Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai recently signed a law that legalizes rape in marriage. When marital rape is a cause of disdain and concern all across the globe, here is one country where it is permitted by virtue of law. It is said that Karzai signed the law in his desperate bid to win the votes of fundamentalist groups of the country’s Shiite minority in the upcoming elections.
UN agencies and humanitarian organizations warn that its adoption would authorize rape within marriage, permission for child marriage, and the prohibition for women to leave their homes without permission from their husbands. Those who condemn the new law accuse Karzai of electioneering at the expense of women’s rights and basic human rights. Some say he resurrects the ghosts of the fundamentalist Taliban regime that the country toppled eight years ago. Some critics have even called him worse than the Taliban.
The law also contains stipulations that women can pursue employment, education, or avail of doctor’s services only with their husband’s permission. These are known Talibanistic rules. The Afghan constitution guarantees equal rights for women but it also allows the Shia community which is 10 percent of the population to settle family law cases according to Shia law.
The RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan) has made it clear that the adoption of these measures embodied in Karzai’s law will make the lives of Afghan women worse than when they were under the Taliban.
Via Telegraph.co.uk
