Women for Afghan Women works for justice and peace for all Afghan women and girls.

Why We Care: Crimes such as rape, child marriage, and forced prostitution were criminalized for the first time in Afghanistan in 2009. Four years later, the law is rarely implemented and women and girls continue to suffer with little opportunity for respite.

How we’re solving this: Women for Afghan Women provides women and girls who have suffered gross human rights violations with legal aid and counseling by trained attorneys.

Women for Afghan Women (WAW) was founded in 2001 to advocate for Afghan women and girls both in Afghanistan and New York, recognizing that they are one of the most underserved and vulnerable populations in the world, due to the country’s political turmoil and corruption, debilitating poverty, and misogynistic customs and beliefs. In fact, in June 2011, a full decade after the overthrow of the Taliban, a TrustLaw poll ranked Afghanistan as the world’s most dangerous country for women.

In 2007, WAW opened its first Family Guidance Center (FGC) and shelter in Kabul to provide legal assistance, counseling, mediation, and safe shelter to women and girls who are victims of human rights violations.

Six years and over 7,000 cases later, WAW has FGCs and shelters in seven more provinces, but the demand for our programs and services is only increasing, especially as more women and girls learn about their basic rights.

Recent stories continue to depict a grim reality for Afghan women and illustrate the grave need for our services, including the videotaped public execution of a woman in Parwan who allegedly committed adultery, the October beheading of a newlywed in Herat who refused her mother-in-law’s attempts to force her into prostitution, and the story of a 15-year-old girl in Kunduz whose throat was slashed for refusing a marriage proposal. Unfortunately, these crimes are not uncommon. In fact, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission recently estimated a 22 percent increase in cases of violence against women during the last six months of 2012 compared to the same period the previous year.

WAW’s Kabul FGC, in particular, has been inundated with women and girls who are risking their lives for a chance at justice, hoping to escape domestic violence and forced marriages and have their batterers or rapists prosecuted. Unfortunately, the demand for our legal services outweighs our current capacity. To address this issue and ensure that we have the ability to fully serve the needs of all of our clients, WAW aims to hire an additional full-time attorney for our Kabul FGC.

WAW attorneys are local Afghan women and men who are highly skilled and experienced in the Afghan judicial system and Sharia law (moral code and religious law of Islam). They undergo continual training to be able to navigate the judicial system, build relationships and the trust of law enforcement and legal officials, and increase our clients’ chances of receiving the justice they deserve.

“When a battered woman comes to our center she is scared and alone, but when she receives justice, she is remarkably able to start her life all over again,” Fahima, a Kabul FGC lawyer said in September 2012.