AIHRC Concerned Over Mounting Violence Against Afghan Women
Afghanistan's Human Rights Commission on Wednesday voiced
concern about an increase in family violence against women in
Afghanistan.
Since the beginning of this year, close to 900 cases of violence have been logged, the commission said.
"In
the past three months around 868 cases of violence against women have
been recorded. Some of the incidents had happened in the worst way,"
Women's Rights Commissioner Suraya Sobhrang said.
AIHRC strongly
condemned the murder of a pregnant woman by her husband in Parwan
province and amputation of a woman's fingers in Nimroz province.
The woman, who has lost her fingers, said her husband was also trying to knife her eyes out.
Shah
Jahan Yazdanparast Chief of women's affairs in northern Parwan province
said "her husband used to torture her, but the woman kept tolerating
him, until it ended up with her husband stabbing her during pregnancy."
"Our forces have arrested several people in connection with the incident," Parwan Governor Abdul Basir Salangi said.
Another woman was torched by a mullah in western Herat province in a bid to excorcise her body.
The
violence against women rises as President Hamid Karzai is expected to
join a video conference with officials in Washington to discuss and
assess women's situation in Afghanistan.
Human Rights Commission in Kandahar concerned over the increased number of civilian deaths during 2010The Independent Human Rights Commission is expressing concern over to what they call the growing number of civilian casualties in the country. Officials in this commission are blaming the anti-government forces for posing most of the threats on citizens. According to them, civilian casualties and violence throughout Afghanistan has climbed by ten times in comparison to 2009. They are putting the total figure of civilian deaths in 2010 at two thousand seven hundred and seventy seven, adding all the trauma has been resulted due to the suicide attacks, roadside mine explosions and abrupt assails.
Refugees in Greece on hunger strike for 43 days
Refugees in Greece entered their 43rd day of hunger strike to demand an end to the inhuman practices in refugee camps and to obtain residence permit. While some of the strikers are taken to hospitals because of health problems, nearly 200 refugees are still on hunger strike.
A hunger strike is being staged in Greece by refugees detained in appalling conditions. Having been subjected to inhuman treatments as well as not receiving any answer to their asylum applications for years, refugees started a hunger strike last month.
The strike which is joined by 286 refugees from different countries has entered its 43rd day. Although 98 of the refugees on the strike fell sick and were taken to hospital, the hunger strike continues uninterrupted. The Athens government still maintains it's silence about the strike.
Criticizing the attitude of Greek government, European Parliament member Andrej Hunko pointed out that most of the activists came from North Africa, making a call for “an end to the human tragedy”. The German parliamentarian criticized the silence of Europe against the decision of European Court of Human Rights on Greek for the protection of refugees.
In the meantime, the flow of immigrants continues despite the stringent measures taken by European countries. The recent flow was of 850 refugees, most of them being Tunisians, who reached the Lampedusa Island in Italy yesterday evening. There exists a concern that the island will become the stamping ground of refugees for being close to the North African coasts, following the civil rebellions and the rising tension in the region.
While EU's border protection organization Frontex assists Italian security forces, the number of refugees reached the islands at the border within the last month has reached seven thousand. However, the flow of migrants to Europe is estimated to increase due to the emerging civil war in Libya following the civil commotions in Tunisia and Egypt.
