Each year we will devote the World Yoga Day to a different specific cause.
In 2007 we will join forces with Medica mondiale to contribute to the elimination of violence against women and girls in Afghanistan.
Medica mondiale e.V., a German based organization, acts to support traumatised women and girls in war and crisis zones and views its role as that of an advocate for the rights and interests of women who have survived sexualised wartime violence. (www.medicamondiale.org)
Women in Afghanistan suffer from violence of many different types – including rape and systematic rape, domestic and family violence, forced and early marriage, loss of husbands, children and other loved ones – among other such experiences have resulted in a great deal of trauma and adverse mental health problems that need to be systematically and effectively addressed. The current situation is that women and girls are traumatised by years of pervasive violence, human rights abuses and lack of access to legal remedy and justice.
Afghanistan has witnessed over 20 years of conflict. During this period, women have suffered inordinately – most appallingly, during the period of the infamous Taliban regime when women were prohibited from accessing learning, experienced restricted mobility and were prevented from working. Even until today, the lack of education perpetuated during the Taliban years continue to impede the ability of many women to improve their situation. The Mujahideen period was hardly better. Under both regimes women and girls were adversely affected. Women and girls were kidnapped or abducted by the Taliban between 1998 and 2001 and their whereabouts are still unknown today.
Despite many positive changes such as a women-friendly Constitution (2004), women’s access public work, to education and to political office (27 percent of women are in the Wolesi Jirga of the new parliament) violence against women persists. Many incidences of beatings, forced marriages and kidnappings continue to go unreported and most information is anecdotal. For example, it has been reported that Pashtun women from Northern provinces were the targets of sexual violence perpetrated by commanders from other ethnic groups. There have also been reports of soldiers and commanders loyal to local warlords raping girls, boys and women across all ethnic groups in the eastern, southeastern and central parts of the country.
In a climate of continuing silence, secrecy and impunity, domestic and structural violence as well as rape remain a serious problem. Rapes are difficult to document due to the social stigma that surrounds them. Additionally, the effects of violence are numerous and the resulting trauma is compounded by lack of adequate health facilities and access to information. In a report recently issued, the AIHRC – the leading human rights watchdog, highlighted the continuing high rates of self-immolation and forced marriages that affect women and pointed out the shortage of health care and education facilities that continue to adversely affect women. It is widely believed that the pervasive violence within the family is one of the contributing causes of women’s self-immolation and the leading cause of trauma and mental health issues facing women and girls. In a recent interview with several newspapers – including the Middle East Times and Pajhwok Afghan News, Dr Masuda Jalal – outgoing Minister for women’s affairs stated that domestic and public violence is so widespread that it constitutes a public health as well as a rights issue.
Medica mondiale offers emergency and long-term support through
For further information on Medica Mondiale and women's situation in Afghanistan please go to www.medicamondiale.org