Violence against women
UN News, Taliban’s draconian violations against women may amount to crimes against humanity, 25 November 2022 “”Confining women to their homes is tantamount to imprisonment and is likely leading to increased levels of domestic violence and mental health challenges” […]
At the same time, Taliban officers have been brutally beating men accompanying women wearing colourful clothing, or without a face covering. Moreover, they are removing women and girls’ agency by punishing male relatives for the purported offences of women – instrumentalizing one gender against the other by encouraging men to control the behaviour, attire and movement of women and girls in their circles. “We are deeply concerned that such actions are intended to compel men and boys to punish women and girls who resist the Taliban’s erasure of them, further depriving them of their rights, and normalizing violence against them”, the statement underscored.”
Amnesty International, Afghanistan: Taliban’s cruel return to hardline practices with public floggings must be halted immediately, 24 November 2022
“On Sunday 14 November, the Taliban Supreme leader gave an obligatory order for full implementation of sharia law in Afghanistan. Since then, the Taliban have carried out several public floggings on women and men accusing them of adultery, theft, same-sex sexual conduct or kidnapping, in different provinces in Afghanistan. This interpretation of Islamic law includes public executions, public amputations and stoning – which were carried out during the Taliban’s first rule that ended in late 2001. As the Taliban captured power in August 2021, they promised a more moderate rule in the country including respect to women’s rights. Amnesty International has documented the Taliban’s continued escalation of human rights violations and abuses since they took control of Afghanistan in August 2021. This includes extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances, repression of women and girls, and censorship on media and other restrictions of freedom of expression.”
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), End all forms of gender-based violence in Afghanistan, 24 November 2022
“Since the summer of 2021, women in Afghanistan have had many of their most fundamental rights restricted or rescinded in a country that has one of the highest rates of violence against women globally. Afghan women have also experienced a marked deterioration in access to coordinated, comprehensive and quality services for survivors of gender-based violence. At the same time, the demand for those services is higher than ever before.
““The fundamental rights of Afghan women need to be protected and concrete steps need to be taken for an enabling environment which is free from all forms of violence,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. “Protecting the rights of women is a crucial factor for stability, prosperity and any lasting peace in Afghanistan” said Otunbayeva, who is also head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
“The situation is exacerbated by a dire humanitarian and economic crisis, and the restrictions on women’s fundamental rights, including the freedom to move, work, seek education, and participate in public life. These factors have combined to reinforce some traditional social norms that condone the use of violence as a form of discipline and control, creating an environment where violence against women and girls is normalized.”
Human Rights Watch, “No One Asked Me Why I Left Afghanistan”, 18 November 2022
“Under Taliban rule, women and girls are facing systematic and widespread violations of their rights including the right to access education and employment, freedom of speech, association, and expression, and the right to live free from violence. The Taliban have systematically dismantled the system in Afghanistan that had been developed to assist women and girls experiencing gender-based violence. The UN Special Rapporteur’s September 2022 report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover said that he was “gravely concerned about the high levels of violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, the collapse of mechanisms for victims to seek protection, support and accountability, and the use of the informal justice system to deal with such cases.”
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 5-11 November 2022, 16 November 2022
“Taliban forces also continued to target women and girls last week. In Takhar, Taliban forces reportedly lashed 16 girls and boys due to the girls allegedly not following the required dress code and the boys accompanying them. In Sholgara district in Balkh Province, the district head of Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice killed a girl over her apparent refusal to marry him.”
Pajhwok Afghan News, Woman body recovered in Paktia capital Gardez, 13 November 2022
“KABUL (Pajhwok): The beheaded body of a woman has been found in Gardez, the capital of southeastern Paktia province, an official said on Sunday.”
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 29 October-4 November 2022, 10 November 2022
“[O]ngoing Taliban restrictions targeting the education of women and girls triggered several demonstrations last week. In Kabul city, women gathered to protest the Taliban’s school ban for girls above sixth grade, which has been in place for over 400 days (TOLO News, 29 October 2022). In Badakhshan province, the Taliban reportedly attacked a group of female students entering a university in Faiz Abad city because they were not fully covering their faces. Following the incident, women held a protest to condemn the Taliban. The Taliban dispersed the demonstrations and arrested some demonstrating students. ACLED records an uptick in demonstrations featuring women since an unidentified militant killed dozens of Hazara school girls during a suicide bombing in Kabul on 30 September.”
HRW, Afghanistan: Women Protesters Detail Taliban Abuse, 20 October 2022
“Three Afghan women detained for protesting Taliban abuses described torture and other severe mistreatment in custody, Human Rights Watch said today. The women said they were wrongfully detained with their families, including small children. They experienced threats, beatings, dangerous conditions of confinement, denial of due process, abusive conditions of release, and other abuses. The authorities assaulted and administered electric shocks to detained male relatives. The women’s description of their experiences sheds light on the Taliban’s treatment of women protesters in custody and the Taliban’s efforts to silence the protest movement.”
ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE, US Government, Announcement of Visa Restrictions in Response to the Repression of Women and Girls in Afghanistan, 11 October 2022
“Today I am announcing a visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to restrict the issuance of visas for current or former Taliban members, members of non-state security groups, and other individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, repressing women and girls in Afghanistan through restrictive policies and violence. This includes discontinuing and/or restricting access to secondary or higher education for girls and women; preventing women’s full participation in the workforce and their ability to choose their careers; restricting women’s movement, expression, or privacy; as well as engaging in violence and harassment including unjust arrest and detention of women, girls, or their family members for noncompliance with discriminatory policies. Immediate family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions.
Despite public assurances that it would respect the human rights of all Afghans, the Taliban has issued and enforced a series of policies or edicts that effectively bar women and girls in Afghanistan from full participation in public life, including access to secondary education and work in most industries. As a grim example, for more than a year, Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are systemically barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade, with no return date in sight. We call on other governments to join us in taking similar actions and to continue to underscore a collective message that only a government in Afghanistan that represents all its people and protects and promotes the human rights of every individual could be considered legitimate. The United States strongly supports the Afghan people and remains committed to doing all we can to protect and promote the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Afghans, including women and girls.”
Amnesty International, The denial of human rights to women and girls by the Taliban is an attempt to erase them from Afghan society, 5 October 2022
“Since the return of the Taliban to Kabul in August 2021, the Taliban’s systematic attacks on the rights of women and girls and the use of violence, including torture and other ill-treatment, and enforced disappearances, have created a culture of fear, and threatens to completely erase women and girls from public life in Afghan society. Despite their initial promise to respect women’s rights within the Islamic framework,1 women and girls’ rights have been under attack in deeply intertwined ways while they have also borne much of the burden of an ongoing economic crisis. These attacks on the rights of women and girls to education, work, free movement and peaceful assembly, and the enforced disappearances, and torture and other ill-treatment of women protestors and other rights violations have severely restricted the ability of women and girls to act freely in political, social and economic spheres.”
