UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 112) The MoWA continues its efforts to place gender equality and women’s empowerment in all national documents to reflect women’s requirements. Therefore, in addition to the National Action Plan for Women, it has drafted for the first time a five-year strategic plan for the period 2018–2022. It highlights the priorities of the Ministry and predicts the required resources and facilities. 2,228 Women received assistance from the MoWA for small businesses.
Para 113) The creation of the Women Chamber of Commerce improves women’s access to markets.
Para 114) MoIC established a department for women’s entrepreneurship and drafted a 5-year Plan from 2018–2022 for the empowerment of women entrepreneurs in the private sector. To improve women’s empowerment, MoIC supports special exhibitions for women inside and outside Afghanistan, where women can exhibit their products. Furthermore, MoIC supports conferences In Kabul and several provinces on development and improvement of women’s private entrepreneurship, where women can address and discuss problems and challenges they face to find a solution. MoIC designed a 5-year project, dealing with import and export of women products, enhancing the quality and design of Afghan products, and branding (made by Afghan Women). It is planned that 5,600 women shall receive support during this 5-years period. To support women in trade, small grant are being given to women to start their businesses or they are being given land in industrial parks. Furthermore, they are being provided support in access to raw material and benefit from a tax reduction.
Para 115) MRRD shall ensure social, economic, and political welfare of rural society, especially poor and vulnerable people, through the provision of basic services, strengthening local governance, and promoting sustainable livelihoods. It created the Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Program for economic empowerment of women.
Para 116) More than 760 private companies are being led by women, 400 women merchants are working on an international level.

National Report:
Para 130) According to the civil law of Afghanistan, the marriage age is different for boys and girls. The marriage age for girls is 16 and for boys it’s 18, as mentioned in the Official Gazette (353/1976). The marriage of a girl under 15 is not permitted.
Para 131) To amend the age of marriage within the Civil Code in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. MoJ has prepared a law draft on family protection that will amend the marriage age for both girls and boys to be 18 years old. This draft will be passed by parliament in the near future.
Para 132) MoHRA has issued 11 Fatwas (religious orders) from 2015 till 2018 dealing with the prohibition of child marriage.

UN Compilation:
Para 43) The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) observed that women and girls continued to face persistent discrimination, violence, street harassment, forced and child marriage, severe restrictions on working and studying outside the home and limited access to justice. It noted that the Elimination of Violence against Women Law had the potential to contribute to improving women’s access to justice, provided it was effectively implemented.
Para 45) OHCHR/UNAMA noted that harmful acts of violence against women, including murder, beating, mutilation, child marriage and ba’ad, remained widespread, despite the Government’s concrete efforts to criminalize those practices and establish measures for accountability. Harmful practices that had been criminalized under the Elimination of Violence against Women Law, such as forced and child marriage, honour killings, ba’ad, badal (the exchange of women for marriage purposes to settle disputes) and forced self-immolation, were often confused as being aspects of Islamic law or teachings and therefore ingrained in the local traditions. The Mission documented 280 cases of murder and “honour killings” of women from January 2016 to December 2017. It found that the police had often failed to forward those cases to prosecutors. The majority of Afghan women continued to be denied fair treatment before the law, as discriminatory provisions in laws and policies were still prevalent. As such, law enforcement and other judicial practitioners, including prosecutors and courts, had often failed to enforce the Elimination of Violence against Women Law, resulting in widespread impunity for the criminal acts of violence against women. OHCHR/UNAMA consistently found that implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women Law had been slow and non-uniform.
Para 54) The Secretary-General of the United Nations … was also concerned by the widespread phenomenon of the forced and early marriages of girls,

