With the name of kind God, once again I welcome you for another program which is supported by the Change in Life Compiegne; our today’s discussion refer to the issue of violence, teasing and harassment of the women in their working environment. The guests that we are having with us today are Ms. Suraya Sobhrang from the Afghanistan independent human rights commission, Mr. Bahman Haris Takwin the advocate and the Director of Takwin Legal Consultancy, Mr. Habibullah Faizi the Deputy Directory of Afghan Women Organization and Mr. Basir Rasekh from the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD).
Question: Ms. Sobhrang; what could be the occasions of violence against women?
Answer: Thank you very much, I have to say that all those actions which stop the women from their humanistic and civil rights is considered as violence and these actions harm the spirit, body and social activities of the women and or in another way, each injustice actions because of being women against them is considered as violence.
Violence has different types; from which we can name the family violence, social violence against women, physical, structural violence and political violence.
The cause and reasons of the violence are more than what we think; in the developing societies and or underdeveloped societies, one of the biggest cause is the biased of sex (gender) against the women.
Question: Mr. Rasekh; it is said that in some of the governmental organizations there is violence against women, what is your opinion in this regard?
Answer: Greetings to all of you; regarding the problem of all those working women I would like to say that the Minstry of Labor and Social Affairs has established a separate unit of gender in all organizations and if women are facing any kind of problem they share and raise their problems over there but the problem that we have is that most of the employees of the organizations are not aware of the laws and there is also a fear with the women because of losing their jobs and they think if they share the problem they may lose their jobs but the fact and reality is not like this. Mostly whenever our supervisors are visiting the organizations, the women themselves are not helping us and this could be considered as problem in the governmental organizations.
Question: Mr. Faizi; based on your views what activities are done by the civil society institutions regarding the solution of such problems?
Answer: With the name of kind God; obviously I would like to say in response to your question that whatever activities are done so far by the civil society institutions; whenever such cases are referred to our organization, we have followed the case along with the cooperation of the independent human rights commission, for example; the case of Ms. Salima who was the employee of Ministry of Economy where she was under force and stress of her director and because of the struggles and efforts of our organization along with the independent human rights commission the director was fired and like this we have a number of examples.
Question: Mr. Takwin; what issues are mentioned regarding this subject in the law of stop violence against women?
Answer: With the name of God; I would like to say about your question that in the 3rd article of stop violence against women law, there are 23 issues mentioned in this regard. One of the issues mentioned there is about the tease and harassment of women in the governmental organizations; according this law, the one who is the doer of harassment against the women would be punished by the court for a short period imprison which should not be less than 3 months and if this action is done inside the organization by the colleagues then the doer would be punished for more than 6 months imprison.
Question: Ms. Sobhrang; how many cases of violence against women are registered in your organization and mostly which cases of violence are these?
Answer: Unfortunately I would like to say that in the first six months of the year we have more than six thousand registered cases of violence against women; there are sixty cases of murders which are committed by their brothers, Fathers and or husbands and from the other side the rape cases reached to thirty three; where most of them are children of underage but these issues are not representing the whole country, there are cases referred to other organizations that the commission is not in the picture at all.
For example; an issue is reported to the independent human rights commission today that in one of the provinces, one hundred and fifty rape cases against the women are committed and this amount shows that the violence against women has increased.
Question: In the law and constitution, the right to work is given equally to men and women; if someone becomes that obstacle on the way of women to work then what would be his punishment based on the law?
Answer: In the Labor Law of Afghanistan everyone is mentioned as a worker or employee and all of them have equal rights and from the other side the heavy work is prohibited to both men and women.
Until now nobody referred to our organization to complain about the harassment against women and heavy work on them and whenever someone violate the law then without doubt that he will be punished.
Ms. Friba Hussani is one of the fans of our program and she is of the view that our topic of discussion is totally new and fresh and has an important value because in the governmental and non-governmental organizations the violence against women, especially in the form of teasing and harassment is available.