EUAA, Mobility Trends Report: Afghan Nationals in Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia, 28 September 2022 "UNAMA record at least 87 reports of murder, rape, suicide, forced marriage (including child marriage) and assault against women and girls in the year since the Taliban takeover, noting that none of these cases have been processed through a formal justice system. 48 Many of these cases have instead been resolved using traditional methods of dispute resolution. In recent months both women and men are reported to have received punishments for violating moral codes, including corporal punishment, forced marriage between the victim and perpetrator following sexual offences, and extrajudicial killings."
ACLED, Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 13 August-9 September 2022, 15 September 2022
“[…] Additionally, over the past month, the Taliban arbitrarily detained former security members and journalists and attacked women for not covering their hair or for traveling without male company. The alleged rape and forced marriage of a woman by a Taliban official triggered protests in Kabul and Parwan provinces. Women also continued to protest Taliban policies with demonstrations marking the first anniversary of the Taliban regime on 15 August. While most protests were held indoors, an outdoor protest in Kabul was met with the violent intervention of Taliban forces, leaving many protesting women and journalists injured.”
Gandhara, UN Calls On Taliban To Probe Allegations Of Forced Marriage, Rape Against Key Member, 3 September 2022
“Since August 30, videos of a young woman have been circulating on social media in which she introduces herself as Elaha Delawazai, the daughter of a retired Afghan general and a medical student at Kabul University.”
“She accuses former Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Saeed Khosty of forcibly marrying, torturing, and raping her. Footage also show photos of Delawazai with bruises on her face and around her eyes. It’s not clear when and where the video was recorded.”
Pajhwok, Casualties in Afghanistan down by 73pc last week, 28 August 2022
“Casualties
Fifteen individuals were killed and seven others injured in different violent incidents in the country last week. Three civilians and an individual carrying explosives were killed in a blast in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province. Two robbers were killed during an exchange of fire with security forces last week, according to reports.In Badghis, a man killed his neighbour before the murderer was gunned down during an exchange of fire with security forces.
Security force killed two robbers in Kabul during a clash, says a report. In Faryab, a man killed his sister along with her lover over their alleged illicit relationship. In Farah, a woman killed his father-in-law and in Badghis another woman shot dead her husband. During investigations, the woman insisted she had killed her hausband unintentionally.
According to reports, a woman axed her neice to death and wounded her husband. A militant commander was killed in Samangan while two people were gunned down in Paktia over a land dispute.
Reports said Iranian security forced killed an Afghan on the border between the two nations.The casualty figures were obtained from reports available to Pajhwok Afghan News. However, there is a possibility of reports regarding some violent incidents being missed or sources not providing exact casualty figures.”
Human Rights Watch, #JusticeForElaha Takes on Taliban Violence against Women, 1 September 2022
““After publishing this video, it’s possible that no one will see me again, I might die,” said Elaha Dilawarzai, an Afghan medical student, in a video that surfaced on social media on August 30. “It’s better to die once than to die a thousand times.” In the video, Elaha says her father worked for the previous Afghan government’s intelligence service, which operated against the Taliban. Earlier this year, she says, a man named Qari Saeed, then a Taliban Ministry of Interior Affairs spokesperson, forced her into marriage. “He was raping me every night,” she says, crying. “Every night he would beat and torture me.” She also alleges that he filmed her, implying during sexual acts, and threatened to release the videos.
Khosty denied the allegations, saying he and Elaha have divorced and accused her of “insulting religious beliefs and practices and the Holy Quran.” He apologized – not to Elaha – but to the Taliban, for marrying without permission. On August 31, a Twitter account purporting to be the Taliban’s Kabul courts wrote that Elaha had been arrested on charges of defaming Khosty.
It would be no surprise for a Taliban official to feel free to inflict forced marriage, rape, assault, nonconsensual filming, and blackmail. The question is how many such cases go unheard. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, they systematically dismantled structures to combat violence against women and girls. These include shelters, legal assistance programs, and specialized prosecution units and courts tasked with enforcing the country’s 2009 Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women. All of that is gone now. Journalist Ruchi Kumar corroborated facts about Elaha’s case and said Taliban officials have similarly targeted female relatives of other former government officials with violence to punish their male family members.
Elaha’s video prompted the #JusticeForElaha campaign, again illustrating how women and girls in Afghanistan are using social media to tell the world about Taliban abuses. While women’s rights activists are documenting their protests, one woman, Tamana Paryani, filmed Taliban members breaking into her home to abduct her during a crackdown on protesters.
Afghan women are fighting back against Taliban rights violations with extraordinary courage, using every tool at their disposal. But the world needs to do more to stand beside them. Diplomats in Kabul should urgently inquire about Elaha’s whereabouts and well-being. Countries on the United Nations Human Rights Council should create much greater capacity by independent, expert human rights monitors, in addition to the small team currently supporting the special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, to investigate, report on, and ensure accountability for violations. Then we might know how many Elahas there are.”
Khaama Press, Running Away from Home: Taliban Arrests Three Girls in Western Afghanistan, 23 August 22
“Three young girls have reportedly been arrested by Herat policewomen for the crime of home escape, according to local Taliban authorities in the western Afghan province of Herat. These three girls were reportedly taken into custody from the 6th district of Herat city, the provincial capital, according to the Taliban government’s office of the chief of police in Herat. The case concerning the three young girls has reportedly been brought before the appropriate judicial agencies and authorities in Herat for consideration. The Herat police chief’s office, however, provided no further information regarding the reasons why the three girls left their homes. A boy and a girl from the fifth district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan were earlier arrested by Taliban security officers on grounds of running away from home. Afghan women have been subjected to forced marriages and domestic
violence, and Human Rights Watch reports that up to 70% of cases of “running away” from home are related to fleeing forced marriage or domestic violence.”
Khaama Press, Brother Kills Sister, 19, in Northern Afghanistan by Shooting Her with Father’s Gun. 20 August 2022 “Using his father’s gun at home, an 11-year-old boy shot and killed his 19-year-old sister, according to local Taliban authorities in the northern Faryab province of Afghanistan. The incident, according to the Taliban officials, took place on Friday, August 19, at the Khwaja Khwab Mosque area of the Andkhoy district of the Faryab province. Local sources confirmed that this 11-year-old boy used his father’s gun, an Ak-47 (Kalashnikov) to shoot at his 19-year- old sister, who was killed when the bullet struck her in the head. These sources state that the findings of their preliminary inquiries suggest that someone else is responsible for the murder, not the 11-year-old boy who
materialized the act. […] Since the Taliban took control, domestic violence has worsened, and Afghanistan is currently seeing its highest rates of unemployment, and poverty. As a result, the number of homicides, suicides, and interpersonal conflicts has increased.”
