Formerly the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Kubis linked the rising violence against women in Afghanistan to cultural practices, revealing the statistic of a 20 percent rise in female deaths and injuries previous year. It is said that more than 300 women and girls were killed and more than 560 injured during 2012. "Our role as the UN will be very crucial in the post-2014 period," Kubis said. Anyhow, constitutional safeguards guaranteeing protection of women rights stands vital and could curtail women rights violation.
Being receptive to pressure of international community, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued presidential decree on women's rights “Elimination of Violence against Women Law” (EVAW), which faced staunch opposition by conservative lawmakers and their supporters inside and outside the parliament.
More than 200 male students protested in front of Kabul University against the decree which includes a ban on child marriage and forced marriage, makes domestic violence a crime and says rape victims cannot be prosecuted for adultery. It also outlaws "ba'ad," a traditional practice of exchanging women or girls to settle disputes or debts. Unquestionably, the conservative elements aired their concerns, demanding the development should be averted.
Though a rising number of incidents of violence against women are being reported, and courts are issuing more convictions based on the law, but they represent only a fraction of the problem. Advances in using the law are welcomed; nevertheless progress in addressing violence against women will be limited until the law is applied more widely.
The flawed cultural practices supported by high degree of illiteracy ratify intense violence against women, stand legitimate and justified. The culture deeming women as subordinate citizen multiplies their receptiveness to greater tendency of being subjected to ill-treatment. Apart from formal education, community based adult education and awareness campaigns on momentous rights issues complementary to Islamic teachings might assuage the stringency of substandard customary law. The wretchedness does not end here as the incidents of violence against women remain largely under-reported because of cultural restraints, social norms and religious beliefs. Widespread discrimination and women's fears of social disgrace or threats to their lives discourage them from seeking to prosecute their offenders.
Afghan authorities are continuously called to take, much greater steps to both facilitate reporting of incidents of violence against women and launch immediate investigatory cells in districts and division level easing the prosecution. As long as women and girls in Afghanistan are subject to violence with impunity, little meaningful and sustainable progress for women’s rights can be achieved in the country. Ensuring rights for Afghan women – such as their participation in public life, including in the peace and reconciliation process and equal opportunities in education and employment – requires not only legal safeguards on paper, but critically, speedy and full enforcement of the EVAW law.