WESTERN AFGHANISTAN WOMEN TRY OUT SHURAS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 002796 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, DRL, GTIP, GWI, PRM, INL NSC FOR JWOOD OSD FOR MCGRAW E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPOL PREL PHUM AF SUBJECT: WESTERN AFGHANISTAN WOMEN TRY OUT SHURAS REF: KABUL 004140 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Life in Western Afghanistan remains difficult for women, particularly in rural and insecure areas. NGOs and government agencies report that families continue to force women and girls into marriages and to otherwise subject them to physical and emotional abuse. Women and girls continue to run away from home or resort to suicide in order to escape from these situations. In addition, they face discriminatory treatment by judicial and medical officials when they try to seek protection or bring their abusers to justice. Two promising developments, however, are increased coordination between the police, the Department of Women's Affairs (DOWA),and the Herat women's shelter, and women lawyers successfully navigating the traditional and formal justice systems. Weak Economy and Insecurity Cause Increased Domestic Violence -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The Director of the DOWA for Herat Province, Sima, said that DOWA assisted 180 women and girls over the last six months in cases involving forced marriages including bride selling and child marriages, physical and emotional abuse, and rape. In one recent case, a young woman's husband's family beat her and only occasionally threw scraps of food on the ground for her to eat. Another family cut off an 18 year-old woman's toes and beat her so badly that she was partially paralyzed. Sima said that conditions for women in Western Afghanistan worsened over the past year due to a weakening economy and continuing insecurity in rural areas. In Shindand District, for example, the government does not enforce laws or provide protection because the area is under the control of armed insurgents, she said. In the case of the woman whose family cut off her toes, the husband is reportedly linked with a Shindand insurgent group and the government was unwilling to arrest him. Poor security conditions also lead to a high unemployment rate, which also contributes to domestic tensions and increased violence towards women, Sima said. ¶3. (SBU) Suraya Pakzad, Executive Director of Voice of Women Organization, which runs the only women's shelter for Herat, Nimruz, Badghis, Farah, and Ghor Provinces (reftel) agreed that poor economic and security conditions during the last year were the primary factors behind the increased numbers of women and girls fleeing domestic violence and forced marriages referred to her shelter. Pakzad also said that she was receiving more personal threats than in the past. For example, a caller said, &it would be easier for me to kill you than for me to prepare a cup of tea.8 She said that the threatening callers refer to the shelter as a prostitution center." Another recent caller claimed that he had kidnapped Pakzad,s young son. Later, after she had discovered this was not true, the man called back and said, &I was just calling to let you know that I could easily have kidnapped your son. This was just a warning.8 Burn Unit Still Busy -------------- ¶4. (SBU) A Herat Hospital Burn Unit (reftel) surgeon said that in the last six months the unit received 50 self-immolation patients, of whom 75% died within a week of admission to the facility. This number was up from 35 cases during the same six month period last year. The reasons given by surviving self-immolation victims treated at the burn unit (mostly women, but including four men in the last 12 months) for their suicide attempts were forced marriages, family violence, bad relations with husbands and mothers-in-law, and significant age differences between spouses, the surgeon said. Eighty percent of the cases are from outside of Herat City with a sizable number from Farah, Badghis, and Ghor Provinces. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Information Counseling Legal Assistance Program Director, Zamina Khalilova, noted that more women and girls were also attempting suicide by swallowing pills or cutting themselves with razor blades. Increased Cooperation with Police -------------- KABUL 00002796 002 OF 003 ¶5. (SBU) DOWA Director Sima referred to the recent graduation of 26 women from the Herat Police Regional Training Center as a very positive development. She said the female officers are already investigating cases and have generally been well-received by the community. She described cooperation between DOWA, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI),and police officers as excellent, with police regularly referring women to DOWA. She said DOWA is working with UNICEF to draft a proposal to have police stationed at the Iranian border specifically to work with young deportees, which she described as a particularly vulnerable population. Although the police suffer from an ongoing lack of resources and capacity, Sima says she sees a distinct improvement in their