Justice for Afghanistan Youth – Take Action against Baad!

There is an African proverb which says:

“When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets hurt.”

In Afghanistan, when two families fight, young girls are often the victims. To settle debts or disputes, or just to have a bit of peace, warring families will trade a daughter in a traditional practice known as “Baad.”

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says the girls frequently end up with physical and psychological scars from being mistreated and abused by the receiving families.

Baad is a traditional practice of settling disputes in Pakistan and Afghanistan among Pushtun tribes in which a young girl is traded to settle a dispute for her older relatives. This may involve being used as payment for a financial dispute, as a means to avoid larger or longer-lasting arguments and grudges. A famous example is Bibi Aisha, who was subsequently mutilated when she fled the abuse that girls sometimes suffer from their new families under baad. The practice has no legal or religious basis, but is an ancient tradition that is widely accepted among Pashtun tribes.

ASADABAD, Afghanistan — Shakila, 8 at the time, was drifting off to sleep when a group of men carrying AK-47s barged in through the door. She recalls that they complained, as they dragged her off into the darkness, about how their family had been dishonored and about how they had not been paid.

It turns out that Shakila, who was abducted along with her cousin as part of a traditional Afghan form of justice known as “baad,” was the payment.

Although baad (also known as baadi) is illegal under Afghan and, most religious scholars say, Islamic law, the taking of girls as payment for misdeeds committed by their elders still appears to be flourishing. Shakila, because one of her uncles had run away with the wife of a district strongman, was taken and held for about a year. It was the district leader, furious at the dishonor that had been done to him, who sent his men to abduct her. READ MORE

Afghan Girls Suffer for Sins of Male Relatives:
Traditional means of settling disputes usually involves giving young girl to family of perceived victim of crime.

Two-year-old Nilab sits on the floor, drawing with a stick. She is wearing a red dress and black shoes, her unruly curls falling in her eyes. Shy around strangers, she hides her face behind her big sister from time to time. The toddler has no idea what awaits her: she has been traded away in baad, to make up for the sexual misconduct of her uncle.

Baad is a traditional means of settling disputes in Afghanistan, and usually involves giving a young girl to the family of the perceived victim of a crime.

“My uncle Jawad was found guilty of having unlawful sexual relations with Noria, my father’s cousin,” said Mariam, Nilab’s 19-year-old sister, tears running down her face.

“Noria became pregnant, but her husband has been working in Iran for the past seven months. Noria’s father-in-law accused Jawad of being the father, and the families agreed to settle the matter through the local jirga (council). The jirga decided that Nilab should be given to Noria’s brother-in-law, who is only six years old. Everyone agreed.”

Baad is seen as a way of avoiding more violent means of satisfying grudges, and many Afghans applaud the practice.

“Without baad, we would have conflict between the families, with murder and revenge,” said Nadira, a member of the family who accepted Nilab. “Baad is a good thing. Killing and enmity are prohibited in Islam.”

“This is a very good decision by the jirga,” said her sister Sabera. “Peace has been restored to the two families. Their enmity has turned to friendship. The girl taken in baad will have all the rights of a family member, and will finally marry a son of this family, she will become a bride.”

Nilab is lucky; she will be allowed to remain with her own family until she reaches puberty. In stricter cultures, she could have been taken immediately. In many cases, the family of the victim will take out its rage on the girl given in baad, as a way of exacting vengeance without starting an all-out war between two groups.

Baad is an ancient tradition in Afghanistan, dating back to the days when no central legal authority existed, and conflicts were settled through the tribal system.

Slowly the practice became widely accepted, even though there is no religious or legal basis for it. When a man kills, rapes, or has sexual relations with someone other than his wife, a local council can step in to mediate. Lesser offences can usually be settled by the exchange of money, perhaps a few sheep or a cow. But the standard penalty for a serious crime is for the offender’s family to part with a girl, who is given to the victim’s family.

