Japan Contributes US$4.5 Million to Support UN Women Project on Ending Violence against Women in Afghanistan

The Government of Japan has contributed US$4.5 million this year to support a UN Women project in Afghanistan on ending violence against women, the largest non-core contribution to UN Women by Japan to date. Japan has also pledged US$446,808 in core contributions to UN Women for 2011.

“Japan, as one of the initial members of the Executive Board of UN Women, is committed to contribute actively to the work of UN Women, said Ms. Hiroko Hashimoto, Representative of Japan to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), in a statement.

“Japan expects that UN Women will play a leadership role within the UN system in operationalizing the set of indicators to monitor the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325, and also in accelerating women's participation in peace-building, Ms. Hashimoto said. “To that end, with a view to strengthening the consolidation of peace in Afghanistan, the Government has recently [in January] contributed 4.5 million dollars to UN Women's project to assist the Afghan Commission for Elimination of Violence against Women.

The UN Women project “Aid to Afghanistan aims to stop the widespread abuse and violence against women in Afghanistan by supporting the Afghan Government to implement laws on gender-based violence and to provide shelters for victims of abuse.

Despite the country's legislative and policy framework, violations of women's human rights are endemic and committed with widespread impunity. While studies suggest violence against women is under reported in Afghanistan, a 2008 Global Rights report sampling 4700 women across 16 provinces found that 87.2 percent of women had experienced at least one form of physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage, 62 percent had experienced multiple forms of violence and 17.2 percent had reported sexual violence.

UN Women in Afghanistan has supported the Government of Afghanistan with the implementation of its Ending Violence against Women strategy since 2002.