Violence against women down in Balkh

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (PAN this year in northern Balkh province, an official said on Saturday.

Women’s Affairs Director Rabia Muradi told a seminar in Mazar-i-Sharif her department had conducted several awareness programmes on women’s rights across the province this year.

She said 201 incidents of violence against females took place in 2013, compared with last year’s 315. Awareness had been raised among residents about women’s rights through local councils.

But Independent Human Rights Commission (IHRC) officials said that violence against women continued to be increasing in northern provinces.

IHRC head in the northern zone, Fawzia Nawabi, told Pajhwok Afghan News the findings of the Balkh women’s affairs department were in conflict with an IHRC report that indicated a 60 percent rise in violence against women in Balkh, Jawzjan, Samangan and Sar-i-Pul this year.

A resident of Balkh district, Zarmina, said women in rural areas experienced a high level of violence. “The officials concerned are paying no attention to the problems facing women in villages and they have no information about their situation.”

She claimed the provincial women’s affairs department was only giving information about the cases in Mazar-i-Sharif and it had no details about women’s situation in rural areas.

mds/ma

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