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 10) AIHRC noted that violence against women is one of the most serious violations of human rights. During 2014-2017, AIHRC registered, investigated and followed around 19,920 cases of violence against women and referred them to the relevant legal entities. Out of these cases, 845 cases were cases of women who were murdered. The real statistics of women's violence and murders are much higher. The prosecution and punishment of perpetrators of violence against women by government agencies, as well as the implementation of the EVAW Law and the Law for the Prevention of the Sexual Harassment against Women and Children have been ineffectively done and challenges remained unchanged. Statistics showed that the government and the law enforcement agencies have failed to properly and timely investigate cases of violence against women and cases of murder. AIHRC attributed that insecurity, corruption, the increased culture of impunity, lack of rule of law, the spread of harmful custom and tradition in society, lack of awareness of people of the law and human rights, poverty and economic problems are among the factors of violence against women which have not been adequately and practically addressed by the government. AIHRC reported that Taliban also continued to commit killings and extra judicial and arbitrary punishment of women in the area of under their control. AIHRC recalled that under Resolution 1325 and the SDGs, the government has to accelerate the process of gender mainstreaming in the departments.
Para 11) … Early marriages of children under the age of 15, despite its legal prohibition, remained a major challenge for children. The numbers of the victims of early marriage is higher as many victims do not have the ability, awareness, facilities and the opportunity to refer to relevant institutions for filing a case. The main reasons for underage marriage, the victim of which is generally girls, are social, cultural and economic factors, as well as informal justice problems.
Para 34) HRW noted that violence against women, including rape, murder, mutilation and assault is widespread, and the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. In the 2014 UPR, the Afghanistan delegation accepted numerous recommendations on improving implementation of the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW law), including the measures recommended to Afghanistan by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in July 2013. During the review, the Afghan delegation committed to implement the EVAW law, and that perpetrators of violence against women would be prosecuted and punished. However, HRW found that Afghan women seeking justice after facing violence continue to face formidable obstacles. Afghan authorities routinely turn victims away or pressure them to accept mediation. Mediation does not provide justice to female victims of serious crimes, offering victims only a promise from her abuser not to repeat the crime. In some case, mediators themselves inflict abuse, for example by ordering girls or women to be given as compensation for murder, forcing women and girls to marry men who raped them, or excusing murder in the name of “honor.” Afghan police and prosecutors continue to jail women and girls for on charges of “moral crimes” that include “running away” from home, and committing or attempting to commit sexual intercourse outside marriage “zina”, or having sex outside of marriage. Rape victims can be charged with “zina” and imprisoned. These girls and women are subjected to invasive vaginal and anal examinations performed by Afghan government doctors, sometimes repeatedly on the same girl or woman including young girls. Afghan officials claimed that the government had since banned the examinations, but officials have told HRW that the practice remained widespread, and many judges, prosecutors, and police officials told them that they routinely order “virginity tests.”
Para 35) ODVV also noted that one of the most serious human rights violations in Afghanistan is violence against women, particularly girls. In 2017 there were 4340 cases of violence against 2286 women. This is while in the previous year there were approximately 2046 reported cases of violence against women. These figures indicate that not only violence against women in Afghanistan has not dropped, but the abuses have increased. There have also been report of 277 women being murdered, while only 40 of them have been prosecuted. This shows a weakness in enforcing the law, additionally, victims’ families’ were reluctant to file a complaint against perpetrators of crimes. ODVV was also concerned that the government has still not taken any practical action against forced marriage of girls and or legally underage marriages. …

National Report:
Para 84) The MoE has developed its third National Education Strategic Plan (2017–2021) with its main goals: (1) Provision of pre-school education (50% of which is for girls), Provision of local educational classes and accelerated education for children left out of school (50% of which is for girls) (2) Increasing the ratio of girls’ admission to technical and vocational institutions from 17% in 2015 to 26% by 2021 (3) Conducting on job trainings for newly recruited female teachers as well as provision of literacy courses for women and raising it from 60% to 100% by 2021 (4) Increasing the number of female literacy students from 53% in 2015 to 60% by 2021 and provision of emergency educational programs for children of IDPs and Repatriates. (50% of which is for girls) (5) Launching awareness raising programs on the importance of education for girls, provision of financial incentives and stipends for female teachers during on-job trainings (6) Provision of pre-work courses for female students and provision of Master’s degree education for the instructors of teacher training institutions that include women (7) Provision of health services in the schools for both male and female and provision of literacy classes across the country aimed at increasing the rate of female admission in the literacy courses from 53% to 60% by 2021 (8). Increasing percentage of female teachers in Schools to 34%.
Para 86) The official statistics of the MoE states, the number of school students in Afghanistan, including private and public schools, reached 9,234,459 persons, of which 5,703,160 are boys and 3,531,299 are girls.
Para 87) A national policy for girl education has been drafted by the MoE. This policy focuses on delivering quality education and awareness campaigns among the public.
Para 88) The MoHE implemented a Strategy and Regulation which deals with women education in particular. Through these documents, women quota has been introduced, which is that 24% of all university students are girls in 2017.
Para 92) 3,000 female teachers have been sent out to remote areas to educate girls. The MoE special educational program named IQRA, enhances access to education and ensures the quality of education in 17 remote provinces, which are classified as low-level education areas for children, particularly girls.

