Bad Painful Sedative

Index + Preliminary Part

Published by: Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF)

Date of Publication: 2004

Number of Volume: 500

Funded by: HBF

E-mail: wclrf@wclrf.org.af, wclrf@yahoo.com

Table of Contents:

Preliminary Part:

1-    What is WCLRF?

2-    About the project

3-    Importance of this report

4-    Introduction and background of this report

5-    Report summary

6-    Research methodology

7-    Research population

8-    Research principles

9-    Research problems

10-     Interview methodology

Part One:

Introduction and background

Chapter 1

1. Overview on Bad

1.1. General profile on Bad cases in Afghanistan

1.2. Contributing factors of Bad

1.3. Forced betrothal

1.4. Killing

1.5. Escape from home

1.6. Beating and injury leading to death

1.7. Dealings and transactions

1.8. Sodomy

1.9. Other causes

Chart on statistics related to Bad cases

Chapter 2

2. Effects of Bad

2.1. Direct effects

2.2. Indirect effects

Conclusion

Part Two

Chapter 1

1-    Social causes of Bad

2-    Social structure of region

Chapter 2

Disputes related to transactions and Bad cases

Chapter 3

 Decision-making authorities concerned with Bad cases

1.    Jirga

2.    Maraka

3.    Family

4.    Local commanders

Chapter 4

Rights protection agencies and their treatment in regard with Bad cases

1.    Local administration agencies

2.    Prosecutorial and judicial agencies

Chapter 5

1.    Concluding remarks and recommendations

2.    Concluding remarks

3.    Recommendations

Annexes:

1.    Explanation of the Terms

2.    Questionnaires

3.    Map

Preliminary Part

1- What is WCLRF?

The Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) was established by a number of female lawyers in 2003. It was created primarily to respond to the injustices that were pressured under traditional and customary practices on women in Afghanistan. Long and heated discussions on women’s rights among different organisations and individuals, was the first incentive to bring this Foundation into existence, especially because traditions and customs were deemed one of the causes of women’s rights violations in such discussions. In the interim, few people confirmed traditions as a source of women’s rights abuse and many others ignored the fact that every Afghan woman, irrespective of being urban or peasant, has experienced such violations in one way or another. This issue persuaded us to take individual and voluntary steps for the collection of information and statistics in order to: (1) establish the existence of such horrible violations, (2) identify the role and responsibilities of those who should play a role to resolve these problems, and (3) prevent the commission of oppression and injustice against Afghan women.

As mentioned above, this Foundation was built to struggle against the injustices and to remove the obstacles that concerned women and children and draw the necessary attention in this regard so that human rights defenders can be enabled to use this information and evidence for the promotion and protection of women’s and children’s rights.

Since the establishment of the Foundation, we believed that, “The journey is long but there should be a start—there is rock and stone anywhere but there should be a cross”. We are pleased to have begun our movement towards our destination with no sign of withdrawal and disengagement. We are of the opinion that the Foundation should say what has not been said and should show what has not been shown so as to uncover the bitter realities faced by a segment of our society.

Nonetheless, we knew that research in Afghanistan has been a means utilised by a group of persons for scientific purposes and merely restricted to book and library. Therefore, we had to acquire the necessary and basic skills for a good handling of our duties and then, produce quality research reports that will give rise to public awareness. In addition, we had to consider the quality and professionalism of report as our first priority, whereas most people have conducted research projects with a lack of capacity and coordination with national and international individual and legal entities. What we were after was to raise women’s capacities and capabilities in launching and managing research programmes after years of underdevelopment by Taliban rule. It was also problematic and sometimes impossible to find professional staff to implement the plan.

The Women and Children Legal Research Foundation began its activities under the said circumstances. Despite the difficulties, the Foundation is today setting its status and establishing the importance of its presence in the field of studies on rights and traditions.

