Women’s refuge in Afghanistan

Patooni Muhanna, who works at a women’s shelter in Kabul, speaks about women’s rights since the fall of the Taliban. Patooni says that despite some positive changes, domestic violence and self-immolation are still concerns.

According to a 2006 report by the UK-based NGO ‘Womankind,’ anywhere between sixty and eighty percent of marriages in Afghanistan are forced, 57 percent of brides are under the age of 16, and 87 percent complain of domestic violence.  Afghan women suffer from the lowest literacy rate in the world, at 13 percent.

Photos and video:  Lucy Nicholson

Producer:  Jill Kitchener
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