UN Compilation:
Para 38) … In addition to barriers to education arising from insecurity, throughout 2015, anti-government elements had deliberately restricted women and girls’ access to education, which included the closure of girls’ schools and complete bans on education for women and girls.
Para 40) UNESCO noted that despite the Government’s efforts, girls and women faced serious challenges in accessing and completing their education, with education being more a privilege than a right. Members of Taliban groups had also openly declared their opposition to the education of girls and had used violent attacks against girls, their families and teachers. Early marriages often had a direct and adverse impact on girls’ education, compromising their education opportunities and resulting in higher dropout rates.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 33) ODVV noted that one of the outcomes of the spread of war and conflict is the restriction of the right to education. As a result of increased insecurity, hundreds of schools have closed and many children that include two-thirds of girls have been deprived of education. In spite of improvement in access to education, in some areas, security concerns and social traditions are still major obstacles in the way of girls’ access to education. In parts of the country where children can attend school, there are not enough available facilities. Altogether 41 percent of schools do not have a building. And the distance between where many of these children live from school is so long that they are not able to attend classes in schools. The lack of standard schools and the long distance alongside cultural issues and insecurity have great impacts on the deprivation of girls from education.
Para 36) HRW noted that the number of girls in school is falling due not only to insecurity, but to discriminatory practices, lack of female teachers, and schools that lack boundary walls and toilets. In the second UPR cycle, eight recommendations urged the Afghan government to ensure equal access to education for women and girls. Girls currently represented about 40 percent of the nearly 9 million children attending school in Afghanistan. By 2018, those percentages have fallen, and the situation for girls’ education is getting worse. For the first time since 2002 the number of Afghan children studying is falling. HRW report found that while deteriorating security is a significant barrier to girls’ education, girls were at increasing risk of missing school due to discrimination against girls within the school system, child marriage, lack of female teachers; and lack of facilities including boundary walls and toilets. The Afghan government has 5,260 boys’ schools but only 2,531 girls’ schools, and 60 percent of Afghan government schools have no toilets, which deters girls, especially those who have begun menstruation, from attending school.

National Report:
Para 26) The GoIRA protects and promotes human rights by strengthening and establishing human rights units within the power structures as following:
…
• Judiciary Power: Division of Violence Against Women and Children in the Supreme Court review all cases of women and children rights violations;
Para 105) The Criminal Procedure Code 2014 and Penal Code 2018 have been ratified. Discriminatory human rights violating elements have been taken out and new provisions regarding protection of women’s rights were included. The criminal procedures law enriches specific provisions on the victim’s rights and protection of evidence. Beside the new penal code, the EVAW Law still remains enforced and the cases related to violence against women will be reviewed in accordance with this specific law.
Para 106) Different measures for better implementation of the EVAW Law have been taken in to account. These measures include the establishment of institutions, policies, regulations, training of judges, prosecutors, police, and other relevant employees as well as legal awareness campaigns for citizens. The AGO plans to draft a National Action Plan for the Implementation of EVAW Law in near future.
Para 107) Following mechanisms are in place:
• Monthly meetings of the EVAW high commission and provincial commissions of all 34 provinces to monitor critical areas. Findings are being submitted to the relevant government departments and the President’s office. Establishment of 28 women’s shelters centers in Kabul and 20 in different provinces.
• Establishment of special units at all 34 Provincial Office of Attorney’s for EVAW cases. In 31 provinces, units are just being led by women.
• Establishment of special EVAW units at the Supreme Court in Kabul and 15 provinces.
• Legal assistance centers and family dispute resolution units were established in 34 provinces under the police headquarters framework.
• A mediation department has been established at the AGO to mediate in family matters.
• The Supreme Court established special courts for EVAW cases in 22 provinces. Till 2020 all provinces will be having a special court for EVAW cases.
• A telephone hotline has been established for women and children in case of violence.
• On 11th of July 2016, the MoI established a complaint mechanism to prevent and respond to sexual harassment against women police officers.
Para 108) The AGO established a Deputy AGO for Elimination of Violence against Women & Children, which is led by a woman. This office has two sub-departments responsible for reducing violence against women and for its social consultants. Another department deals with women rights, victims and witnesses with help of IDLO.
Para 109) The Afghanistan AGO established a monitoring mechanism on the implementation of EVAW law within its offices.
Para 110) With support of IDLO the AGO established a database within the Deputy AGO for EVAW. This database includes all activities of prosecutors, the case itself and the work which has been done so far. Through this database, the Deputy GA can monitor his employees and held them accountable if needed.
Para 111) Between 2014 and 2018, 5921 cases have been investigated. 4840 cases of violence against women have been addressed in the three-layer courts of the country based on the provisions of EVAW.

