Declaration of 24 November 2004, (4 Qaus 1383)

Violence against women has a background as long as human history. There is no place in the world where women's rights are not violated severely. The Afghan women constitute the most suffering segment of the population in the country. All the structures, relations, laws, ruling system of the country are providing causes of deprivation, oppression and violence against women. Without struggle against such contexts that provide opportunities for violence against women, it is impossible to secure a society ruled by justice not by patriarchs.

Despite that every day should be the day of struggle against violence, but the International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women has its importance.

The day when women all over the world struggle to secure a social and humanitarian system without any violence against them. We, the participants of this march organized by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), civil society institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as the activists of women's and human rights, condemn violence against women all over the world and present this resolution as follows:

1. Elimination of any kind of violence against women in the family and society.

2. Prevention of forced and early marriages,

3. Struggle against trafficking of women and children and illicit drug addiction, 4. Elimination of all forms of gender-based discrimination in employment,

recruitment, retirement and promotion concerning women,

5. Provision of education, health, literacy, and working opportunities for women, 6. Continuous struggle against unaccepted traditio\ls causing violence and

justifying discrimination against women,

7. Provision of appropriate facilities for expanding women's participation in all

political, social and economic arenas,

8. Paying attention to the legal, health, educational and nutritional condition of

female prisoners inside and outside of the country,

9. The designing, arranging and implementing broad social and cultural

programs in order to combat violence against women;

10. The establishment of family courts at provincial level to further protect the

family,

11. Improvement of the health and educational condition of women refugees in

Iran and Pakistan, and

12. Uplifting the living standards of widows, supportless and disabled women by

the government and the national and international organizations.

Sincerely yours, The participants