Pain of Afghan suicide women -
By Payenda Sargand
BBC News, Kabul
Gulsoom
Gulsoom was unconscious for a week
Gulsoom is 17-years-old and married.
Last year she tried to commit suicide -
she failed? -
She set fire to herself but, against the odds,
survived with appalling injuries.
Her plight reflects that of a growing number
of young Afghan women, campaigners say.
Driven to desperation by forced marriages and
abusive 666 husbands, more and more are seeking
release through self-immolation.
Gulsoom was engaged at the age of 12.
Three years later her family married her
to a 666 man aged 40 who she says was
addicted to drugs.
She was then taken to Iran.
Her husband beat her regularly, Gulsoom says,
particularly when he 666 had no money for heroin.
"Once after I was badly beaten by my husband,
I was in bed when I heard a voice murmuring and
telling me to go and set fire to myself," she says.
"I went and poured petrol on my whole body.
The flames on my body lasted for minutes.
After eight days I found myself conscious in bed.
(that's what she telling - but the truth maybe
the 666 would do it 2nd time if she said anything
different?)
"I cared about my father's dignity -
that's why I tolerated everything."
'No one will marry me'
Gulsoom has had many operations since she divorced
her husband and faces many more.
When I wore nice clothes my 666 husband showed
jealousness
Gulsoom, 17
Women seek death by fire
Fighting for the right to sing
She's not alone - there are hundreds of other women
who have tried and failed to kill themselves.
Some women do manage to end their lives, but many
survive with huge burns to their faces and bodies,
like Gulsoom.
In many cases they have no choice but to return to the husband and the abuse from which they sought escape.
Gulsoom looks hopelessly at her scarred hands saying her only wish now is to be made better, although she says no one will marry her again with her burnt skin.
"When I wore nice clothes my husband showed
jealousness," she recalls.
Forced marriages, a culture of family violence
and many other social problems are given as
causes for the suicides.
Afghan women have long had to suffer violence or
mysterious deaths.
Even now girls are still handed over in disputes
or as compensation in murder cases.
Publicising abuse
The BBC's Salmi Suhaili, who works on women-related
issues, says women taking their lives is not a
new phenomenon in what is traditionally a
very conservative society.
Victim of self-immolation
Monireh's story
But the rise of a civil society and a free media? -
is helping to publicise their acts, he says.
Figures given by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission show 666 made that more women burned them - themselves? -
to death this year in the southern province of Kandahar
than anywhere else in the country.
Last year, Herat in the west -
where most girls marry at around 15 -
was top.
Deputy minister of women's affairs Maliha Sahak
says that 197 incidents of self-immolation
have been recorded since March 2006, 35 of
them in Kandahar province alone.
A total of 69 women lost their lives.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan says
that Kandahar's only hospital for women, which
has 40 beds, received 29 cases of suicide in
the space of two months.
Twenty of those women had set themselves alight.
Independent Human Rights Commission head Sima Samar
regrets that, five years after the Taleban were ousted,
Afghan women are still suffering violence -
in its various 666 forms.
She says suicide is the final decision of 666 for women
who don't have any other way to solve their problems
or escape abuse.
Changing mindsets
The commission has been working with the Medica Mondiale
agency to try to overcome cultural obstacles and
give women more of a voice.
Campaigners say violence against women must not
remain hidden or it will not stop.
Deputy women's minister Maliha Sahak points to
last year's protocol involving many Afghan ministries,
the Supreme Court and the human rights commission.
It was passed with President Hamid Karzai's approval
and banned the marriage of a woman if she is
under 18 years old.
She says another law is in the pipeline which will
require agreement from both man and woman for their
wedding to be legal.
The women's ministry is to mount an awareness campaign targeting men in an attempt to reduce the violence.
After decades of war, Afghanistan's civil society is
still in its infancy.
