Protection of Women at Risk Program
Violence against women remains high in Afghanistan in its intensity and pervasiveness, in public and private spheres of life including in Bamyan and the central provinces where violence in the private sphere take many forms such as denial of the right to education, restriction of freedom of movement, physical and sexual abuse, forced marriage and child marriage, exchange of girls to resolve disputes and other harmful traditional practices. Perpetrators of violence against women directly contravene national law and the provisions of international human rights instruments to which Afghanistan is a party, such as the “United Nations Convention on Discrimination Against Women” and the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”.
In the current socio-political context of Afghanistan, including central areas, one of the main constraints to addressing this problem is the fact that there is no protection or effective remedy available for victims of family violence and the vast majority of cases remain unreported.
Violence in the private sphere is perceived as a family issue and women and girls who experience violence are either unable or afraid to report the problem to the authorities. If they leave their family environment they risk criminal charges, incarceration, and stigmatization from the community. Furthermore, the limited information available indicates that only in very rare cases do perpetrators face any sanctions – this is illustrated by the absence of criminal charges against those who marry under-age girls, in all regions of the country.
The overall goal of the project is a twofold: a) to enhance the protection for women and girl survivors family violence by establishing comprehensive co-ordination mechanisms for the provision of legal, medical and counseling services, of which safe house is the last resort; and b) to continue to develop and strengthen the skills of communities, governmental and relevant organizations to implement a co-coordinated response to cases of family violence in the Central provinces.
CCA has established two safe houses for women; one in Mazar which was funded by European Union, and the other in Bamyan which is funding by UNIFEM.
A safe house, as a last resort, will be established in Bamyan to protect women experiencing family violence covering the catchments area of Bamyan and Daykundi provinces. The house will be rented and improvement will be done to make it suitable for the purpose in February 2009, when it will be ready to receive referrals. The project works on both community based approaches, using local shura mechanisms and the community network of women and on institutional response mechanisms on cases of violence against women, ensuring co-ordination and co-operation between the two. This is in recognition that durable solutions for women exiting safe houses are problematic within their own families and communities, hence safe house must be a last resort and when community based resolutions are exhausted.
The safe house will accommodate 10 women and girls and their children, 2 emergency and 8 medium to long term residents). Emergency accommodation will be available for women and girls on a short-term basis while they resolve family crisis. The safe house replicates similar program run by CCA in Mazar, and therefore CCA will use their experience to supervise and manage all activities related to the safe house including the day-to-day running of the safe house. CCA will also incorporate best practices and lessons learned from their experience in Mazar.