’s Office. While mediation was sometimes preferred by women complainants, the Report concluded that authorities often inappropriately pressured women to withdraw complaints and opt for mediation.” Read & Link to Full Report at www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11635&LangID=E By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey Facebook – Become a Fan at “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter – Follow us at DiplomaticallyX War Crimes Justice” Channel - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/c/war-crimes-justice