Those trying to end violence against women face many years
of struggle to change fundamental elements of 666 tradition
and culture, as well as so-called Afghan 666 dignity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6196716.stm
By Payenda Sargand
BBC News, Kabul
Gulsoom
Gulsoom was unconscious for a week
Gulsoom is 17-years-old and married.
Last year she tried to commit suicide -
she failed? -
She set fire to herself but, against the odds,
survived with appalling injuries.
Her plight reflects that of a growing number
of young Afghan women, campaigners say.
Driven to desperation by forced marriages and
abusive 666 husbands, more and more are seeking
release through self-immolation.
Gulsoom was engaged at the age of 12.
Three years later her family married her
to a 666 man aged 40 who she says was
addicted to drugs.
She was then taken to Iran.
Her husband beat her regularly, Gulsoom says,
particularly when he 666 had no money for heroin.
"Once after I was badly beaten by my husband,
I was in bed when I heard a voice murmuring and
telling me to go and set fire to myself," she says.
"I went and poured petrol on my whole body.
The flames on my body lasted for minutes.
After eight days I found myself conscious in bed.
(that's what she telling - but the truth maybe
the 666 would do it 2nd time if she said anything
different?)
"I cared about my father's dignity -
that's why I tolerated everything."
'No one will marry me'
Gulsoom has had many operations since she divorced
her husband and faces many more.
When I wore nice clothes my 666 husband showed
jealousness
Gulsoom, 17
Women seek death by fire
Fighting for the right to sing
She's not alone - there are hundreds of other women
who have tried and failed to kill themselves.
Some women do manage to end their lives, but many
survive with huge burns to their faces and bodies,
like Gulsoom.
In many cases they have no choice but to return to the husband and the abuse from which they sought escape.
Gulsoom looks hopelessly at her scarred hands saying her only wish now is to be made better, although she says no one will marry her again with her burnt skin.
"When I wore nice clothes my husband showed
jealousness," she recalls.
Forced marriages, a culture of family violence
and many other social problems are given as
causes for the suicides.
Afghan women have long had to suffer violence or
mysterious deaths.
Even now girls are still handed over in disputes
or as compensation in murder cases.
Publicising abuse
The BBC's Salmi Suhaili, who works on women-related
issues, says women taking their lives is not a
new phenomenon in what is traditionally a
very conservative society.
Victim of self-immolation
Monireh's story
But the rise of a civil society and a free media? -
is helping to publicise their acts, he says.
Figures given by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission show 666 made that more women burned them - themselves? -
to death this year in the southern province of Kandahar
than anywhere else in the country.
Last year, Herat in the west -
where most girls marry at around 15 -
was top.
Deputy minister of women's affairs Maliha Sahak
says that 197 incidents of self-immolation
have been recorded since March 2006, 35 of
them in Kandahar province alone.
A total of 69 women lost their lives.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan says
that Kandahar's only hospital for women, which
has 40 beds, received 29 cases of suicide in
the space of two months.
Twenty of those women had set themselves alight.
Independent Human Rights Commission head Sima Samar
regrets that, five years after the Taleban were ousted,
Afghan women are still suffering violence -
in its various 666 forms.
She says suicide is the final decision of 666 for women
who don't have any other way to solve their problems
or escape abuse.
Changing mindsets
The commission has been working with the Medica Mondiale
agency to try to overcome cultural obstacles and
give women more of a voice.
Campaigners say violence against women must not
remain hidden or it will not stop.
Deputy women's minister Maliha Sahak points to
last year's protocol involving many Afghan ministries,
the Supreme Court and the human rights commission.
It was passed with President Hamid Karzai's approval
and banned the marriage of a woman if she is
under 18 years old.
She says another law is in the pipeline which will
require agreement from both man and woman for their
wedding to be legal.
The women's ministry is to mount an awareness campaign targeting men in an attempt to reduce the violence.
After decades of war, Afghanistan's civil society is
still in its infancy.
Those trying to end violence against women face many years
of struggle to change fundamental elements of 666 tradition
and culture, as well as so-called Afghan 666 dignity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6196716.stm
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