Often the girl given in baad is little more than a slave; she can be beaten or mistreated, or even killed. Much domestic violence in Afghanistan can be traced back to the tradition of baad, according to human rights activists.

“Baad is a negative tradition with no legal or moral basis,” said Judge Sayeed Mohammad Sami, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission for the north. “A human life can never be traded away. It will take a long time and much hard work to get rid of this terrible practice.”

According to Judge Sami, 571 cases of violence had been recorded in the north over the past year. Out of these, eight were attributed to baad. However, he added, the number could be much higher, since many families do not report such incidents.

Baad is illegal, said Mah Gul Yamam, a legal expert at the Afghan Human Rights Organisation.

“According to the laws of Afghanistan, a perpetrator bears personal responsibility for his crimes,” she said. “This responsibility cannot be transferred to others. But unfortunately, in Afghanistan, when a man commits a crime, it is the females that have to bear the punishment.”

Baad is against the criminal code of Afghanistan, punishable by up to two years in jail, she explained. But unfortunately, no legal action can be taken unless the woman or girl who is given away makes a complaint. Females are often reluctant to initiate criminal proceedings against their relatives, and, indeed, can be physically coerced into complying with the demands of baad.

“There is a dysfunction in the law,” said Mah Gul. “Baad must be recognised as a crime.”

Afghanistan’s legal system is plagued with corruption and inefficiency, and is in no condition to dispense justice. Despite the efforts of the international community, which has poured millions of dollars into judicial reform over the past seven years, many Afghans choose the traditional structures when things go wrong.

Tribal or jirga justice is swift and almost universally accepted – but it has the disadvantage of perpetuating many of the society’s long-standing abuses against women.

Malaly Roshandil Usmani, head of the Women’s Rights Advocacy Association, told IWPR that women whose rights have been violated are in no position to make a complaint.

“Organisations working in the field of women’s rights should not have to wait for women to come to them,” she said. “They need to find these women and work with them.”

Many women do not know their rights, she explained, and still more are prevented from exercising those rights.

“Many women cannot read and write, and they have no information about the legal code or Sharia law,” she said. “The misery of baad will continue until women are made aware of their rights.”

Religious scholar Maulawi Rahman Rahmani told IWPR that baad should not be tolerated in Islam.

“The great majority of Afghanistan’s population is Muslim,” he said. “How can such a negative practice come into being?”

“It is a serious sin to give away another’s life to escape punishment. It is the obligation of Islamic scholars to try and eliminate these unwanted traditions.”

Nilab’s neighbour, Fawzia, agrees.

“An innocent child should not be forced to bear the guilt of others,” said Fawzia.

“Everyone is responsible for his own crimes. Baad does not build peace, it keeps wounds open forever.”

Wahida Paykan is an IWPR trainee in Mazar-e-Sharif.

ONE LAST STORY …

In 2009, Bibi Aisha an 18-year-old from the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan fled her husband s house complaining of beatings maltreatment and a life that amounted to abject slavery She had been given to her husband when she was 12 as payment to settle a dispute a practice in Afghanistan that goes by the fitting name of baad Having endured six years of torment and abuse she escaped to the only place she could go back to her family home It was here that the Taliban arrived one night and demanded that the girl be handed over to face justice She was taken away to a mountain clearing where the local Taliban commander issued his verdict She was then held down by her brother-in-law while her husband first sliced off her ears and then cut off her nose Aisha passed out from the pain but soon awoke choking on her blood With the help of the American military aid workers took her to a women s refuge in Kabul run by an Afghan-American organisation Women for Afghan Women (WAW) There she remained under the care of trained social workers until August 2010 She was then flown to California to undergo reconstructive surgery at the Grossman Burn Centre in California However following psychological assessment the medical staff at the foundation decided that Aisha required more counselling and therapy before she could give her informed consent to the gruelling series of operations that surgery would entail In November 2010 she was moved to New York where she remains under the care and supervision of WAW.

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