Kabul urged to fire human rights commissioner

President Hamid Karzai should immediately dismiss Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) member Abdul Rahman Hotak after he voiced opposition to the new Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

Afghanistan's Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women is known as the EVAW Law.

Hotak said that in his view EVAW Law was "violating Islam" and there needed to be a law that people were "comfortable" with.

Afghanistan's 2009 EVAW Law criminalizes abuses of women including rape, child marriage, forced marriage, sale of women, and domestic violence, and in many cases is the first Afghan law to do so.

While enforcement of the law has been slow and uneven, the law is widely recognized as one of the most important achievements in the effort to rebuild women's rights in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era.

"There were many questions about Hotak's suitability for this job - and Hotak has just answered them," said Human Rights Watch.

"President Karzai has appointed a fox to guard the henhouse. The only solution is for him to be removed and replaced with a new commissioner who will actually protect human rights."