Local and international media regularly choose to publish reports disclosing personal details of victims, including their name, their home district or even village and their face. The example is the widely broadcast scene in which two of the victims in the Paghman case, in a crowded corridor of a government building, are pointing out their perpetrators from a line of suspects. Staged probably to display the justice sector’s willingness to respond to the public outcry, the scene, however, puts the raped women on a stage that they will have a hard time escaping from ever again. Not only have they been publicly portrayed as victims, which can psychologically re-victimize women. Such practices also make them known to their communities and beyond as women without chastity. In Afghan society, it often does not matter that the woman has been forced. This has been proven repeatedly by cases in which rape victims were killed by their own relatives, who argued that they had harmed the family’s honor. The women’s names often remain tainted.

Ruqia Sarwary, a legal advisor from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), for example worried about Khatera, the rape victim from Kabul, after watching her interview on a local TV in which the girl was “clearly recognizable.” Another prominent example is the media coverage on Lal Bibi’s case. This 18-year-old girl from Kunduz had been abducted by an ALP commander on 17 May 2012 and subsequently raped and tortured. The photos of Lal Bibi show the girl clearly distressed and anxious, wide eyed and close to tears. Lal Bibi and her mother had apparently been wearing burqas, but were asked by journalists to remove their veils.

Also, in the recent case of Breshna, the 11-year-old girl raped by her mullah in Kunduz, the nation knows exactly what the victim looks like and where she lives. AAN spoke to Breshna’s uncle who accompanied the girl to Kabul for the continuation of the court case. He told AAN that “Breshna cannot go to school anymore and also not to the madrasah. She is isolated and feels ashamed to speak to other children. It was a bad thing to publish her pictures and show her face on TV.”

Media organizations such as NAI or the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) now call for more decency when dealing with victims. NAI’s most recent statement reminded journalists that “Article 45.7 of the Mass Media Law does not allow media to show pictures of victims of criminal offenses if they damaged the victim’s dignity.” In some of the cases mentioned above, victims contacted media themselves or offered to tell the story, but also in these cases – maybe particularly here – the media should recognize its specific responsibility to them. Victims are often illiterate and probably always distressed and emotional at the time they are giving interviews. They probably do not understand the consequences the media exposure might have for their lives.

Another obvious detail in the list of recent cases is the number of incestuous rapes and the confusion within the legal system about how to deal with them. Incest – sexual intercourse between close relatives – is not a new type of crime in Afghanistan, but the Afghan penal code does not include specific regulations to address it.

Article 429, established in 1976, does cover the crime of rape. It states that “A person who, through violence, threat, or deceit, rapes another one (whether male or female), or initiates the act, shall be sentenced to long imprisonment, not exceeding seven years.” It does not address rape within the family or even rape of children within the family – incidents that are usually regarded as even harsher offenses. For these offenses, lawyers or judges used to refer to an additional article, 427, that provided guidance regarding eight special circumstances that might increase the severity of the punishment, with prison sentences of up to ten years. Article 427 did indeed mention “the case where the person against whom the crime has been committed is a relative, up to the third degree of the offender.”

However, in 1977 article 427 was amended, removing the list of additional items. Now it only addresses adultery, prescribing punishment for anyone involved. With this, the Afghan state has removed additional safeguards for victims, particularly victims raped within the family or even children raped within the family – an odd decision as the Afghan society traditionally values the family as the safest place of all, especially for women and children.

The new president of Afghanistan has made women’s rights a focus for his government. But it remains to be seen if this is lip service or if progress will be real. On 25 November, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs announced an initiative “to curb violence against women.” The initiative includes cooperating with mullahs who are supposed to talk about women’s rights in mosques, media initiatives and conferences. But this is a 16-day campaign only.

While certainly not the only issue on the new government’s agenda, continued work on violence against women and girls will be important. This will involve continuing to familiarize police, prosecutors and judges with these issues and the existing laws and regulations. It also includes a push for the approval of the Family Law – a law that would back up women’s basic rights and freedom within the family and that would help to prevent traditional practices such as Baad marriage or under-age marriages. This law has not yet been passed, although it had been promised for 2014.