Center for Strategic & International Studies, New Century, Old Taliban, 18 August 2022
“In December 2021, the Taliban forbade women from going to healthcare appointments without a male relative, and prohibited taxi drivers from picking up unveiled women or driving any unaccompanied woman farther than 78 kilometers. Though the Taliban had promised to reopen girls’ schools in March, when the deadline came,
they reneged on their promise and, within days, imposed even more restrictions on women, including banning unchaperoned air travel and sex-segregating public parks. In May 2022, the Taliban officially announced that all women must wear head-to-toe coverings when in public and “encouraged” Afghan women not to leave home at all—formalizing a stance they had taken since the capture of Kabul in September 2021. The Taliban have
also closed shelters for victims of domestic violence and trafficking, and harassed and disappeared civil society actors involved in that work, even going so far as to punish domestic violence and trafficking victims for
committing “moral crimes.” Given that 9 out of 10 Afghan women report experiencing at least one form of
intimate partner violence in their lifetime, these changes are particularly devastating”
Amnesty, The Rule of Taliban: A Year of Violence, Impunity and False Promises, 15 August 2022
“This is often the case, women and girls are disproportionately affected by the dire economic and humanitarian situation. There are thousands of women who were the sole breadwinners for their families. Some of these women are widows who have been providing support to their children and elderly in-laws and parents. These women are facing a dire financial situation for losing their income.”
“In addition to domestic abuse, women are at at a heightened risk of of sexual and genderbased violence from the Taliban soldiers or local communities if they seek to exercise their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Dozens of women have been arrested and tortured for holding peaceful rallies
demanding their rights.”
“Women have also been subjected to violence by the Taliban as a way of punishing their family members. On 27 June 2022, the Taliban attacked and killed a 22-year-old woman named Lida who was eight months pregnant, along with her two children, aged two and four. Lida was attacked in district four of Qala Naw city, Badghis province, in an apparent act of retaliation against her husband, who was a military officer under the previous
regime”
“Peaceful women protesters are routinely insulted and beaten by Taliban soldiers, while many women attending such gatherings have been arbitrarily detained. Journalists covering the protests also frequently face beatings and arrests.”
Inter Press Service News Agency, Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Wiped out Under the Taliban, 15 August 2022 “In the year that has passed since the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan we have seen daily and continuous deterioration in the situation of Afghan women and girls. This has spanned every aspect of their human rights, from living standards to social and political status. It has been a year of increasing disrespect for their right to live free and equal lives, denying them opportunity to livelihoods, access to health care and education, and escape
from situations of violence…It is the only country in the world where girls are banned from going to high school. There are no women in the Taliban’s cabinet, no Ministry of Women’s Affairs, thereby effectively removing women’s right to political participation. Women are, for the most part, also restricted from working outside the home, and are required to cover their faces in public and to have a male chaperone when they travel.
Furthermore, they continue to be subjected to multiple forms of Gender Based Violence. This deliberate slew of measures of discrimination against Afghanistan’s women and girls is also a terrible act of self-sabotage for a country experiencing huge challenges including from climate-related and natural disasters to exposure to global economic headwinds that leave some 25 million Afghan people in poverty and many hungry.”
Khaama Press (Afghan News Agency), UN Special Rapporteur Condemns Violent Suppression of Afghan Women’s ‘Peaceful’ Protest, 14 August 2022
“In response to the Taliban forces’ suppression of women’s protest on Saturday, August 13, UN official, Bennett,
tweeted that the Taliban’s excessive use of force and mistreatment against women’s “peaceful” demonstration in
Kabul is a breach of their right to freedom of assembly and association. He publicly condemned the Taliban’s actions and stated that they had disrupted peaceful assembly by firing rifle bullets, inducing “intimidation, harassment,” and other methods. The Taliban reportedly arrested some journalists and protesting women while
suppressing the women’s march in Kabul that shouted the slogans “bread, work, and freedom.”…According to the UN experts, there have been stringent restrictions on access to information, which has hampered journalistic freedom. In order to avoid being recognized, journalists, civil rights activists, and human rights activists have either left the country or stopped all of their activities.”
Deutsche Welle, Fact check: Have the Taliban kept their promises?, 11 August 2022
“Women must cover themselves from head to toe in public. If a woman doesn't cover her face outside the home, her father or closest male relative could be imprisoned or fired from government jobs. Women can't board planes without a male guardian, who has to be her husband or a close male relative past puberty. Entry to public parks in Afghanistan is limited by gender. Three days are reserved for women, four for men. However, according to a decree, it is strongly recommended that women leave home only when necessary… The Taliban have also restricted access to work in certain sectors, as outlined in a report by Amnesty International. "Most female government employees have been told to stay at home, with the exception of those working in certain sectors such as health and education," the report said. "The Taliban's policy appears to be that they will only allow women who cannot be replaced by men to keep working." Many women in high-level positions, even in the private sector, have been dismissed… Women who have protested against the Taliban's restrictions and policies have been harassed, threatened, arrested and even tortured, said Amnesty International.”
The Guardian, ‘They beat girls just for smiling’: life in Afghanistan one year after the Taliban’s return, 7 August 2022
“Maryam is near the top of her sixth grade class in Kabul, which under Taliban rule means that her education should be ending in a few months. But the 10-year-old, whose name we have changed to protect her identity, has a strategy to stay in school for another year, and her eyes dance with satisfaction as she explains her plan. “I will make sure I don’t answer too many questions right. I have decided to fail, so I can study sixth grade again.” […] Women face harsher restrictions here than anywhere else in the world, barred from secondary education and most work outside healthcare and education. They are forced to be accompanied by a male guardian for all but short journeys and required to cover their faces in public. Restrictions are enforced intermittently but, particularly for poorer and more vulnerable women including those without a guardian, the fear of enforcement alone can be crippling. “Three times now I’ve seen women being beaten in the market by Taliban. Some were wearing trousers they thought were too tight, you should have seen how broken they were afterwards,” said Farkhunda, 16, who had to stop school in September and has been battling depression. “Another time they beat girls just for smiling and talking too loud. It’s a natural thing to chat about dresses you are buying and things,” she said.” She doesn’t have Taliban-regulation long, black abaya and the family can’t afford to buy one. “Since then I’ve even stopped going to study at the madrassa [religious school], it’s better to be at home than run into these animals,” she said.”
TOLO News, Accused Men, Women Publically Whipped in Zabul, 7 August 2022
“Information and Culture department head Rahmatullah Hamad said that in Zabul two women and one man were publically whipped for committing adultery and another two men were whipped for robbery. Earlier, the leader of the Islamic Emirate, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, said that all previous laws will be considered null, and Sharia law will be implemented in the country. Dozens of locals gathered to watch the public punishment.”
The Khaama Press News Agency,Badghis Woman Murdered Mysteriously by Unknown Men, 2 August 2022
“Due to a sharp surge in family violence and interpersonal animosity, the number of reports of domestic violence and violence against women that resulted in homicides has substantially increased.” “Over 100 women and girls are alleged to have been killed, abducted, or committed suicide in the last six months, according to a report by the Afghanistan International news channel.”
The Khaama Press News Agency,Young Man Kills Self in Central Afghanistan Under the Pressure of Domestic Violence, 2 August 2022
“In the central Afghan province of Ghor, a young man allegedly killed himself with a pistol as a result of family violence, according to local Taliban security authorities.”
“Afghanistan is in the midst of the “worst humanitarian crisis” since the Taliban came to power and is at its worst in terms of poverty, unemployment, and hunger, all of which have a direct or indirect impact on the crime rate.” “Domestic violence, personal animosity, and family blood feuds have increased recently, leading to more suicides, homicides, target killings, and honor killings.”
