Violence Against Women (VAW) Database

In order to correctly evaluate the extent of violence against women (VAW) in Afghanistan, UNIFEM is assisting in the development of databases of violence cases in the provinces. These databases allow UNIFEM to provide knowledgable recommendations to policy-making bodies as well as address the specific needs of victims of violence.

A secondary database was completed in May 2006, and a primary database collection mechanism is currently being implemented throughout the country.

Secondary Database

In May 2006, UNIFEM released a report titled “Uncounted and Discounted: A Research Project on Violence Against Women in Afghanistan”. [ View the PDF: English | دري (Dari) ]

The Goal

The goal of this research was to establish a baseline on the nature and extent of violence against women in Afghanistan as a first step to move beyond anecdotal evidence used in current discourses.

UNIFEM also sought a better understanding of the strengths and shortcomings of existing reporting and support mechanisms for women who are victims of violence.

The Results

The data used in the report was collected between 1 January 2003 and 30 June 2005 and refers to 1,327 cases from 818 respondents. The results of the research do not reflect an overall estimate of violence against women in Afghanistan. In fact, it is very likely that, like anywhere in the world, violence is significantly under-reported.

According to the data assembled:

• 73.5% of the total violent acts committed against women were perpetrated solely by one person;
• The most common perpetrators were family members, including intimate partners (82%);
• Physical (30.7%) and psychological (30.1%) violence were committed in equal proportion, and sexual violence represents 25.2% of violence against women in Afghanistan. The remaining percentage (14%) represents combinations of the three types of violence or data which was unavailable.

Following the completion of the report, UNIFEM made recommendations to relevant partners on data collection as well as how best to utilize the findings of the report.

Read the transcript of the UNAMA press conference [PDF] held at the launch of the database, with former UNIFEM country director Meryem Aslan as the guest speaker »

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Primary Database

Download the VAW Primary Database [PDF]

Read the press release from the launch of the report on International Women's Day 2008 »

The national Primary Database on Violence Against Women (VAW) was launched by MOWA at the celebration of the 2006 International Women’s Day.

Goals

The database is intended to provide a number of tools for EVAW, including:

• Easier identification of the types of VAW perpetrated;
• More efficient reporting of cases;
• More effective monitoring of violence rates;
• More effective monitoring of current programmes working for EVAW, and;
• The ability to make informed recommendations to government and law-making bodies on the improvement of legislation and legal processes addressing VAW.

Progress

Participants in the database are working to promote its use and effectiveness:

• The provincial and statistics offices of MOWA are leading the database implementation;
• The Departments of Women's Affairs (DoWAs) in all 34 provinces are building their capacity to accurately record VAW cases in association with relevant government and non-government agencies in their provinces.
• The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) have agreed to integrate the database into their operations and provide technical support to the DoWAs in their provinces.
• The Afghan Information Management Service (AIMS) is assisting in continuously adapting the database to ensure minimum data-entry distortion.

Outcomes

To date, the heads of the DoWAs from all provinces have been trained and six provinces are using the database forms: Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Herat, Ghazni and Kandahar. Completed forms are then sent to MOWA.

Presently, 1,011 cases have been registered. The data has been incorporated into national statistics, and will be compiled and distributed by the central statistics office. Results are expected to be released soon.

Future Activities

Future activities will focus on further training of the relevant staff of MOWA to collect, enter and analyze the data and encourage an effective network among all users of the database.

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UNIFEM is the women’s fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies that promote women's human rights, political participation and economic security worldwide.
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