VZCZCXRO8996
OO RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #2796/01 2931457
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191457Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5882
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 4428
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 002796 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, DRL, GTIP, GWI, PRM, INL 
NSC FOR JWOOD 
OSD FOR MCGRAW 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPOL PREL PHUM AF
SUBJECT: WESTERN AFGHANISTAN WOMEN TRY OUT SHURAS 
 
REF: KABUL 004140 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Life in Western Afghanistan remains difficult 
for women, particularly in rural and insecure areas.  NGOs 
and government agencies report that families continue to 
force women and girls into marriages and to otherwise subject 
them to physical and emotional abuse.  Women and girls 
continue to run away from home or resort to suicide in order 
to escape from these situations.  In addition, they face 
discriminatory treatment by judicial and medical officials 
when they try to seek protection or bring their abusers to 
justice.  Two promising developments, however, are increased 
coordination between the police, the Department of Women's 
Affairs (DOWA), and the Herat women's shelter, and women 
lawyers successfully navigating the traditional and formal 
justice systems. 
 
Weak Economy and Insecurity Cause Increased Domestic Violence 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) The Director of the DOWA for Herat Province, Sima, 
said that DOWA assisted 180 women and girls over the last six 
months in cases involving forced marriages including bride 
selling and child marriages, physical and emotional abuse, 
and rape.  In one recent case, a young woman's husband's 
family beat her and only occasionally threw scraps of food on 
the ground for her to eat.  Another family cut off an 18 
year-old woman's toes and beat her so badly that she was 
partially paralyzed.  Sima said that conditions for women in 
Western Afghanistan worsened over the past year due to a 
weakening economy and continuing insecurity in rural areas. 
In Shindand District, for example, the government does not 
enforce laws or provide protection because the area is under 
the control of armed insurgents, she said.  In the case of 
the woman whose family cut off her toes, the husband is 
reportedly linked with a Shindand insurgent group and the 
government was unwilling to arrest him.  Poor security 
conditions also lead to a high unemployment rate, which also 
contributes to domestic tensions and increased violence 
towards women, Sima said. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Suraya Pakzad, Executive Director of Voice of Women 
Organization, which runs the only women's shelter for Herat, 
Nimruz, Badghis, Farah, and Ghor Provinces (reftel) agreed 
that poor economic and security conditions during the last 
year were the primary factors behind the increased numbers of 
women and girls fleeing domestic violence and forced 
marriages referred to her shelter.  Pakzad also said that she 
was receiving more personal threats than in the past.  For 
example, a caller said, &it would be easier for me to kill 
you than for me to prepare a cup of tea.8 She said that the 
threatening callers refer to the shelter as a prostitution 
center."  Another recent caller claimed that he had kidnapped 
Pakzad,s young son.  Later, after she had discovered this 
was not true, the man called back and said, &I was just 
calling to let you know that I could easily have kidnapped 
your son.  This was just a warning.8 
 
Burn Unit Still Busy 
-------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) A Herat Hospital Burn Unit (reftel) surgeon said 
that in the last six months the unit received 50 
self-immolation patients, of whom 75% died within a week of 
admission to the facility.  This number was up from 35 cases 
during the same six month period last year.  The reasons 
given by surviving self-immolation victims treated at the 
burn unit (mostly women, but including four men in the last 
12 months) for their suicide attempts were forced marriages, 
family violence, bad relations with husbands and 
mothers-in-law, and significant age differences between 
spouses, the surgeon said.  Eighty percent of the cases are 
from outside of Herat City with a sizable number from Farah, 
Badghis, and Ghor Provinces. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) 
Information Counseling Legal Assistance Program Director, 
Zamina Khalilova, noted that more women and girls were also 
attempting suicide by swallowing pills or cutting themselves 
with razor blades. 
 
Increased Cooperation with Police 
--------------------------------- 
 
KABUL 00002796  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) DOWA Director Sima referred to the recent graduation 
of 26 women from the Herat Police Regional Training Center as 
a very positive development.  She said the female officers 
are already investigating cases and have generally been 
well-received by the community.  She described cooperation 
between DOWA, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), and police 
officers as excellent, with police regularly referring women 
to DOWA.  She said DOWA is working with UNICEF to draft a 
proposal to have police stationed at the Iranian border 
specifically to work with young deportees, which she 
described as a particularly vulnerable population.  Although 
the police suffer from an ongoing lack of resources and 
capacity, Sima says she sees a distinct improvement in their 
treatment of women during the past year, a change she 
attributed to closer coordination between DOWA and MOI, as 
well as the presence of women police officers.  Pakzad also 
said that coordination between her shelter and the police in 
terms of prompt referrals and open communication is good and 
improving. 
 