During the short period of its work, the Foundation has taken and implemented the following measures with its limited facilities:

1.     Research project on “Bad, a Painful Tranquiliser”, part one,

2.     The commencement of a project entitled “Women and Politics”,

3.     The printing of the magazine “Waqiat”,

4.     Group training to prepare the launch of the preliminary research, and

5.     The convening of a conference to discuss the impact of traditions on women’s lives.

Moreover, the Foundation has become a member of the Legal Institutions Forum affiliated to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The Forum members played a pivotal role in organising women’s campaign to establish their equal status in the new Afghan Constitution. The Foundation has also actively participated in Gender and Law Committee led by the Minister of Women’s Affairs. In the meantime, it is taking an active part in civil society meetings.

One of the major working areas of this Foundation is to pay due attention to the regional and local customary practices that unfortunately violate the rights of women and children. The country’s oral history is full of sad stories on traditions and customs that have negatively affected Afghan women and children.

2- About the project

The Foundation as a newly-established but totally committed institution decided to take a practical action in disclosing one of the worst social injustices that is inflicted upon our sisters in the name of a tradition.

Yes! This tradition is called “Bad”. It is apparently one of the best conflict resolution and peace-building mechanisms between two tribes or families, but is a real practical form of the exploitation of women and children as slaves.

“Bad, a Painful Tranquiliser” is a report prepared by the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation. This report was once developed as a preliminary report based on limited data collected from Kabul City outskirts, which was fortunately interesting to a large number of readers.

“Bad, a Painful Tranquiliser” provides a description on women’s and children’s pains and sufferings that are caused as a result of customary practices.

The present report has been written on the basis of a research conducted by the Foundation in over 10 Afghan provinces.

This report has been drafted by a group of researchers including Judge Nafisa Kabuli, Abdul Hamid Razaq, Niloofar Qadiri and Maliha Mir and finalised by Hangama Anwari.

We also acknowledge the HBF for their generous support and assistance in completing the present report.

3- Importance of this report

This report gains importance from the fact that its stories and information are based on concrete realities and actualities. In addition, the present report has dwelt on the impact of Bad not only upon women but also on children, men, family members and the community as a whole. It uncovers the truth that not only women but the entire family system is disintegrated in the aftermath of such a customary practice.

This report can be used as an experience and a warning for members of local jirgas and shuras to take into account the consequences of their decision-making. In the interim, the use of pictures and posters to make public the impact of these decisions can be effective in preventing the reoccurrence of these actions. The civil society groups and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) can utilise the present report to further develop their social activities. The National Solidarity Programme (NSP) can make use of this report in conducting their educational and consultative initiatives. It can be used as a motive to encourage female participation in local Jirgas so that they can play a role in deciding their future and in stopping the injustices. Moreover, reports of this kind can be utilised by human rights institutions including the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) and civil society organs to advocate positive changes to be discussed and made by the country law-making agencies particularly the Parliament.

Eventually, this report can be a starting point for more research in this arena and for launching professional training programmes on research, especially for Afghan women 

4- Introduction and background of this report

We began our work on this report in September 2003, which was then followed by a series of discussions on Bad, its procedure and its effects. The report faced serious and positive reactions from government authorities. For instance, President Hamid Karzai regarded Bad as “a cruelty” in his speech on the occasion of Prophet Muhammad’s Birth Anniversary. He further called Bad as “one of the worst non-Islamic and inhumane act” in his address on March 8^th, International Day of Women. The President called upon religious personalities to combat such an act. Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice, Minister of Women’s Affairs Ms Habiba Sarabi and Chair of the AIHRC Dr Sima Samar have additionally considered Bad “a crime against humanity and a clear violation of human rights”.

Taking into account the value and importance of the report dissemination that was focused on victim examples and stories in the first phase, the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) decided to expand and deepen its research programme to cover other aspects of this subject. In order to maintain the sequence of the materials, we present to you the initial part of the probationary report from Kabul and its outskirts on “Bad, a Painful Tranquiliser” along with the new parts of this report.

It is necessary to mention that this report is not only the property of the Foundation but also other colleagues including Mr Sayed Masoom Badakhsh, Mr Ahmad Farid Hamidi, Mr Ustad Garan and Judge Abdulwali Ahsem have taken major parts in producing the present report.

The report is made up of one introduction, two parts, conclusions and recommendations.