UN Compilation:
Para 25) OHCHR/UNAMA noted that the ongoing armed conflict affected women’s access to justice. The Mission noted that the failure of law enforcement authorities to take action undermined efforts to promote the rights of women, eroded the rule of law and contributed to an expectation of impunity. It observed that the gap in relation to the available range of punishments for criminal offences of violence against women contributed to the wide use of mediation. The Mission highlighted that the wide use of mediation in criminal offences of violence against women also promoted impunity, enabled its reoccurrence, eroded trust in the legal system and constituted a human rights violation on the part of Afghanistan.
Para 42) The Committee against Torture remained deeply concerned by the high prevalence of violence against women, in particular domestic violence, rape, battery, laceration, crimes committed in the name of “honour” and cases of stoning.
Para 44) The Secretary-General of the United Nations noted the decree amending the Penal Code with regard to crimes of violence against women ...
Para 45) OHCHR/UNAMA noted that harmful acts of violence against women, including murder, beating, mutilation, child marriage and ba’ad, remained widespread, despite the Government’s concrete efforts to criminalize those practices and establish measures for accountability. Harmful practices that had been criminalized under the Elimination of Violence against Women Law, such as forced and child marriage, honour killings, ba’ad, badal (the exchange of women for marriage purposes to settle disputes) and forced self-immolation, were often confused as being aspects of Islamic law or teachings and therefore ingrained in the local traditions. The Mission documented 280 cases of murder and “honour killings” of women from January 2016 to December 2017. It found that the police had often failed to forward those cases to prosecutors. The majority of Afghan women continued to be denied fair treatment before the law, as discriminatory provisions in laws and policies were still prevalent. As such, law enforcement and other judicial practitioners, including prosecutors and courts, had often failed to enforce the Elimination of Violence against Women Law, resulting in widespread impunity for the criminal acts of violence against women. OHCHR/UNAMA consistently found that implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women Law had been slow and non-uniform.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 10) AIHRC noted that violence against women is one of the most serious violations of human rights. During 2014-2017, AIHRC registered, investigated and followed around 19,920 cases of violence against women and referred them to the relevant legal entities. Out of these cases, 845 cases were cases of women who were murdered. The real statistics of women's violence and murders are much higher. The prosecution and punishment of perpetrators of violence against women by government agencies, as well as the implementation of the EVAW Law and the Law for the Prevention of the Sexual Harassment against Women and Children have been ineffectively done and challenges remained unchanged. Statistics showed that the government and the law enforcement agencies have failed to properly and timely investigate cases of violence against women and cases of murder. AIHRC attributed that insecurity, corruption, the increased culture of impunity, lack of rule of law, the spread of harmful custom and tradition in society, lack of awareness of people of the law and human rights, poverty and economic problems are among the factors of violence against women which have not been adequately and practically addressed by the government. AIHRC reported that Taliban also continued to commit killings and extra judicial and arbitrary punishment of women in the area of under their control. AIHRC recalled that under Resolution 1325 and the SDGs, the government has to accelerate the process of gender mainstreaming in the departments.
Para 34) HRW noted that violence against women, including rape, murder, mutilation and assault is widespread, and the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. In the 2014 UPR, the Afghanistan delegation accepted numerous recommendations on improving implementation of the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW law), including the measures recommended to Afghanistan by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in July 2013. During the review, the Afghan delegation committed to implement the EVAW law, and that perpetrators of violence against women would be prosecuted and punished. However, HRW found that Afghan women seeking justice after facing violence continue to face formidable obstacles. Afghan authorities routinely turn victims away or pressure them to accept mediation. Mediation does not provide justice to female victims of serious crimes, offering victims only a promise from her abuser not to repeat the crime. In some case, mediators themselves inflict abuse, for example by ordering girls or women to be given as compensation for murder, forcing women and girls to marry men who raped them, or excusing murder in the name of “honor.” Afghan police and prosecutors continue to jail women and girls for on charges of “moral crimes” that include “running away” from home, and committing or attempting to commit sexual intercourse outside marriage “zina”, or having sex outside of marriage. Rape victims can be charged with “zina” and imprisoned. These girls and women are subjected to invasive vaginal and anal examinations performed by Afghan government doctors, sometimes repeatedly on the same girl or woman including young girls. Afghan officials claimed that the government had since banned the examinations, but officials have told HRW that the practice remained widespread, and many judges, prosecutors, and police officials told them that they routinely order “virginity tests.”
Para 35) ODVV also noted that one of the most serious human rights violations in Afghanistan is violence against women, particularly girls. In 2017 there were 4340 cases of violence against 2286 women. This is while in the previous year there were approximately 2046 reported cases of violence against women. These figures indicate that not only violence against women in Afghanistan has not dropped, but the abuses have increased. There have also been report of 277 women being murdered, while only 40 of them have been prosecuted. This shows a weakness in enforcing the law, additionally, victims’ families’ were reluctant to file a complaint against perpetrators of crimes.

