Mick Hartley

Desperate women in Afghanistan:

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 husbands, more and more are seeking release through self-immolation…

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.

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.

But the rise of a civil society and a free media is helping to publicise their acts, he says…

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.

Dear me – here we go imposing Western values again.