treatment of women during the past year, a change she attributed to closer coordination between DOWA and MOI, as well as the presence of women police officers. Pakzad also said that coordination between her shelter and the police in terms of prompt referrals and open communication is good and improving. Pros and Cons of Courts and Shuras -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The Herat NRC legal department is staffed by six lawyers and several law student trainees and handles civil legal disputes for female clients referred by DOWA and the women's shelter. Many of the lawyers are graduates of the University of Herat law school, which opened in 2004 and where currently half the students are women. Two-thirds of the lawyers on staff at NRC are women who claim they interact successfully with village leaders and court officials, and that the NRC has slowly gained the trust of the community. The senior lawyer said that while formal courts were less favorable to their clients than shuras, even these courts were slowly but increasingly giving their clients a fair hearing. ¶7. (SBU) When a new client arrives at NRC, a lawyer explains the option of pursuing the case, typically through the formal (courts) or traditional (shuras) justice system. According to the senior NRC lawyer, 70% of these women choose to resolve their case through a shura. A principal reason for choosing this option is that shuras are much quicker than courts at resolving disputes. Also, village leaders who administer shuras are less susceptible to bribery and have more accountability to the parties than the judges who administer the courts. Furthermore, shuras can make more flexible decisions or mediate a mutual agreement between parties. The NRC senior lawyer said that she found shuras, decisions more favorable to women than formal court verdicts. She noted, however, that this trend is specific to Western Afghanistan, claiming that shuras in Southern Afghanistan would be much less likely to treat women fairly. If a client chooses a shura, NRC lawyers prepare the case by contacting the village and shura leaders and the defendant. During the shura meeting the NRC lawyer explains her role, applicable international human rights standards, and domestic laws (secular and Islamic). The lawyer would then explain that NRC's goal was to resolve the case, with the shura's help, with a document that both parties to the dispute sign and agree to. If that goal is reached, NRC submits these sealed documents to the local court. In that way, violating the agreement later becomes cause for police intervention. ¶8. (SBU) Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission Regional Program Manager S.A. Qader Rahimi asserted that formal justice system procedures often result in verdicts unfavorable to women. He mentioned a case in June where a girl claimed her father had raped her. A clinic on the outskirts of Herat City examined her and confirmed she had been assaulted. The case went to court, and the court ordered another examination at the main Herat City Hospital, where the examiner claimed that the girl was lying. The court sentenced the girl and her mother to two years in prison for making a false claim against the father based on the second examination's failure to find evidence of rape. Rahimi said hospital officials are frequently bribed to announce certain examination results, and that hospital staff regularly harass and insult rape victims. He said prosecutors and judges investigate, try, and decide cases KABUL 00002796 003 OF 003 based on culture and custom rather than law. Rahimi mentioned that many Afghans customarily do not obtain legal documents such as marriage and divorce certificates, resulting in many women sitting in jail because they cannot prove their civil status and thus, cannot defend themselves against cases of adultery or other sexual offenses. Voice of Women's Pakzad added that there were many other challenges to obtaining a divorce. First, the court of the husband's district has exclusive jurisdiction. If the court is in an insecure area, such as Shindand, there is no recourse. If a woman is able to get to court in a reasonably secure district, she has to find three male witnesses to support her case, and the witnesses often are unavailable, refuse to give testimony, or only agree to give testimony if they are paid. ¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: While it is encouraging that female lawyers successfully represent female clients in both shuras and courts, it is evident that women in Western Afghanistan, particularly women living outside of Herat City, continue to face high levels of violence. According to NGO and government officials, 12 year-old girls marrying is commonplace in rural areas in the region, and the one women's shelter is always full. The government's increased capacity as evidenced by DOWA and MOI's improved relations with each other and with the women's shelter is positive. However, improving the lives of women and girls in the face of challenges posed by insecurity, economic distress, and a legacy of cultural discrimination is a difficult, long-term endeavor. WOOD