新的阿富汗法律可能讓女性家庭暴力受害者沉默

Law would ban relatives of the accused from testifying against them

法律將禁止被告家屬作不利人證。

A new law in Afghanistan could allow men to abuse their wives, children and sisters and notface criminal prosecution by banning the relatives of an accused person from testifyingagainst them.

阿富汗新出臺的一項法律將允許男人虐待他們的妻子、子女和姐妹，而免受面臨刑事指控，因為此法將禁止被告的家屬指證他們。

If passed, the bill would make it much more difficult for victims to bring cases of abuse to courtwhich often happen as they most often occur within the confines of the family home, TheGuardian has reported.

《衛(wèi)報》報道稱，若該法案通過，將使受虐案件的訴訟難度大增，因為它們多發(fā)生在全家居住的房屋內(nèi)。

The small change to a section of the criminal code Prohibition of Questioning an Individual as aWitness would also prevent doctors, children and defence lawyers from testifying in a case.

這個微小的變更涉及到刑法中“禁止審問作為證人的個人”的部分，還將使醫(yī)生、兒童和辯護律師無法在案件中作證。

The bill has been passed by both housesof Parliament but is awaiting the signature of the conservative President Hamid Karzai, who bychoosing to sign it will bring it into force. Campaigners are now calling on Karzai to refuse tosign the bill they assert will weaken "already inadequate" legal protections for women.

該法案已通過議會兩院批準，正在等候保守派總統(tǒng)哈米德·卡爾扎伊簽字，一旦簽署即宣告生效。活動家們正在呼吁卡爾扎伊拒絕簽署法案，因其削弱了女性“已經(jīng)堪憂的”法律保障。

“President Karzai should reject a law that will effectively let batterers of women and girls offthe hook,” Brad Adams, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

人權觀察組織(HRW)亞洲區(qū)主任布拉德·亞當斯在一份聲明中說：“卡爾扎伊總統(tǒng)應該駁回這項允許虐妻和虐待女孩的人合法脫身的法律。”

HRW warned by signing the new criminal procedure, women would be denied protection fromdomestic violence and forced or child marriage by silencing victims and their family memberswho have witnessed their abuse.

人權觀察組織警告稱，一旦簽署新刑事訴訟法，將迫使受害者和作為目擊證人的家人沉默，婦女會失去在家庭暴力、強迫婚姻或童婚中的法律保護。

The proposed change comes after the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commissionreported a 26 per cent increase in the number of women saying they had been assaulted in2013. Sima Samir, chair of the AIHRC said in January the brutality of attacks on women hadgreatly intensified during this time.

此次提議變更出現(xiàn)在阿富汗獨立人權委員會發(fā)布一份報告后，報告顯示2013年自稱遭性侵害的女性增加26%。阿富汗獨立人權委員會主席西瑪·薩瑪爾在1月份說近期對婦女的暴虐行徑大大加劇。

"The brutality of the cases is really bad. Cutting the nose, lips and ears. Committing publicrape," she said. "Mass rape... It's against dignity, against humanity."

“涉案暴行非常惡劣。(她們被)割掉鼻子、嘴唇和耳朵。有的甚至遭到公眾奸淫。”她說道，“大規(guī)模的奸淫……這違反了人格尊嚴，罔顧人性。”

Opportunities for women seemingly improved after the Taliban was toppled from power in 2001,and the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) made crimes of childmarriage, forced marriage and rape for the first time under Afghan law, with tough penalties fordomestic violence.

塔利班2011年倒臺后，婦女的待遇似乎有所改善，而2009年通過的《消除對婦女暴力侵害法律(EVAW)》首次將童婚、強迫婚姻和強奸等罪置于阿富汗法律之下，嚴懲家庭暴力。

However, HRW argue this new bill threatens protections for women and girls provided within theEVAW law.

然而，人權觀察組織表示，這項新法案會威脅到受EVAW法律保護的婦女和女孩。

“President Karzai should take a stand for Afghan women by sending the new law back toparliament with a message that he will not sign it until it is revised in line with the goals of theEVAW law and Afghanistan’s obligations under international law,” Mr Adams said.

亞當斯先生說：“卡爾扎伊總統(tǒng)應該維護對阿富汗婦女的主張，駁回議會的這項新法，以傳達他絕不簽署的決心，除非該法案修正至符合EVAW法律并遵守阿富汗在國際法律中所規(guī)定的義務。”