13th Meeting of Commission for Prevention of Violence against Women Held

The 13th Meeting of the Commission for Prevention of Violence against Women was held on 3rd February 2010 (14 Dalwa 1388) at the Cinema Zainab Hall, Kabul presided over by Her Excellency, Dr. Husun Banu Ghazanfar, the Caretaker Minister of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA).

Explaining the increasing numbers of incidents of violation against women Dr. Ghazanfar said, was due to the fact that more and more women were coming forward to report such incidents.  She elaborated it was due to the support they were receiving from the Government of Afghanistan and the relevant state authorities and non-governmental / community based organizations spread out across the country.  She particularly appreciated the role played by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs together with its Departments of Women’s Affairs in the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.  “I believe the media also has done a great job in helping us take these messages to the public,” she added.

Minister Ghazanfar added, “How could we recognize there is any human development when half the population of our country is being subject to gross human rights violations.  I believe half the battle is won with the women’s willingness to expose more and more incidents of violence and their perpetrators.“

The Minister reminded the gathering of the supervisory role placed upon MoWA in relation to the Law on Counter Violence Against Women signed by President Karzai on 20 July 2009 (29/04/1388) consisting of four chapters and 44 articles, and the 10 year National Action Plan for Women, 2008 – 2018.

The Commission members were informed of the changes and amendments to the functioning of the Commission to enable it to meet regularly on a monthly or even bi-weekly basis, given the importance of addressing issues relating to violence against women.  Working groups and committees within the Commission were set up to address the issues in an urgent and effective manner.

The Commission was initially meeting on a quarterly basis.