|
Forced marriage still rife in Afghanistan
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, estimates that
between 60 and 80 percent of marriages are forced on women against their will.
By Matthew Pennington
March 15, 2005
Kabul - Fourteen year-old Bibi has never seen the father who wants to sell her
into marriage with a stranger. She hid when he sent police to her village home
in northern Afghanistan a month ago. Her elder brother Kareem refused to hand
her over and was dragged off to jail. But Bibi found sanctuary with a
sympathetic relative in Kabul, where she now lives in fear her father will one
day catch up with her.
The relative, Shahnoz, said the girl's father is not interested in finding a
suitable mate for his daughter and only wants to get his hands on the dowry she
could command.
"She's like a check," said Shahnoz, whose husband is a first cousin of Bibi's
mother. "She's beautiful and he wants to sell the girl for marriage."
Bibi's story is far from unique. Despite the re-emergence of democracy and
women's rights in Afghanistan, human rights officials say between 60 percent
and 80 percent of marriages in the country are forced on women.
In rural areas, "tradition is so powerful women feel they really are the
property of male relatives. Whatever they are told, they obey," said Sima
Samar, chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, the
country's leading rights watchdog.
Girls and women are often wedded off for economic gain or to settle scores
between feuding families, even though both practices run counter to civil and
Islamic law. While marriages arranged by families are the norm in this
conservative Muslim country, they are meant to have the consent of the bride
and groom.
In Bibi's case the groom is a wealthy, older man looking for a second wife. Her
relatives reckon he is willing to pay about $7,000 for her - a small fortune in
one of the world's poorest countries.
"My father does not care about my life," Bibi said in an interview, mumbling
into her white cotton head scarf. "He never brought clothes or food. My family
is my mother and Kareem."
Bibi, Shahnoz and Kareem - who was recently released from jail - agreed to
speak to The Associated Press in hope that publicizing the girl's plight might
stop her estranged father from forcing her into marriage. The father, Rafur,
could not be reached for comment.
Like many Afghans, they go by one name.
Shahnoz said she doesn't want Bibi to suffer the same fate as the girl's mother
- forced by violence into a loveless union. After her first husband died, she
was compelled to marry Rafur, his brother, who beat her when she resisted. The
marriage - a customary matchup for an Afghan widow - broke down two years
later.
Rafur only returned into their lives when Bibi was 14 and deemed by him ready
for marriage - although still two years below the legal age for women.
The fall of the Taliban has heralded new opportunities for Afghan women.
Millions of girls have returned to school three years after U.S.-led forces
ousted the repressive Islamic regime. Many also have returned to work,
especially in the cities.
A new constitution enshrines women's rights, and women have the vote in
democratic elections. They have legal protection too - at least in theory.
Fawzia Amini, deputy director of the law and rights department at the Ministry
of Women's Affairs, said the department investigates about 500 cases a year of
abuse against women - usually of husbands beating their wives.
She said victims can seek legal support for getting a divorce, but such a step
is so socially detrimental to the woman that it's usually better to try to
force the husband to cooperate with authorities and rescue the marriage. She
said there were only 10 to 15 divorces last year in the family court in Kabul,
a city of around 4 million people.
"Our culture does not tolerate divorce. Divorced women will have a painful
life. No one will care for them," Amini said. "There's no legal support for
divorced women. Mostly they can't get a share of their dowry and they lose
their children."
One 24-year-old woman decided to take that step this week. She hobbled into the
Kabul office of the human rights commission on a bright spring morning, her
face hidden by an all-covering blue burqa, seeking their help in securing a
divorce.
Her husband, now in jail, had beaten her savagely with a stick after his mother
accused her of stealing meat from the cooking pot. Photos supplied by the
commission showed the woman's right foot and left arm in plaster. Welts from
the beating scarred her back.
Shamsullah Ahmadzai at the commission's monitoring and investigation unit said
that repressive traditions and the moral confusion of 25 years of war have left
a violent social legacy in Afghanistan and such beatings are commonplace.
He said the enduring influence of warlords - some in positions of power within
the government - undermine the reach of the law, making the situation worse.
Shahnoz said Bibi, who is illiterate, is not ready for marriage. Like many
ethnic Pashtun girls and women, she rarely ventures outside her house and does
not even know what her father looks like, although he lives in the same village
in Afghanistan's northern Takhar province.
"If she went to school, maybe she'd learn about the world and have more
confidence. As it is, if a man talks to her, her heart starts thumping. She
can't even say hello," Shahnoz said.
Comment on this story,
click here.
Copyright 1999-2004, AsianSexGazette.com. All rights reserved. No
content may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission.
Please contact us via the link below for re-print and syndication policies.
|
|
 |
