AI calls Taliban actions against women in Afghanistan ‘stifling repression’

The women and girls in Afghanistan They are subjected to a “stifling repression” that destroys their lives since the Taliban took control of the country almost a year ago, the organization denounced this Wednesday. International Amnesty (AI).

the taliban “they are devastating the lives of the women and girls of Afghanistan with the repression of their human rights”, by depriving them of education, work and free movement on the streets, AI said in a report titled “Death in slow motion: women and girls under Taliban control”.

The organization details in the document the deterioration of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, where they face cases of sexist violence, detentions due to oppressive and discriminatory norms, the closure of schools or the possibility of working, in addition to forced marriages to very young ages.

“Less than a year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, their draconian policies have deprived millions of women and girls of their right to a safe, free and fulfilling life”remarked the general secretary of AI, Agnès Callamard.

Despite the fact that the Islamists promised to respect the rights of women, always under the sharia or Islamic law, the repression has been gaining ground against Afghan women, who have been harassed and subjected to “Abuses, arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced disappearances, and physical and psychological torture” for taking to the streets to protest for their rights, the letter indicates.

Women arrested at demonstrations, according to AI, “They did not have access to adequate food, water, ventilation, hygiene products and medical attention” and in order to obtain their freedom they were forced “to sign an agreement in which they promised not to protest again and not to speak in public about their experiences in detention, neither they nor their relatives”.

According to the organization, more and more women and girls are admitted to a detention center for discriminatory offenses such as leaving the house without the accompaniment of a mahram (male family member) or going down the street with a man who does not belong. to your family environment.

EARLY MARRIAGES DUE TO POVERTY AND LACK OF EDUCATION

AI also detected an increase in early and forced marriages, blamed on the severe humanitarian and economic crisis that plagues the country after the fundamentalists came to power and the lack of perspective for the future of young women, who since the return to power of the Taliban have not returned to sit on the desks of secondary schools.

In the university field, “The Taliban’s harassment of female students – as well as restrictions placed on their behaviour, dress and opportunities – has created a dangerous environment in which female students are systematically disadvantaged,” causing many to abandon their studies, the organization stressed.

Faced with this situation, the report urges the international community to take action and impose sanctions to pressure the Taliban to account. “for the treatment they inflict on women and girls without harming the Afghan population.”

“If the international community does not act, it will be abandoning the women and girls of Afghanistan and undermining human rights around the world”Callamard said.