NCJ Number
219837
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2007 Pages: 24,25,28
Date Published
July 2007
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article presents excerpts from a United Nations report assessing the situation of female inmates in Afghanistan.
Abstract
In the social order of Afghanistan, women are regarded as the property of the husband’s extended family. Women have little decisionmaking power and are subject to male authority. The traditional role of women in Afghanistan hinders their equitable participation in economic activities. Despite some positive developments, the most pervasive impediments to female education are the traditions of Afghan society, which place women firmly in the home. Also, despite progress toward establishing a functioning formal legal system in Afghanistan, the central government has minimal authority in many parts of the country. Under the Penal Code of 1976 that is currently in force, women are frequently penalized for offenses defined as moral crimes, which include adultery, sexual intercourse outside a valid marriage and running away from home or elopement. Fifty percent of the 56 women interviewed at Pul-E Charki (the nation’s largest and main prison) in 2006 were imprisoned for moral crimes, mainly adultery and running away from home combined with adultery. In practice, victims of rape are treated as individuals having committed the crime of adultery (zina) until she proves she did not have intercourse with the man with whom she ran away. The offense of zina is covered by Articles 426-428 of the Penal Code and carries a long prison sentence, not less than 5 years or more than 15 years. In 2006, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime commissioned an assessment of the situation of female inmates in Afghanistan. This article is Part I of a two part series containing excerpts from the 2007 United Nations report. Part II will focus on prison conditions in Afghanistan’s prisons and the treatment of female inmates. Notes, references