Driven to a Fiery Death — The Tragedy of Self-Immolation in Afghanistan

Abstract

A fghanistan, a country with 32 million residents, has been engaged in constant conflict for the past 30 years. This instabili-ty and insecurity have resulted in a stark economic climate and a very low life expectancy. More than half of the people in Af-ghanistan live in poverty, and 40% of the adult labor force is unemployed. Life expectancy is 44 years, and annual mortality is 20 per 1000 residents. 1 The situation in Afghanistan has been grave for more than a generation. Since the 1980s, the country has endured Soviet occupation, civil war, Taliban rule (which means educational and employment re-strictions for women), and war with the United States and its al-lies. However, in 2001 a democrat-ic government was established that has since signed on to internation-al conventions and developed fed-eral policies designed to improve health and human rights, partic-ularly for women and girls. In 2001, Afghanistan signed the Bonn Agreement, demonstrating a commitment to the establish-ment of a fully representative gov-ernment sensitive to issues affect-ing women. In 2003, the country ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and in 2004 it signed the Millennium Dec-laration to promote equality of the sexes and improve maternal and child health. Also in 2004, the Afghan constitution was signed into effect, granting women full citizenship, with legal rights and duties equal to those of men. In 2005, Afghanistan signed the Pro-tocol for the Elimination of Forced and Child Marriage, and in 2006, it put forward the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, which includes as goals the elim-ination of discrimination against women and the promotion of women in leadership. Today, women make up 27% of the National As-sembly in Afghanistan. Sadly, these commitments and efforts do not appear to be trans-lating into safer and healthier conditions for Afghan women and girls. The United Nations Devel-opment Fund for Women reports that 70 to 80% of female Afghanis are forced into marriages, and 57% are married before 16 years of age; 84% of women are illit-erate as compared with 69% of men, and women are half as likely as men to have completed primary school. 2 Afghan women have a fertility rate of 7.5 births per mother, 3 and with a skilled birth attendant present at only 14% of births, 2,3 the country's maternal mortality is the second highest in the world. 2 Although there are no reliable statistics on the prev-alence of sexual or physical vio-lence against Afghan women, the available indicators suggest that it is a major problem, primarily perpetrated by husbands and in-laws. 2 In addition, there is increas-ing recognition of yet another related tragedy among Afghan girls and women: self-immolation. Self-immolation is the act of burning oneself as a means of suicide. Although reliable data on the scope of this practice are difficult to obtain in Afghanistan