State Responsibility for Eliminating Violence against Women with a Focus on Afghanistan

Sammanfattning: Violence against women is a serious human rights violation and a major cause of reduced of life, distress, injury and death for female. According to World Health Organization, 1 in 3 women around the world experience physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner. This study attempts to contribute to our understanding the problem of violence against women and State obligation with a focus on Afghanistan. Afghanistan is one of the most challenging countries in the world to be a woman. It is still a long way for becoming a stable country where women can enjoy equal rights and live in safety. Sexual, forced marriages, physical, rape and ‘honor killing’ crimes as a part of gender-based violence identifies direct violence against Afghan women and girls. The attitude viewing women as the property and honor of men in Afghan culture has put women and girls at the risk of violence. Moreover, discrimination and injustice against women for centuries in Afghan society has formed women’s identity as inferior citizen. This thesis challenges, the State responsibility, national law, religion and tradition and introduces them as direct, structural and cultural entities of violence.