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Afghan Government Control of Women's Shelters Worries Advocates

   Sarah Williams | Washington, D.C.  February 16, 2011
   An  Afghan  girl looks on as she waits with women for the distribution
   of    food    the   German   humanitarian   organization   "KinderBerg
   International" in downtown Kunduz, Dec.14, 2010.

Photo: REUTERS

   An  Afghan girl waits with a group of women for food distribution by a
   German  humanitarian  organization  in  downtown  Kunduz, Afghanistan,
   Dec.14, 2010.

   The  Afghan  government  says  it  plans  to  take  control of women's
   shelters  --  a  move  strongly  opposed by international human rights
   groups.

   This  week,  the  Afghan  Women's Affairs Minister said the government
   found  problems in the operation of the shelters, including corruption
   and  misuse  of  funds  in  the  11  registered  safe  houses  run  by
   non-governmental organizations.

   VOA's  Sarah Williams spoke with Rachel Reid, the Afghan researcher at
   Human  Rights  Watch  in  Kabul, who says a government shelter is "far
   more  likely"  to cave-in to pressure from families and tribes to hand
   back victims of domestic violence, putting women's lives at risk.

   Why  does  the Afghan government want to take control of these womenās
   shelters?

   "What  the  government  is  saying...  is  that  they  think  there is
   corruption  and there are often allegations of what they call 'immoral
   behavior'  inside  these  shelters. I donāt think thereās any evidence
   for  that. I think whatās really going on is that there are these very
   conservative  groups  in  the  government  who  donāt like the idea of
   shelters  at all, they donāt like the idea of women even leaving their
   homes  on  their  own.  They  might be beaten, forced into marriage as
   children,  but  actually thatās okay, thatās not a problem, thatās not
   grounds  for  them  running away. Even the Supreme Court of the Afghan
   government  says  that  it can be a crime for a woman to run away from
   home  unless  she  goes  to  a  government  security department.Ā  And
   honestly,  many  women  are  afraid  to go to the government when this
   happens  to  them  because  a  lot  of women get locked up and sent to
   prison for running away from home."

   Are  there  some  shelters  that  are  now being operated by the Kabul
   government?

   "Thereās  only  one  actually.  There  are  about 13 or 14 shelters in
   operation,   theyāre   almost   all   run   by  NGOās  [non-government
   organizations].Ā   And  about  six are run by U.N. agencies. Iāve been
   working  in  Afghanistan  for  some  years now, and I know some of the
   women  who  set  up some of the first shelters after the Taliban fell,
   and they are extraordinary and really courageous women. This is not an
   easy  task  here,  and often youāll find that when women or girls seek
   shelter  in  these  places, their families will come after them, often
   with threats... very serious death threats and intimidation.

   "And  so it takes a lot for these NGOās to withstand that pressure. So
   another  major  concern  with  this  government  takeover  is that the
   government  will  be  less  willing  to withstand the pressure when it
   comes  from powerful families or tribes that they want to keep happy.Ā
   And  itās also a government thatās notorious for corruption, obviously
   one  of the most corrupt governments in the world.Ā  And so I wouldnāt
   be surprised if bribery can play a role in getting women and girls out
   of these shelters when they should be absolutely protected."

   No doubt a number of these women come to the shelters because they are
   in  abusive  situations.  But  in Afghanistan, there is a problem with
   forced  marriages, and also marriages involving women that in the West
   would be considered underage. 

   "Thatās right. The majority of marriages sadly are considered to be by
   most  estimates  either  forced or child marriage, so thatās often the
   situation  that  women  and  girls  are  fleeing. Thereās also endemic
   violence here, and I think an important sign of how bad things are are
   the  rates  of  self-immolation,  in  which women are trying to commit
   suicide  by burning themselves alive. In the west of Afghanistan, more
   than  80 women in less than a year have tried to kill themselves.Ā  So
   just one region gives you a sign of how desperate their situations can
   be  and  also  how few avenues they see for escape and how desperately
   needed these shelters are."

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