The first part that is composed of one introduction, two chapters and concluding observations, mostly reflects the harmful dimensions of Bad that are faced by young girls and even children. It encompasses the experiences of people who have been victimised as a result of this oppression.

The second part that is made of one introduction, four chapters and concluding observations, puts a focus on the factors that help such a practice occur. This part has discussed Bad from a legal perspective and has referred to the role of rights protection agencies in intercepting the advent of such an institutional practice.

The last part of the present report has included a number of recommendations, which can be used by various government and non-government institutions to reform the country’s traditions and to raise public awareness, especially amongst members of local jirgas.

We hope that concrete measures can be taken to promote and protect the human rights of women through making and disseminating reports of this nature.

5- Report summary

As it is obvious from the title, this study has been conducted to further identify the customary practice “Bad”. This report seeks to:

1.     Reveal the performance of the pertinent organisations,

2.     Discuss the role of jirgas and marakas and stress the importance of reforming the country’s non-official judiciary,

3.     Clarify the sufferings of victims, and

4.     Find out ways to solve this problem and put forth preventive recommendations.

6- Research methodology

We used questionnaires to collect the necessary information and statistics. The questionnaires were accurately and concisely developed by our researchers and were used after a period of probation.

The present study has gone through the following steps:

A)   Personnel recruitment. Paying attention to the sensitivity of the subject, a group of people familiar with the localities were employed as the research interviewers. Adequate training was provided for the questioners so they can be informed of how important the study is, how information should be gathered and how the questionnaires should be filled out. This was followed by sending them to the pre-defined places.

B)    Data collection. A series of questionnaires were designed to collect the necessary data, which were amended after the pilot period. Using the amended questionnaires, we could obtain the maximum information. The questionnaires included open-ended and close-ended questions, which provided a broader context for data gathering. A questionnaire example has been attached as Annex I.

C)    Data sources identification. In order to accelerate the research process, we have used both direct contacts to the localities and individual contacts. In addition to the dispatch of interviewers to different provinces, we have had direct contacts with a number of accused and convicted women and children deprived of liberty in correction centres. As a consequence of this, 486 people have been interviewed with.

D)   Data analysis. The collected data has gone through a complete analysis process. The analysis has been utilised in determining the mainstream of the present report. The gathered information was analysed by a team of researchers.

7- Research population

A research population encompasses all the people to whom the research results can be generalised. The population for this research, hence, is all the women and men who have become victims of this ugly tradition. However, we adopted a geographical sampling approach to collect data on the population.

This geographical sampling included various points and one province was covered to represent each point. The points surveyed are listed below:

1.     Paktia,

2.     Logar,

3.     Ghazni,

4.     Maydan,

5.     Kabul and its suburbs,

6.     Balkh,

7.     Baghlan,

8.     Parwan,

9.     Farah,

10.  Kandahar, and

11.  Faryab.

Whereas the research sampling represents all groups of people in different provinces in Afghanistan, it can be claimed that the research results can be generalised to the whole country.

8- Research principles

In total, this study has sought to consider a set of principles in order to ensure a standard research. These are expounded as follows:

1.     The study has sought to collect first hand information,

2.     The data analysis does not reflect the opinions of the researchers,

3.     The study has tried to be free of discrimination in all its forms,

4.     The interviewee security was a top priority, and

5.     The confidentiality of the interviewees and victims was firmly taken into account and maintained.

9- Research problems

It is vivid that all social studies have their own difficulties. But a study on highly sensitive issues like women and customary practices, which have today transformed into the principled beliefs of people in different parts of the country, has its particular problems. Women, who are the first victims of such customs, mostly do not enjoy the courage and opportunity to share their life experiences and to admit interviews. The study has faced the following common problems that have sometimes stalled its data gathering process:

1.     The reluctance of families in uncovering the truth,

2.     Problems in identifying victims, and

3.     Lack of security in localities.

10- Interview methodology

In order to achieve the research results, various approaches were used to collect data. These include interview, questionnaire and observation. The questionnaire method was used in this study.

In this study, 486 persons have been interviewed. They belonged to different age groups, ranging from 3 to 50 years old.