The Khaama Press News Agency,Badghis Woman Murdered Mysteriously by Unknown Men, 2 August 2022 “Unidentified individuals mysteriously killed a woman in Badghis province, in northwestern Afghanistan, said Taliban local security officials.”
“Earlier, another woman was mysteriously murdered in Badghis province’s Qala-e-Naw district, which is the provincial capital, in late June.”
“Despite the Taliban’s claims that security is in place, unexplained, mysterious murders and other crimes continue in several provinces across Afghanistan.”
The Khaama Press News Agency, Man Brutally Kills Wife in Eastern Afghanistan, 1 August 2022
“The number of reports of domestic violence resulting in homicides has dramatically increased due to a large rise n family violence and personal animosity.” “In the past six months, over 100 women and girls are said to have been killed, kidnapped, or committed suicide, according to a report by the Afghanistan International news channel.”
Deutsche Well, Afghan women report beatings, abuse under Taliban, 27 July 2022
“The Taliban have ‘decimated’ the rights of Afghan women and girls since they returned to power in Afghanistan almost a year ago, an Amnesty International report said on Wednesday. This includes rights to education, work and free movement which have been severely curtailed under the draconian rules of the regime. ‘Every daily detail — whether they go to school, if and how they work, if and how they leave the house — is controlled and heavily restricted. This suffocating crackdown against Afghanistan’s female population is increasing day-by-day,’ said
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. The report titled ‘Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls Under Taliban Rule’ interviewed more than a hundred Afghan women and girls and revealed that those who protested against the restrictions were ‘threatened, arrested, detained, tortured, and forcibly disappeared.’”
“Women are also being arbitrarily detained and tortured for crimes such as appearing in public with a man who does not qualify as "mahram" - a male chaperone. Survivors of domestic and gender-based violence have said that they are being sent to prisons, instead of shelters, which do not exist. Here, the women are ‘subjected to solitary confinement, beatings and other forms of torture, and forced to endure inhumane conditions.’”“Under the Taliban regime, the number of child marriages have surged.”
Amnesty International (Afghanistan), Afghanistan: Death in slow motion: Women and girls under Taliban rule, 27 July 2022
"As the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the network of support for gender-based violence survivors – including legal representation, medical treatment and psychosocial support – collapsed. Shelters were closed, and many were looted and appropriated by Taliban members. In some cases, Taliban members harassed or threatened staff. As shelters closed, staff were forced to send many women and girl survivors back to their families. Other survivors were forced to live with shelter staff members, on the street or in other unsustainable situations…As the Taliban advanced across the country, they also systematically released thousands of detainees from prisons, many of whom had been convicted of gender-based violence offenses. Habiba, the service provider from Daikundi province, told Amnesty International: “There were 353 prisoners [in the prison in Daikundi], and almost 100 of them were perpetrators of gender-based violence… When the Taliban took over, they opened the door to the prison, and the prisoners just ran out."
"Three gender-based violence survivors told Amnesty International that because of the collapse of accountability mechanisms that formerly existed, such as specialized prosecution units and courts, as well as the societal dynamics that shifted with the Taliban’s takeover, their children were at risk of being forcibly taken from them by husbands they had separated from or divorced."
"No reliable data currently exists on whether the rates of gender-based violence in Afghanistan have increased after the Taliban’s takeover. However, factors such as increased rates of unemployment and poverty, women’s and girls’ confinement within their homes due to the restrictions on movement and clothing discussed above, and the lack of the accountability mechanisms that formerly existed are all likely to increase the prevalence of gender-based violence within the country."
Khaama Press, Girl, 15, Killed by Unknown Armed Men in Northern Afghanistan, 24 July 2022
“According to the sources, the armed men killed a young girl after breaking into a house in the Kohistan district of Faryab province on Saturday night, July 23. On the other hand, the provincial Taliban officials have not yet spoken on the matter.
While the Taliban has taken no action to combat these crimes, reports of armed attacks by armed people have recently escalated, with women being the primary victims. Earlier this month, an unidentified man stabbed a 50-year-old woman to death in her own home in the central Afghan province of Kapisa. In Kandahar Province’s Ayno Mina city, a man allegedly shot his ex-wife, killing two men and a woman.
Over 100 women and girls have reportedly been killed, abducted, or committed suicide in the previous six months, according to a report by the Afghanistan International news channel. In recent months, there has been an upsurge in domestic violence, personal enmity, and family blood feuds, which have resulted in homicides, target killings, and honor killings.”
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) (Afghanistan), UN Human Rights Council: Urgent debate on women and girls' rights in Afghanistan, 1 July 2022
"The Taliban have carried out a full-on assault on the rights of women and girls, including their rights to freedom of movement, expression, work, and education. Peaceful protests by brave Afghan women demanding their rights have been violently repressed in some cases. Many reports have emerged of Taliban’s threats, intimidation, restrictions, arrests, forced confessions, abductions, and end forced disappearances targeting women. In March this year, girls’ rights to education was indefinitely put on hold. In May, women were ordered not to leave their homes unless their heads and faces were covered by a full veil."
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) (Afghanistan) Humanitarian Response (Afghanistan), Afghanistan: Emergency Earthquake Response Plan (Jul - Sep 2022), 30 June 2022 "Sudden onset disasters affect women, girls and other vulnerable groups in terms of vulnerabilities and exposure to violence including physical injury and through compromised dignity. Decreased access to lifesaving protection and GBV services for women and girls is also expected. Exacerbated/ increased risk of GBV, and exacerbated risk of negative coping strategies are also high amidst such shocks."
Khaama Press (Afghan News Agency), Teenage Girl in Northeast Afghanistan Shoots Herself to Death, 29 June 2022
"Despite the fact that there have previously been many instances of violence against women and female homicide in Afghan society, reports suggest that suicide among Afghan women has increased significantly recently.Male suicides outnumber female suicides globally, however in Afghanistan, it is estimated that women attempt suicide at a rate of 80%, according to a report by BBC.
And violence against women is a common occurrence. According to statistics from the United Nations Population Fund, 62% of Afghan women have endured various forms of abuse, and 87% of women have experienced at least one form of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse."
The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre Land info, Country info response Afghanistan: the situation for Afghan women after Taliban takeover, 22 June 2022
"Research leader at Christian Michelsen's Institute, Torunn Wimpelmann, writes in a column in May 2022 that the Taliban's women policy is soon as extreme as it was in the 90s (Wimpelmann 2022). There are credible reports that women who protesting and demonstrating against politics, being abducted and arrested, or that they arrested in their own homes (United Nations 2022)."
"The shelters for abused women were closed down shortly after the takeover because they were considered to be Un-Islamic (Afghan source, conversation in Islamabad March 2022)."
Gandhara, Taliban's Burqa Decree Exposes Afghan Women To Increasing Domestic Abuse, 26 May 2022
“The Taliban ordered all women to cover their faces when in public earlier this month, urging women not to leave their homes altogether if possible. The militant group said punishments, including arrest or even jail time, would be imposed not on women but their male family members instead.”
Deutsche Welle, Afghan women athletes: prisoners in their own homes, 25 April 2022
“These women continue to hide in their homes, "waiting, in a sense, for the Taliban to knock on the door and arrest them," Rezayee says. "The Taliban have sent them threatening letters. They've been intimidate and they can't go outside."
