| |
 |
| |
| |
First Place
Paula Bronstein Getty Images
"BROKEN LIVES"
|
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
4 of 10
|
 |
|
Sahira holds her daughter, Sayadbibi,
20, a self-immolation victim in critical condition November 16,2006 in Herat.
She is being treated at the Herat Regional hospital Burn unit with burns over
90% of her body. Doctors have said she will not survive. Afghan women turn to
self-immolation as a way to commit suicide,choosing this method turns their
life into a living hell. There is an Afghan proverb: ' Your bones belong to
your family but your muscles belong to your husband'. The problems facing
women in Afghanistan are complex and are closely linked to their subordinate
position in the Afghan society where conservative Islamic laws and traditions
dictate what a woman is allowed to do in a male dominated world. Forced
marriages, domestic violence, poverty and lack of access to education are the
main reasons for suicide. Bibijan mourns the death of her second daughter,
Guljan,18, on November 14,2006. She died from self-immolation yesterday at
the Herat Regional hospital Burn unit with burns over 65% of her body in
Herat, Afghanistan. Bibijan lost her 15 year old daughter last year to
self-burning also and has 8 children left.
|
|
|