National Report:
Para 8) The GIRoA has strived for inclusion of provisions of the conventions that it has ratified in its domestic laws. Provisions of the conventions were adopted in 10 legislations that were enacted within past years. ... Law on Elimination of Violence against Women, are the legislations which were passed and enforced in this period.
Para 36) The MoWA in cooperation with government institutions, civil society, national and international organizations tried to improve the political, social, cultural and economic status of women by drafting various laws, policies and procedures in various fields such as: Regulation on Support Centers, reaching to female victims or women exposed to danger, drafting Law on Social Support, public awareness through media, training workshops, providing legal consultations for victim women, providing recommendations for presidential decrees on pardoning and reducing imprisonment terms of prisoners and juvenile offenders and legal aid on submitting and following the cases.
Para 60) The GIRoA has always considered issues related to forced marriages and honour killings because they are violent acts against women and are prosecutable. The Special Prosecution Office has been established to fight crimes of violence against women. With respect to honour killings, although criminal policy of Afghanistan may in some instances consider honour killings carried out under the motive of upholding honour as mitigating circumstances, this has never realized to be a means for the acquittal of perpetrators. This law prosecutes them.
Para 63) In order to improve the situation of women, the GIRoA has approved two laws, namely the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women and the Shiite Personal Status Law during the past four years. The GIRoA acknowledges that although these laws have not fully improved the situation of women in the country, it believes that these laws have had relatively positive impacts. It has also drafted the Law on Social Support for the improvement of the situation of women and is awaiting approval of the parliament.
Para 81) The GIRoA has tried to equally protect all its citizens against any kinds of violence, but has made more efforts for protecting the vulnerable groups such as women and girls. In this regard, the government has taken specific measures during the past four years which we would like to indicate some of them here:
- The first step in this regard is approval of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women. Most of the acts that were committed against women were not considered as crimes in the past laws, but based on this law it is considered a crime and legal actions are taken against its perpetrators.
- In order to practically implement the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women, the government has recently established a Special Prosecution Office for countering the violence against women. Until today, the mentioned Office has recorded about 23318 cases, 13200 of which have been reviewed and processed and the rest are being reviewed now. The other step that was taken in relation to the implementation of Law on Elimination of Violence against Women was establishment of the Commission for Elimination of Violence against Women.
Para 94) The GIRoA has tried to overcome the impunity culture towards ensuring the rule of law, as the government considers this a serious obstacle against the rule of law. In this regard, the government has adopted several measures. … Establishment of the prosecution office for fighting against the violence against women, the judicial reforms that have been made by the judiciary of Afghanistan in relation to the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women and investigation of the cases of violence against women by the Prosecution Office for Elimination of Violence against Women and the Afghan courts are the other examples of intensification of fighting against the impunity culture …

National Report:
Para 15) Despite the challenges, the GoIRA has significant achievements on the MDGs. These achievements are … improving mother's health …
Para 78) The GoIRA is fully committed to provide better health service for its citizens, in particular women, children and other vulnerable groups. Article 52 of the Constitution says: “The state shall provide free preventative healthcare for all citizens” It also has developed a National Health Strategy for 2016-2020. To strengthen and develop effective and sustainable practices of the health system for better access to quality healthcare services for all citizens.