Judoka Amira describes the athletes' dramatic situation this way, "We don't need a prison for women in Afghanistan. Our houses have become prisons for us." Afghanistan, says Mina (name changed), another judoka who remained in the country, "has become a fatherless country where violent children have the power to do whatever they want with women and girls." The Taliban have not yet officially banned women's sports by law.”
UNOHCHR (Afghanistan news), Afghanistan: UN experts call on US Government to unblock foreign assets of central bank to ease humanitarian impact, 25 April 2022
“Alarmed by the critical humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, UN human rights experts call on the Government of the United States to unblock the foreign assets of Da Afghanistan Bank of more than US $7 billion to enable the unimpeded provision of humanitarian assistance to cover the basic needs of tens of millions of people in the country. They issue the following statement:
We are gravely concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which puts at serious risk the lives of more than half of the country’s population, with disproportionate impact on women and children. While gender-based violence has been a long-standing and severe threat to women and girls, it has been exacerbated by the measures imposed by the US, together with the drought and widening gender-based discrimination adopted by the de facto authorities.”
Human Rights Watch (Afghanistan), Afghanistan: Herat Women’s Prison Head Missing 6 Months, 20 April 2022
“The women’s prison director in Herat, Afghanistan has been missing since October 2021 and is feared to have been forcibly disappeared, Human Rights Watch said today. Alia Azizi had worked under the former government but returned to her job after the Taliban took over Herat in August.”
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) (Afghanistan), Tracking Disorder During Taliban Rule in Afghanistan, 14 April 2022
“Since the Taliban seized power, there have been fears that political violence targeting women and girls will increase under Taliban rule given the Taliban’s traditional position on the rights of women and girls. The strict interpretation of Islamic Law adopted by the Taliban heightens the risk of political violence targeting women and girls. After the Taliban takeover, many demonstrations in support of women’s rights – including the right of girls to go to school – and against the Taliban government have been held. ACLED records over 80 demonstrations featuring women since the Taliban takeover in comparison with only three recorded in 2021 prior to the Taliban takeover.
Many women activists have been targeted specifically for their participation in these demonstrations. For example, on 18 January 2022, a woman civil society activist was killed by unknown gunmen near her house in Mazar-e-Sharif city, Balkh, after protesting against the Taliban government with other women in recent months. The following day, Taliban intelligence forces raided the houses of several women’s rights activists in Kabul after they participated in demonstrations in support of women’s rights and against women being forced to wear the hijab.
While in detention, the women were abused, with at least one woman seriously beaten (Baaghi TV, 20 January 2022).
Despite the Taliban’s efforts to quell demonstrations for women’s rights, many women have adapted their protests to the repressive environment. To avoid being targeted by the Taliban, women have organized demonstrations which disperse quickly and have taken precautions to ensure the activist networks used to organize such demonstrations are not infiltrated by Taliban informants (France24, 9 February 2022). Women have also taken to staging demonstrations in private spaces, such as their homes. These indoor demonstrations involve women holding signs with protest slogans while they give speeches that are recorded and shared with the media (Gandhara, 8 December 2021). ACLED records over 20 indoor demonstrations since the first one was reported in late November 2021.”
US DOS, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Afghanistan, 12 April 2022
“Women in IDP sites reported high levels of domestic violence. […] Protection concerns were increasingly reported to humanitarian partners, with growing protection needs for persons with disabilities, the elderly, female-headed households, and sexual and gender minorities. […] Prior to August 15, in the Taliban-controlled areas of the country many women and girls could not decide whom they would marry or at what age, or object to beatings by their husbands. In Jowzjan’s Darzab district, a Taliban commander raped and killed a 16-year-old girl when the family refused to allow her to marry a Taliban fighter. […] On August 13, the Taliban entered Herat, seizing government offices and the police station. A Taliban fighter reportedly threatened to kill a widowed mother of five if she did not marry him, and she was forced to do so in September with the consent of a mullah. She has said that her life is a nightmare and “it is like he is raping me every night.”
UNHCR, Afghanistan Situation Regional Refugee Response Plan - 2021 Final Report, 31 March 2022
“The closure of many women’s protection shelters has also left women at risk while justice system mechanisms established to deal with cases of gender-based violence are largely non-functional.”
UNFPA, Afghanistan Humanitarian Appeal 2022, 14 March 2022
“It is estimated that 1 in 2 women experience gender-based violence and this is anticipated to increase under the de facto administration.”
OHCHR, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet visits Kabul, Afghanistan, 11 March 2022
“While the women protesters and their family members who were arbitrarily arrested and detained in January have now been released, their treatment has meant that there are no longer public demonstrations on women’s rights in Afghanistan.”
UN, Women must be given space to lead if Afghanistan is to find peace: Bachelet, 10 March 2022
“Afghan women have been threatened and attacked for speaking up, and excluded from positions of power. [...]Women should be visibly represented in the police force, courts of law, Government and the private sector – indeed in every sphere of civic and public life. [...] Women’s denial of rights to free movement, work, participation in public life and education, is limiting greater economic development for the country.”
UNHCR, Afghanistan Crisis update: Women and Girls in Displacement, 1 March 2022
“Recent news reports from Afghanistan have raised concerns over safety threats to women and girls, including reports of forced marriages, beating of women protesters and targeting of rights activists, female judges and police; and safety threats are compounded by restrictions on women and girls’ freedom of movement and
education. Furthermore, women and girls may experience violence perpetrated by intimate partners. Even prior to the recent crisis, violence against women was pervasive in Afghanistan. In 2015, an estimated 51 per cent of women in the country had experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. In light of recent events, this figure is expected to have risen. The Afghanistan Protection Cluster6 estimates that as many as 90 per cent of Afghan women may have now experienced gender-based violence, the majority perpetrated by their intimate partner, although no official statistics exist in this regard. Despite the existential threats posed by conflict and the many gender-specific forms of persecution currently taking place in Afghanistan, many Afghan women and girls are not able to leave the country through regular channels. Restrictions on movement and the lack of documentation may pose challenges for women, especially at official border points. Unofficial border points are more remote, lack basic facilities, and often require travellers to employ smugglers, and those conditions put women and girls at further risk of violence. [...] Afghan women and girls living in displacement settings may also be at a heightened risk of GBV, as a result of hostilities with the host community, precarious living arrangements, limited freedom of movement and limited access to protection and redress mechanisms. As highlighted in group discussions conducted by the Afghanistan Protection Cluster, almost 35 per cent of women respondents reported feeling unsafe and 8 per cent noted GBV risks as a specific reason for feeling unsafe. Other reasons cited in focus groups included growing insecurity and presence of armed groups, among others. Within the country, many GBV services have been discontinued and legal documentation is required for accessing the services that remain.”
