Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 54

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In Afghanistan, women's rights defenders continue to be regularly threatened and intimidated, and high-profile women, mainly political activists, have been assassinated, and their killers have not been brought to justice. The Taliban's interpretation of sharia law is used to justify harsher punishments for women seen to be mixing with men outside their immediate families. A common means of intimidation and control of local communities, mainly women, is the use of night letters. These are threatening letters, usually hand-delivered, or pasted onto a door or in a mosque, by insurgent groups. The content of these letters varies, but the main message is a threat of harm to women and girls (or their parents) if they go to school or to work, leave their homes, speak to non-family men, or call radio stations with music requests.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
  • Humanitarian
  • Violence
Person(s) affected
  • Families
  • Girls
  • Women
Year
2012
Paragraph type
Other
Paragraph number
54