KABUL - The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign that runs from 25 November, International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women, through 10 December, International Human Rights Day.

This year’s theme is “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World” highlighting the key roles women play in the family and as peacemakers and peacekeepers in war zones. In Afghanistan, support for women’s issues is one of the five priorities of the United Nations agencies and programmes.

Today’s story is authored by the United Nations.

“Young women married to old men, sold, swapped for sheep or even opium… under pressure from abusive husbands and mothers-in-law they sometimes go to mullahs and community councils to ask for help, but even there they face humiliation and abuse,” said the doctor in charge Afghanistan’s only special burn unit, within the Herat Regional Hospital.

Approximately 2,400 Afghan women annually set themselves on fire across the country due to depression caused by acts of violence against women, according to Government figures.

The entity UN Women reported that almost one-third of Afghan women are exposed to physical and psychological violence, and nearly one-fourth suffer sexual violence - usually from their husbands or in-laws.

Such violence is more common in forced marriages - the majority before the girls turns the legal age of 16 – which constitute as many as 80 per cent of Afghan marriages.

Young wives become pregnant before their bodies and minds are sufficiently mature, making Afghanistan the deadliest country for a would-be-mother. Every 30 minutes, an Afghan female dies from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, according to Government figures.

A married girl with a child is unlikely to attend school. Only 30 per cent of girls have access to education keeping the literacy rate among Afghan women as low as around 10 per cent.

Afghan officials say the stresses of forces marriages, along with war-related stress, displacement stress, repatriation stress, insecurity and drug addictions, lead to increased cases of self-immolation.

The United Nations is working with the Government to address the underlying causes which lead some women to burn themselves, and to advocate for greater use of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) against people who attack their wives, sisters, daughters and neighbours.

Educated women and healthy families are the foundation of a peaceful and progressive Afghanistan.