In January, a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old girl ran away from their much older, abusive husbands. Authorities in Herat, rather than taking them to women's shelters or prosecuting the illegal marriages, returned them home to be beaten. The local leadership beat them - 40 lashes apiece - and filmed the process.
The video made it to the AIHRC, which pushed national authorities to respond. When they did nothing, the Commission released the video. A New York Times article on the case made the front page yesterday.
It's a sad recognition of just how far there is to go, but I'm encouraged that there is a watchdog making these things public - and I'm glad to work with them for even this short time. It should be an interesting summer...
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