The European Commission (EC) Saturday expressed concern over violence against women in Afghanistan.
"In Afghanistan the situation is serious with hundreds of recorded cases of severe beatings and forced marriages," the EC said in a statement issued here.
"Almost one hundred Afghan women every year burn themselves to death in a tragic statement against a system of violence, misery and humiliation," said the statement.
The European Union, according to the statement, has been funding a comprehensive program of 2.7 million euros (3.98 million U.S. dollars) to address and prevent family based violence in Afghanistan during the years 2006-2007.
"Violence against women is a worldwide phenomenon, not at all peculiar to Afghanistan," the statement said. "One European woman in five experiences violence by her male partner at some point in her life."
Globally, women aged between 15 and 44 are more likely to be maimed or die as a result of male violence, than through cancer, malaria, road accidents or war combined, it added.
Source: Xinhua
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