Gandhara, Detained Women Activists In Afghanistan Apparently Forced to Confess Before Release, 23 February
2022
“On February 21, the Taliban Interior Ministry released a video of several women who said they had been encouraged by foreign-based activists to take to the streets by offering them the chance to relocate or send their children to study abroad. They also said that unlike what they expected from the Taliban, they were not treated harshly by the militants. [...] In the controversial video, a spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry claimed the women regretted their actions. The women, who had been recently encouraged by some intelligence circles to demonstrate against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and chanted slogans against the Islamic regime, were
recently detained by security forces in a house,” said the spokesman, Aqel Azam. "They have confessed to the involvement of foreign intelligence circles, they have expressed regret over their actions, and now their lives have been secured by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." [...] “I am increasingly concerned about the wellbeing of missing women activists in Afghanistan. Several have ‘disappeared’, some not heard from in weeks,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter on February 10. “I strongly urge the Taliban to ensure their safety so that they can return home.””
TOLO News, MoI-Detained Female Protestors in Video Claim Outside Influence, 21 February 2022
“Ten days have passed since 29 women disappeared from a women’s safe house in Kabul, and now the Ministry of Interior Affairs has released a video of a number of them. The women are still detained. Some of the detained women in the video confess that they were encouraged by women abroad to protest against the current Afghan
government. “Nilofar Ayoubi, Mitra Mehran, Atiya Mehraban, Huda Khamoosh and Zahra Mousawi are among the women who are abroad and told us that we should protest against the government of the Islamic Emirate,” said a women who was detained. “On Wednesday, a person named Rahman called us and asked for a code, and by that code they brought us to the safe house,” said a woman on the video. TOLOnews could not reach the women for comment. The Ministry of Interior said that at the moment there is no threat to the detained women’s lives. “The protesting women, who chanted slogans against the Islamic Emirate, were recently detained by the forces of the Islamic Emirate. They admitted in their comments that they were receiving help from abroad and that they regret their actions. At the moment there is no threat to their lives,” said Aqel Azam, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior. Meanwhile, the release of the confessions of these detained women has sparked widespread reactions. “Those women named by the women protestors owe some response to all Afghans especially women activists. I hope you have realized your mistakes. You have put these women's life at RISK. You had no advocacy strategy, security plan & even evacuation plan. Where are these detained women now? Taliban must release them
immediately if not yet released. We need strong guarantees by UNAMA news,” tweeted Samira Hamidi, who according to her Twitter account is an activist from Afghanistan "currently at Amnesty." “The video of the confessions of the detained women is not acceptable for several reasons. First, because these confessions were made under duress and pressure when people are on the verge of death. There is no doubt that human beings struggle to survive, to live and to breathe,” said Monisa Mubariz, co-founder of the Afghan Powerful Women's Movement.”
International Federation for Human Rights, Afghanistan: Six months after takeover, no accountability for Taliban abuses, 15 February 2022
“Despite Taliban pledges to respect basic human rights, the situation in the country has worsened over the past six months, particularly impacting women, journalists, and human rights defenders (HRDs). [...]
Amid an all-out assault on human rights—including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture—HRDs, women’s rights activists, and other civil society actors have been particularly vulnerable to such violations. Despite the risks and a climate of fear on the ground, information concerning human rights violations continues to be collected and reported by HRDs and journalists. Although it is almost impossible to have a comprehensive picture of the human rights situation in the country and to systematically collect data, preliminary figures obtained by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) indicate that at least eight civil society activists and two journalists have been killed since 15 August 2021. In addition, 44 journalists and 10 civil society activists have been arbitrarily detained.”
Gandhara, Four missing female activists reportedly released in Afghanistan, 13 February 2022
“Four female activists in Afghanistan who went missing several weeks ago have been released by the country’s de
facto Taliban authorities, the United Nations said on February 13.
“The four women -- Tamana Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Zahra Mohammadi, and Mursal Ayar -- went missing after attending an anti-Taliban rally in Kabul.
“The Taliban repeatedly denied detaining them.
““After a long period of uncertainty about their whereabouts and safety, the four ‘disappeared’ Afghan women activists, as well as their relatives who also went missing, have all been released by the de facto authorities,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) posted on Twitter.””
The Guardian, Taliban have detained 29 women and their families in Kabul, says US envoy, 12 February 2022
“The Taliban have detained 29 women and their families in Kabul, a senior US diplomat said on Saturday, adding to concerns about rising numbers of people seized and held indefinitely in Afghanistan.
Rina Amiri, US special envoy for Afghan Women, Girls and Human Rights, said that women were among 40 people
seized on Friday. “These unjust detentions must stop,” she said in a tweet.
It has since been deleted, but other sources confirmed that multiple women had been detained in Kabul. The state department did not respond to requests for comment on why it was removed.
“I am increasingly concerned about the wellbeing of missing women activists in Afghanistan. Several have ‘disappeared’, some not heard from in weeks,” António Guterres had said on Twitter on Thursday. “I strongly urge the Taliban to ensure their safety so that they can return home.”
“Every disappearance highlights one of the huge gaps in Afghanistan today, the lack of rule of law,” said Heather
Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch.
“This is not how you act when you are trying to be a government, and it highlights the callousness with which they seem to think they can just abduct women and sloppily deny it.”
There are also concerns about Alia Azizi, a senior prison official who has been missing for more than four months after reporting for work. Several women who worked for the security forces under the previous government have been attacked and killed since the Taliban came to power.”
AVA Press, 4 missing women activists freed: UNAMA, 14 February 2022
“After weeks of disappearance, four women activists have been set free by the Taliban, says the UN mission in Afghanistan.
“After a long period of uncertainty about their whereabouts and safety, the four ‘disappeared’ , as well as their relatives who also went missing, have been released by the de facto authorities.”
Ibrahimkhel was reportedly released on Friday. She had disappeared along with on January 19 after attending a protest in.
AFP reported Mohammadi and Ayar went missing weeks later. Several relatives of the women activists had also
disappeared.”
Humanitarian Response (Afghanistan) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and technical assistance achievements in the field of human rights - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 8 February 2022
“Despite efforts by the Government up to August 2021 to ensure legal protections that facilitated the full enjoyment by women and girls of their fundamental rights and freedoms and their access to justice, significant gaps existed. The gaps remain in the new context.”
BBC News, Afghanistan: Taliban takes another women's rights protester, 3 February 2022
“The Taliban have allegedly taken a woman from her home by force after she participated in protests in the Afghan
capital, Kabul. Mursal Ayar was arrested in the city on Wednesday, a source told the BBC, after she took part in
rallies demanding equal rights for women. Women have been participating in a string of protests which have
attracted international attention. Ms Ayar is believed to be the sixth protester to vanish in recent weeks. […] The UN noted that the Taliban had on Saturday announced an investigation into the women's disappearance but said confirmed information was still lacking. They also said the reports of missing women highlighted "a pattern of arbitrary arrests and detentions", as well as torture and mistreatment of civil rights activists, journalists and former government officials in Afghanistan.”
ToloNews, UN Calls for Investigation Into Missing Female Activists | TOLOnews, 27 January 2022
“The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that “we remain extremely concerned about the fate of several women activists who were abducted from their homes and have disappeared.” She also called on the Islamic Emirate to make an investigation into such cases. Tamana Zaryabi Paryani and Parawana Ibrahimkhel are the two women’s rights activists who went missing last week. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also called for the release of the two female activists. [...]”
