The girl died on her way to hospital after she had doused herself with petrol and set fire to herself. Her mother, who tried to extinguish the flames, was also badly hurt. The incident happened on Monday but was not announced until today.
During questioning, the family's neighbors claimed that the girl was constantly bullied by her mother and brother. The girl's father denied that there had been any violence, however, saying that "such squabbles are common in the family."
Since the collapse of Taliban rule in 2001, the Afghan constitution has accorded women equal rights with men, stating that "the citizens of Afghanistan - whether men or women - have equal rights and duties before the law."
Despite this, physical violence against women and girls is increasingly rapidly in Afghanistan, and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has said that in 2007 it recorded over 2000 cases of violence and the "psychological oppression of women." 165 cases of self-immolation among the female population of the war-torn country were also recorded.
Womankind Worldwide, a U.K.-based women's rights NGO, says that according to its statistics 80% of Afghan women regularly face domestic violence, 60% of marriages are coerced, and that half of all women marry before the age of 16, with some girls as young as 6-years-old being forced to take husbands.
