Human Rights

As research in Afghanistan has shown, girls who marry before the age of 18 and become pregnant early are at higher risk of death and suffering injury during birth. Their children are at higher risk of poor health and death. Those who marry below age 18 are also at higher risk of domestic violence, which not only has harmful consequences for the girl and her family, but multiplied many times affects a country’s larger economy.

Her body ridden with bullets and left on the outskirts of Paktika province in Afghanistan, Sushmita Banerjee’s killing was horrifying but, sadly, not surprising.

The Indian woman had escaped captivity under the Taliban in 1995 and went on to write a book about her experiences.

Afghanistan has become a key source for victims of sex-trafficking. It remains a hidden crime, flourishing despite laws meant to protect women. A vicious cycle of poverty and cultural practices keep women trapped.

The present war in Afghanistan, now nearly 12 years old, has affected the lives of millions of women. Many have been victimized; others have played the roles of soldiers, insurgents, politicians, caregivers, and much more.

The Afghan Women’s Writing Project is participating in a worldwide campaign this month to end early marriage in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries where girls are forced by their parents to marry when they are as young as ten years old.

“Long live death!” is how Franco’s militias sometimes celebrated their victories during the 1930s Spanish civil war. Yes, there have always been – and remain – those States that champion death over life, barbarism over reason. And what better symbol of this outmoded ideology than the death penalty?

Short film on Women. Justice delayed is justice denied.