Human Rights Watch (Afghanistan), Afghan Women's Rights Activist Forcibly Disappeared, 24 January 2022 “The Taliban’s response to the apparent enforced disappearance of Tamana Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, and other women activists in Afghanistan has laid bare their intent to eradicate critical women’s voices through
unlawful use of force. Taliban leaders have denied arresting the women, heightening concerns for their safety and prompt release. On January 16, Paryani and Ibrahimkhel participated in a protest in Kabul against recent Taliban abuses of women protesters and other restrictions on women. Witnesses said that on the night of January 19,
armed men claiming to be Taliban intelligence broke through the door of Paryani’s home and took her away, along with three of her sisters. Paryani posted a video on social media of the moment before the men broke into her house. Ibrahimkhel was similarly abducted from her home and her whereabouts remain unknown. Since taking over the country on August 15, the Taliban have imposed harsh restrictions on women’s right to work, banned secondary education for girls in most of the country, and beaten peaceful women protesters. Taliban authorities have severely limited what the media can report and have detained and beaten journalists. Taliban forces have forcibly disappeared former government officials. On January 23, during talks in Oslo, Norway, between Taliban authorities and several Western governments, Afghan activist Hoda Khamosh publicly called on the Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to “pick up his phone now and call Kabul [and] order the immediate release” of the detained women. Muttaqi reportedly responded that there were bad people among the Taliban whom the Taliban were expelling and said such elements may have detained the women. He said the situation was under investigation. Taliban authorities previously claimed to have dismissed some of their forces for theft and other crimes, but have been conspicuously silent about killings and enforced disappearances, blaming these instead on “rogue” elements. Taliban denials of the arrests were undermined on January 23 when Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban had the right "to arrest and detain dissidents.” By failing to hold their forces accountable, Taliban leaders are sanctioning such human rights violations against women activists and others.
Arbitrary arrests and disappearances have become the Taliban’s routine method of responding to criticism.”
Operational Data Portal UNHCR (Iran), Afghanistan situation: Emergency preparedness and response in Iran, 23 January 2022
“On 22 January, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called on the Taliban to provide information on the whereabouts and protect rights of two women rights activists, Tamana Zaryab Paryani and Parawana Ibrahimkhel, who disappeared on 19 January from Kabul (Link). The Taliban have denied any involvement in their disappearance. Paryani was among about 25 women who took part in an antiTaliban protest on 16 January against the compulsory Islamic headscarf for women. Similar raids were reported across homes of female protesters in Kabul. Other reports claim that the Taliban’s religious police have threatened to shoot women NGO workers in a north-western province of Afghanistan if they do not wear the allcovering burqa, two staff members told AFP. “The Taliban are intensifying their attacks on the civic space, and more specifically on women
who are pioneers of the civic space,” said Shaharzad Akbar, chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.”
Amnesty International (Afghanistan), Afghanistan: Taliban authorities must reveal Alia Azizi’s whereabouts, 21 January 2022
“The Taliban authorities must urgently investigate the abduction of Alia Azizi, a senior female prison official who has been missing for more than three months after she reported for duty in Herat, and immediately and unconditionally release her if in their custody, Amnesty international said. Alia Azizi, a member of the ethnic
Hazara community and the Head of Herat Women’s Prison, never returned home after going to work on 2 October 2021. Despite several pleas by her family to the Taliban to investigate the case, a veil of secrecy still shrouds her disappearance. “It’s been more than three months since Alia Azizi disappeared and her family still remains completely in the dark about her whereabouts. Her apparent abduction takes place within the context of the Taliban illegally detaining members of the former government, journalists, and assorted critics across the country,” said Zaman Sultani, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher.”
Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Taliban Deprive Women of Livelihoods, Identity, 18 January 2022 “Taliban rule has had a devastating impact on Afghan women and girls, new research shows, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose State University (SJSU) said today. The organizations looked at the conditions for women since the Taliban took control in Ghazni province, in southeastern Afghanistan.
Since taking control of the city of Ghazni on August 12, 2021, days before entering Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, the Taliban have imposed rights-violating policies that have created huge barriers to women’s and girls’ health and education, curtailed freedom of movement, expression, and association, and deprived many of earned income.
Afghanistan’s rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis exacerbates these abuses. [...]
They described spiraling prices for food staples, transportation, and schoolbooks, coupled with an abrupt and often total income loss. Many had been the sole or primary wage earner for their family, but most lost their employment due to Taliban policies restricting women’s access to work. Only those working in primary education or health care were still able to work, and most were not being paid due to the financial crisis.
The Taliban have banned women and girls from secondary and higher education, and altered curricula to focus more on religious studies. They dictate what women must wear, how they should travel, workplace segregation by sex, and even what kind of cell phones women should have. They enforce these rules through intimidation and inspections. [...]
The women said they had acute feelings of insecurity because the Taliban have dismantled the formal police force and the Women’s Affairs Ministry, are extorting money and food from communities, and are targeting for intimidation women they see as enemies, such as those who worked for foreign organizations and the previous Afghan government. Most interviewees cited serious mental health consequences since the Taliban takeover, including fear, anxiety, hopelessness, insomnia, and a deep sense of loss and helplessness. [...]
“We don’t leave our home much,” a government worker said. “When we leave, we leave with a mahram. Some things like sanitary pads must be purchased by women themselves, but it’s hard to do it with a man accompanying us. …Women can’t take transport, they either must go out with a mahram or walk. They should walk with burqa, no heels, no makeup.” [...]
A government worker said the Taliban told male shopkeepers and tailors that they may no longer interact with women, and women had been told they should sew their own clothing rather than go to a male tailor. The new rules for dress and conduct – including that woman should not socialize outside their houses – were sent in writing to the mosques, an interviewee said.”
OHCHR, Afghanistan: Taliban attempting to steadily erase women and girls from public life – UN experts, 17 January 2022
“GENEVA (17 January 2022) – Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalizing large scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls, a group of UN human rights experts* said today. [...]
The experts also noted the increased risk of exploitation of women and girls including of trafficking for the
purposes of child and forced marriage as well as sexual exploitation and forced labor.”
VOA, Former Afghan female soldier: ‘I am so afraid’ under Taliban, 31 December 2021
“Afghan women who served in the country's military are speaking out about how their life has changed under the
Taliban.
"I feel like I am in prison," said Jamila, 28, a former Afghan military officer in the western city of Herat. "I have to be at home. I can't work or go out. I am so afraid."
More than 6,300 women served in the former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). Now they face not only threats to their life as former members of the military but also the Taliban's imposed restrictions on their gender.
Human Rights Watch and the United Nations accused the Taliban in November of the summary killing of more than 100 former Afghan security officials despite the group's promise of general amnesty.
Jamila served for 10 years in the 207th Zafar (Victory) Corps of the Afghan National Army, headquartered in Herat province. She says she now hears news every day of someone else who was killed or disappeared.
"I fear that they (the Taliban) might find me and kill me," she said.”
Republic World, Female Journalist Describes Harrowing Details Of Life On The Run In Afghanistan: Report, 15 December 2021.
“As Taliban troops seized control of Kabul, women journalists were increasingly instructed to stay at home, harassed, banned from going on reporting assignments, or even beaten, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). RSF reported last year that there were 108 media outlets in Kabul, employing 4,940 individuals, including 1,080 women, 700 of whom were journalists.”
