The young Afghan girl sits in the center of the room, weeping. Using her hand and her blue scarf to hide her face, she recounts how she was brutally raped by five gunmen.
The girl's tragic case is one of many in war-torn Afghanistan, activists say.... "This is just an example among thousands of other cases," says Shaima, a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. "The rest go unnoticed by the media." Shaima is not her real name; she uses it to protect her identity. RAWA members themselves have often been targeted for raising taboo issues in a culture in which women and children are often treated as second-class citizens. "Women and girls, especially young girls, are the most unprotected people of Afghanistan. They are raped, kidnapped and murdered," Shaima says. Just last week, a 3-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped by unidentified men, a government official confirms. The toddler was later released and, the official says, is recovering. "Rapists are roaming around with impunity," Shaima says, turning her attention to a man -- said to be the son of a powerful official -- who is accused of raping 22 girls in the northern province of Sar-I-Pul.... In March, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said that deteriorating security in large parts of the country, a growing culture of criminal impunity, weak law enforcement institutions, poverty and other factors had contributed to increasing violence against women, such as rape and torture. The commission also said that Afghan girls are often forced into marriages against their will.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. special representative for children in armed conflict, plans to release a report in October on the state of Afghan children.... "In many cases of violence against children, there is a sense of impunity. People continue to violate children's rights without any sense of feeling that they will be held accountable," Coomaraswamy said. She found that sexual violence against young boys is also a problem. In what is known as "bacha-bazi," or "child's play," boys are forced to dress in female attire, dance and perform sexual acts. "I can't think of any country in the world in which children suffer more than in Afghanistan," Coomaraswamy says. "In all our meetings with children, it takes a lot of time to make them smile. That to me shows that there is not happiness in their hearts."
Courtesy: CNN.COM
