As campaigning begins for the September 18 polls for parliament and provincial councils, the Afghan government and international monitors must take special measures to protect women from attacks and intimidation by the Taliban and regional warlords.
Professor Yakin Ertürk, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, issued the following statement in Kabul today at the end of a visit to Afghanistan.
The United Nations expert on violence against women, on a 10-day fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, has interviewed female prisoners in Kabul and Kandahar.
Afghan women protest at the silence and inactivity of the Afghan government regarding the recent killings in Baghlan (3 women raped and murdered for NGO activity), and in Badakshan (1 woman stoned to death).
Three Afghan women were found raped and strangled to death in the northern province of Baghlan with a warning for women to stop working for aid groups.
A woman has been stoned to death in Afghanistan, reportedly for committing adultery. The killing is said to have taken place in the Urgu district of north-eastern Badakhshan province.
