Spike in violence against Afghan women reported

Documented cases of violence against Afghan females have increased by 40 percent since March, 2007 the United Nations’s IRIN news agency reported March 8.

Worsening insecurity, poverty, and a growing culture of criminal impunity may all be factors for the trend. A UK charity group, Womankind Worldwide, recently reported that 80 percent of Afghan women are affected by domestic violence.

However, some U.N. agencies involved in women’s development efforts in Afghanistan say the dramatic rise in reports does not necessarily mean that instances of violence against women are occurring more. “There is an increased awareness among the law enforcement authorities, so it is not [necessarily] an increasing trend of violence – that has always been there – perhaps it is declining – but what is happening is that there are more people coming forward to report,” explained Ramesh Penumaka of the U.N. Population Fund in Afghanistan. “Nobody talked about this when it happened within the four walls of a house.”

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