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Afghan woman murdered for giving birth to third daughter

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Karen Whiteley
WVoN co-editor 

A woman has been murdered in Afghanistan, allegedly by her husband and mother-in-law, for giving birth to her third daughter.

The mother-in-law has been arrested.  Police are hunting for the husband, an alleged member of a local militia, who is currently on the run.

The woman, Storay (last name unknown), was throttled to death some time after the birth. According to a BBC report, the woman’s mother-in-law tied her feet together while her husband strangled her.

Police spokesperson,  Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, said Storay’s fate did not come as a surprise after she gave birth to another daughter,

‘She was told by her husband that if she delivered another baby girl, he would kill her,’ he said.

The crime occurred in a remote part of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, where violence against women in common.

Last month, the New York Times reported that four men were arrested for throwing acid on a mother and her three daughters in an apparent revenge attack for one daughter’s rejection of a marriage proposal from one of the attackers.

Despite the enactment in 2009 of the Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) – which defined 22 different forms of violence against women including rape, forced prostitution, acid attacks, and forced or underage marriage – it remains a major problem.

According to a 2011 UN Report, millions of Afghan women are still subjected to many forms of violence, largely as a consequence of traditional attitudes which deny them equality with men.

A 2010 UNIFEM report estimated that over 60% of Afghan women are subjected to physical and psychological violence, whilst approximately 25% are subjected to sexual violence.

The UN report noted that whilst the law was beginning to be used by officials, the majority of reported cases of violence against women were still being dealt with by either traditional dispute resolution mechanisms or under the Penal Code.

Often, this resulted in acquittals, lighter sentences, or a reduction of the charges to less serious crimes.  It also left the female victims exposed to accusations of ‘moral crimes’.

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