Pros and Cons of Courts and Shuras 
---------------------------------- 
¶6. (SBU) The Herat NRC legal department is staffed by six 
lawyers and several law student trainees and handles civil 
legal disputes for female clients referred by DOWA and the 
women's shelter.  Many of the lawyers are graduates of the 
University of Herat law school, which opened in 2004 and 
where currently half the students are women.  Two-thirds of 
the lawyers on staff at NRC are women who claim they interact 
successfully with village leaders and court officials, and 
that the NRC has slowly gained the trust of the community. 
The senior lawyer said that while formal courts were less 
favorable to their clients than shuras, even these courts 
were slowly but increasingly giving their clients a fair 
hearing. 
 
¶7. (SBU) When a new client arrives at NRC, a lawyer explains 
the option of pursuing the case, typically through the formal 
(courts) or traditional (shuras) justice system. According to 
the senior NRC lawyer, 70% of these women choose to resolve 
their case through a shura.  A principal reason for choosing 
this option is that shuras are much quicker than courts at 
resolving disputes.  Also, village leaders who administer 
shuras are less susceptible to bribery and have more 
accountability to the parties than the judges who administer 
the courts.  Furthermore, shuras can make more flexible 
decisions or mediate a mutual agreement between parties.  The 
NRC senior lawyer said that she found shuras, decisions more 
favorable to women than formal court verdicts.  She noted, 
however, that this trend is specific to Western Afghanistan, 
claiming that shuras in Southern Afghanistan would be much 
less likely to treat women fairly.  If a client chooses a 
shura, NRC lawyers prepare the case by contacting the village 
and shura leaders and the defendant.  During the shura 
meeting the NRC lawyer explains her role, applicable 
international human rights standards, and domestic laws 
(secular and Islamic).  The lawyer would then explain that 
NRC's goal was to resolve the case, with the shura's help, 
with a document that both parties to the dispute sign and 
agree to.  If that goal is reached, NRC submits these sealed 
documents to the local court.  In that way, violating the 
agreement later becomes cause for police intervention. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission 
Regional Program Manager S.A. Qader Rahimi asserted that 
formal justice system procedures often result in verdicts 
unfavorable to women.  He mentioned a case in June where a 
girl claimed her father had raped her.  A clinic on the 
outskirts of Herat City examined her and confirmed she had 
been assaulted.  The case went to court, and the court 
ordered another examination at the main Herat City Hospital, 
where the examiner claimed that the girl was lying.  The 
court sentenced the girl and her mother to two years in 
prison for making a false claim against the father based on 
the second examination's failure to find evidence of rape. 
Rahimi said hospital officials are frequently bribed to 
announce certain examination results, and that hospital staff 
regularly harass and insult rape victims.  He said 
prosecutors and judges investigate, try, and decide cases 
 
KABUL 00002796  003 OF 003 
 
 
based on culture and custom rather than law.  Rahimi 
mentioned that many Afghans customarily do not obtain legal 
documents such as marriage and divorce certificates, 
resulting in many women sitting in jail because they cannot 
prove their civil status and thus, cannot defend themselves 
against cases of adultery or other sexual offenses.  Voice of 
Women's Pakzad added that there were many other challenges to 
obtaining a divorce.  First, the court of the husband's 
district has exclusive jurisdiction.  If the court is in an 
insecure area, such as Shindand, there is no recourse.  If a 
woman is able to get to court in a reasonably secure 
district, she has to find three male witnesses to support her 
case, and the witnesses often are unavailable, refuse to give 
testimony, or only agree to give testimony if they are paid. 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: While it is encouraging that female lawyers 
successfully represent female clients in both shuras and 
courts, it is evident that women in Western Afghanistan, 
particularly women living outside of Herat City, continue to 
face high levels of violence.  According to NGO and 
government officials, 12 year-old girls marrying is 
commonplace in rural areas in the region, and the one women's 
shelter is always full.  The government's increased capacity 
as evidenced by DOWA and MOI's improved relations with each 
other and with the women's shelter is positive.  However, 
improving the lives of women and girls in the face of 
challenges posed by insecurity, economic distress, and a 
legacy of cultural discrimination is a difficult, long-term 
endeavor. 
WOOD