Question: Ms. Friba Hussaini asked a question from Mr. Takwin; what aspects are mentioned regarding the violence in the law of stop violence against women?
Answer: In the law of stop violence against women, under the third article there are twenty three aspects which includes forced seclusion, insult, humility and many more; where the doers of these actions are punished for a short period of imprison and if the harming level is high then the period of punishment increases based on the committed crime.
Question: One of the fans of the program Mr. Fikri asked a question from Ms. Sobhrang; what schemes are designed for future to prevent the violence against women and what are the reasons of honor related murders and from the other side in the governmental organizations not only the women but the men are also targeted of teasing and harassment?
Answer: First of all I would like to mention that Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has conducted a research in 1388 to find out the problems of the women in the governmental organizations, especially the harassment cases; based on this research we found that the problems of the women are mostly the unavailability of transportation facilities, insult, humility, even sexual requests from them, where these are creating limitation against the development and growths of the women. These issues are kept quite because of not losing the jobs and not to be disgraced in the society.
Regarding the honor related murders, I would like to say that these murders are taken place by father, brother and or husband which are intentionally; the reason is that whenever a person observes a problem about the women of his family and he consider them his honor, for their punishment he himself do something; we don’t have any problem with their punishment but the method used in this regard is criticized which is done in an extremist way.
The fact is that we have other alternative ways for the solution of these problems, whenever we are claiming of being Muslim then at what time the murder is allowed; there are cases available that just by doubt people are killing their wives and or relatives. In the Islamic and civil law of the country such a response is not allowed and from the other side for the punishment we have courts, these courts have the right to declare the commands not that each and every individual from their side declare the commands and commit another crime.
Question: Mr. Takwin; one of the audience of the program is having a question about the lack of consideration of the Islamic and Afghan culture by the women; it is asked that couldn’t it be a reason in this regard?
Answer: Whenever our people of the society is observing something against the standards then they are connecting it with democracy; the fact is not like this, democray means the government of people by the people.
The topic of democracy has no relation with wearing clothes, character and behavior, going out of the home and many other examples; therefore, we should not link these issues with the honor related murders. Whenever there is no proper steerage inside a family then not only the girls but the boys and other members of the family also contaminated with such problems; then why we are not targeting the boys for murder, therefore we should understand the issue that if some problems are occurring then we should not kill the members of the family because there are courts to do these jobs.
Vies of Mr. Faizi regarding the concerned question: Democracy is a good word but unfortunately in our country, we are using it wrongly; whereas it was the Islam religion that gave the people their rights until they live free, they share their ideas and they decide about their lives and regarding the honor related murders I would like to say that whenever two persons or two families decide for a marriage then they should have proper understanding of each other and this will prevent the future problems.
Question: Mr. Rasekh; one of the audience asked that the three decades of war has made the families derelict; what steps have been taken by the government in this regard so far?
Answer: First of all I would like to say that in the article fourth of the labor law it is mentioned that the forced work and also the work done by pressure and threat is prohibited; there are some cases in the organizations that both men and women are threaten to do the tasks and activities based on their wishes otherwise they will be fire of their jobs. In these cases the article No 131 of the labor law has given the right to the person to complain starting from his/her organization and if it doesn’t work then to contact the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD).
Question: One of the audiences contacted and asked the question from Ms. Sobhrang; his wife committed an unethical action in his absence and this person proved this until the court but the court has not done anything yet in this regard, is he allowed to kill his wife or not?
Question: Ms. Sobhrang as a last question: what activities are done to remove the issue of violence against women and what steps are further required; and also is there a guarantee that these plans and laws will have a practical implementation?
Answer: I trust that the expressing of the truths and propose of ideas in this regard could itself be effective in the prevention of violence and the ways of going out of this problem could be more activities in the cultural aspects of the society, awareness of people from the laws, increase the level of literacy, contrary aspects of the Islamic laws and Afghan traditions to be identified and the implementation of the current laws could be effective without doubt in the solution of these problems.
Thank you very much dear audience that you followed our discussion until end.
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