Afghanistan: Afghanistan human rights

I became very interested in the Middle East, especially Afghanistan, after reading Khaled Hosseini's "1000 Splendid Suns" and "The Kite Runner". Both these riveting novels reveal the atrocities committed against those deemed less equal because of their ancestory and ethnicity as well as the inhumane treatment of women. Afghanistan is the deadliest country to be born in. The strict rules of the extremeist Islamic followers condemn women to a life of torment and abuse. RAWA, Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, is an organization founded in the late 1970s aimed to help establish more rights for women and curb the violence against women taking place in Afghanistan. The organization, founded by an Afghan woman who was assassinated by members of the KGB working with extremist forces, aimed to raise awareness internationally concerning the plight of these women.

In the past nine months over 4,000 documented cases of violence have occured against Afghan women. Oftentimes these cases go undocumented because perpetraters are not punished, and if they are they are given a meager slip on the wrist. Most of the violent cases against women have occured in the country's biggest city Kabul. Oftentimes women are beaten, stoned, set on fire or murdered by those closest to them. In Afghanistan women are forced into marriage some at the mere age of 13. Men in villages sell their daughters for bags of opium to men their same age. Due to cultural, traditional and religious ideals women are not viewed as equals. They are not afforded the same opportunities as men and are often afforded less rights than animals are in America.The horror stories that come out of this desert land are not tales from stories or movies, they are real, reality for the women that exist in Afghanistan.

Self harm, mutiliation and suicide combine to form a rising trend in this Middle Eastern nation. Many women would rather die than suffer daily abuse at the hands of male family members or husbands. Often women who see no end to their suffering set themselves on fire, a practice not understood by many. An article published in the New York Times by Alissa Rubin relates the story of a 20 year old woman who doused herself in gasoline and set herself on fire to escape the habitual torment she faced at the hands of her opium addicted husband. The young woman was married at 13 and was forced to care for an older man who perpetually beat and raped her. Burning to death seems such an excrutiating and terrible way to die, but for many women they do not know another way out. Often they feel that if they are weak, hurt and scarred maybe someone in their family will care for them and love them. This is rarely the case and not only are they not tenderly cared for they are discared by their families and tormented further by their husbands.