Afghan Women and their Quest for Justice

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

CANCELLED

Mandana Hendessi OBE

Over half of women prisoners in Afghanistan are serving between 3-15 years prison sentences for zina (extra-marital relations) and running away from home. Nearly all the women prisoners have experienced gender-based violence. Most have had little or no legal counsel and assistance and found themselves facing judges whose judgements were based on customary rather than the criminal law. Since 2001 and the demise of the Taliban regime, a number of international NGOs have set up projects to assist women who come into conflict with the law, providing legal aid and representation. However, these are still too few and far between to meet the needs. Recent research evidence from UNODC (United Nationals Office on Drugs and Crime) suggests that most women in Afghanistan's prisons are detained there illegally and attempts are currently being made to secure their release and transfer them to "half-way houses" to facilitate their reintegration into society. In the current sociopolitical landscape, where the Karzai Government is trying to "make peace" and reconcile their differences with the Taliban, bending backwards to please the latter even if that means introducing laws that offer a stringent interpretation of the Sharia (Islamic laws), the prospects of Afghan women receiving the justice they deserve seem rather bleak.

Biography:

Mandana Hendessi is currently a PHD student at the Open University, researching ‘Self-immolation among Women in Afghanistan: an act of Subversion or Submission?’. Between 2008-2011, she worked in Afghanistan on women's rights and access to justice. In 2009, she conducted a study of the situation of women prisoners in Afghanistan, interviewing 20 women held in Kabul prison, visiting women's prison and the girls' detention facility in Herat and in Bamyan. In 2003/4, Mandana worked on the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Iraq and on her return to the UK, she developed and co-ordinated the Iraqi Women's Internship Program which involved leadership capacity-building for Iraqi women civil society and political leaders.

Organiser: Bloomsbury Gender Network hosted by the SOAS Centre for Gender Studies

Contact email: rs94@soas.ac.uk