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Forced marriage and chronic abuse are among the key triggers for the growing cases of self-immolation among women in Afghanistan, a regional conference heard Tuesday.
The high rate of illiteracy -- with under 20 percent of women said to be literate -- and an incompetent justice system also meant many women could not see their way out of problems and so took their own lives, the three-day meeting heard.
The conference of about 400 people, including from other countries that have similar rates of suicide such as Bangladesh, Iran, India and Sri Lanka, was called to try to find ways to stop the phenomenon.
Experts said there were no accurate overall figures, with hospitals and police not keeping proper records and many families hiding their cases because of shame.
However, German non-government organisation Medica Mondiale presented research that showed that Kabul hospitals recorded 18 cases of self-immolation in 2005 and 36 this year.
In the western city of Herat, generally agreed to have the highest number of cases, the trend was rising, with cases reported on a daily basis and 60 percent of the women involved, illiterate.
The reasons women and girls resorted to such drastic action included forced marriage, being given to another family to settle a dispute and conflict with in-laws, with some fathers-in-law demanding sex, the report said.
"It is the final decision for women who don't have any other way to solve their problems," Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) head Sima Simar told the meeting.
A 16-year-old survivor named Gulsum told delegates she had set herself alight after being beaten by her drug-addicted husband, a man 25 years older than her, whom her father had made her marry.
"When he did not have access to heroin and narcotics, he tortured me. After midnight he would hit me."
"That night he hit me and hit my head. Blood was coming from my nose. I asked him why he was doing it and he hit me even more."
In an addled state, she poured benzine on herself and lit a flame.
Now undergoing a series of operations, Gulsum has divorced the man, a rare step in patriarchal and conservative Afghanistan, where divorce is taboo and custody of children mostly goes to the husband.
Between 60 and 80 percent of marriages in Afghanistan are forced, according to the AIHRC.
And although the legal age for marriage is 18, around 57 percent of girls are married before 16, according to official statistics cited by the United Nations.
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AFP 141355 GMT 11 06
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