National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan - The Secretary ...

practices are infused with customs that severely violate women‘s human rights. The exchange of
women for settlement of local and tribal conflict, forced and early child marriages, exchange of
women for economic gains to the family, and denial of women‘s inheritance rights are only a few
examples of these practices. The impunity with which these acts take place is disturbing.
Domestic and social violence against women is widespread, and women‘s rights to education,
health and decent employment are often denied both in rural and urban Afghanistan.
The Afghan government is mindful that the enormous challenges posed by the reestablishment of
the legal and judicial system in Afghanistan must be addressed in light of the fact that the Afghan
State has the obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of Afghan women and men. The
State‘s duty to uphold its citizens‘ human rights will remain unfulfilled without a legal and
judicial system that reaches the whole country, and which is able to guarantee and protect the
rights of its female and male citizens.
2. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES
The establishment of equality under the law is critical to women‘s struggle for equal rights. The
extent to which women have been able to exercise their rights is dependent on the ability of the
state to acknowledge, uphold and enforce these rights.
Goal
The goal of the Afghan
Government is to revise its
legislative framework and
judicial system to
guarantee equality and
non-discrimination as
enshrined in the
Constitution, as well as
within international
conventions and standards
thereby enabling women
and girls to exercise their
rights on equal terms with
men and boys.
Key indicators
• Absence of gender discriminatory provisions and
procedures in the legal framework
• Enactment of gender specific legislation, including
family law and an anti-VAW law
• Minimum 30% increase in participation of women in
the justice sector and law enforcement bodies
• Increased number of judicial officials trained on
citizen’s rights, with particular emphasis on women
and children’s rights
• Inclusion of human rights, particularly women and
children’s rights in the curricula of schools and
universities
• Establishment of shelters, referral centers and
transitional houses
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