U.S. Action, 10 December 2021
“Violent conflict, a devastating drought, and food insecurity affecting over half the population in Afghanistan are driving one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Assessments indicate this emergency will exponentially grow as Afghanistan’s economy teeters on the edge of total collapse and the country remains almost entirely dependent on external aid. Urgent action is needed to address the looming famine and avert a humanitarian catastrophe that will impact women and girls and other marginalized groups the most."
Amnesty International, Afghanistan: Survivors of gender-based violence abandoned following Taliban takeover – new research, 6 December 2021
“As the Taliban advanced, they also systematically released detainees from prisons, many of whom had been convicted of gender-based violence offenses. Testimony from witnesses and others with first-hand knowledge, as well as credible media reporting, indicate that members of the Taliban were responsible. A Taliban spokesperson denied this to Amnesty International, insisting the previous government had opened prisons.
A legal professional who specializes in gender-based violence said she had been involved in the conviction of more than 3,000 perpetrators of gender-based violence in the year preceding the Taliban’s takeover.
She said: “Wherever [the Taliban] went, they freed the prisoners… Can you imagine? More than 3,000 released, in all the provinces of Afghanistan, in one month.” [...]
There is nowhere to turn for women and girls who have faced violence since the Taliban’s takeover. One psychologist who worked with gender-based violence survivors in Kabul told Amnesty International: “The Taliban doesn’t have any procedure of how to deal with these cases.”
A prosecutor for cases involving gender-based violence explained: “In the past, women could go to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. They could go alone and report their case. But now that women are not allowed to go anywhere without a mahram [male guardian], this will make it really complicated.” “
The Washington Post, Taliban chief bans forced marriage of women in Afghanistan, 3 December 2021
“The Taliban decreed on Friday they were banning forced marriage of women in Afghanistan, a move apparently meant to address criteria the international community consider a precondition to recognizing their government and restoring aid to the war-torn country.
The move was announced by the reclusive Taliban chief, Hibatullah Akhunzada, a cleric chosen as the group’s supreme leader who is believed to be in the southern city of Kandahar. It comes as poverty is surging in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in August amid the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops. Since then, foreign governments have halted funds that had been a mainstay of the economy.“Both (women and men) should be equal,” said the decree, adding that “no one can force women to marry by coercion or pressure. [...]
The decree did not mention a minimum age for marriage, which previously was set at 16 years old.”
TOLO News, Taliban’s Supreme Leader Issues Decree on Women’s Rights, 3 December 2021
“supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, on Friday issued a decree regarding the rights of
women in Afghanistan.
The decree, which was released by the spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, Zabiullah Mujahid, stipulated that the relevant institutions must take steps in its implementation.
The decree is comprised of six elements:
“Adult women’s consent is necessary during Nekah/marriage. (Though, both should be equal with no risk of sedition). No one can force women to marry by coercion or pressure."
"woman is not a property, but a noble and free human being; no one can give her to anyone in exchange for peace deal and or to end animosity.
"the death of the husband, ‘Sharaie Adat’ (four months and ten nights or pregnancy) passes, no one can marry a widow by force including her relatives. A widow has the right whether to marry and or to determine/ choose her future. (Though, the principle of equality and preventing sedition should be kept into consideration).
“It is the Sharia right a widow, to obtain ‘Mahar’ from her new husband. [Mahar is an amount of money specified
by the wife and husband during the Nekah to be paid by the husband to the wife.]
“A widow has heritage rights and fixed share in the property of her husband, children, father and relatives, and no
one can deprive a widow of her right."
“Those with multi marriage (more than one wife) are obliged to give rights to all women in accordance with Sharia
law, and maintain justice between them.”
The letter instructed the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Culture, the Supreme Court as well as provincial governors and district governors to implement the dictates of the decree and to communicate them to the public.”
TOLO News, Half of Afghan Women Will Face Violence: UNFPA, 2 December 2021
“Even before the recent upheaval, the needs of women and girls were staggering: Over half of Afghan women experience violence during their lifetime, and one Afghan woman dies from a pregnancy-related complication every two hours,” said Dr. Aleksandar Sasha Bodiroza, UNFPA Representative in Afghanistan.
“Their situation will get worse if the international community does not act, and act soon,” he added.
UNAMA, UN Calls for solidarity and commitment to end violence against women and girls amidst humanitarian crises, 25 November 2021
“The message we receive from our partners and women across the country is clear - violence against women that was already at alarming levels, has been exacerbated by both crisis and COVID-19. And yet, lifesaving services for women survivors of violence have closed on account of fear of being targeted,” said Alison Davidian, UN Women Country Representative in Afghanistan [...].”
JURIST, Afghanistan dispatches: 'Only time will tell if we stay subject when we're hungry.' - JURIST - News - Legal News & Commentary, 15 November 2021
“JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Here, a law student in Kabul offers his perspective on recent Taliban abuses of
power amidst a rapidly-deteriorating economic situation. [...]
In a city ruled by rapists and murderers, a knock at the door is heard. A young girl in her twenties—to judge by her appearance—opens the door and sees a number of Taliban carrying weapons. They ask for her brother, who was an officer of the Afghan National Army forces. But he’s not there. In his absence she’s dragged to the police
precinct, where she’s asked for sexual intercourse, beaten and lashed. She says a Taliban officer tell the others to not let her go as she is a northernes. She later she posts her story in a video after barely avoiding being raped by several men; she shows her bruises while covering her face. The girl was lashed heavily, resulting in bloody cloths and bruises in the areas she can show to the camera. In the end she calls angrily for the leaders of the northern provinces and the politicians who fled with millions in cash to resist the Taliban.”
Kabul Now, Woman who accused Taliban of sexual abuse arrested in Kabul, 14 November 2021
“The Taliban security forces have arrested two women, including the one who recently accused a Taliban police
officer of sexual abuse and torture, in Kabul, the Ministry of Interior confirmed.
An investigation is underway and the truth whether the claims of torture and abuse is true or not will be revealed today or tomorrow, Saeed Khosti, spokesperson for the Taliban’s ministry of interior told Kabul Now on Saturday, November 13.
In a video started circulating on social media last Thursday, a woman claims that Taliban forces barged into her
house only to “touch her [abusively]” and “dishonored” her.
Introducing herself as sister of a former military officer, she said that she started shouting to ask for help when the Taliban forces barged into her house. Afterwards, they took her to the PD11 where a police officer, as she claims, asked her to have sex with him.
“When I refused his demand, they whipped me,” she added. The woman says that another Taliban personnel told the officer “do not let her go, because she is from the north [of Afghanistan].”
She has bruises all over her shoulder and her back. She says that she has bruises on some other parts of her body that she cannot show.
Late last night, November 13, the Taliban released a video showing two women and a man. In the video, the two women admits that they have made the video only to seek asylum in foreign countries.
“We are satisfied with the Emirate and regret for the mistake we committed. I ask for apology from the bottom of my heart from Emirate,” the woman, who is identified as Arezu – previously accused the Taliban for sexual abuse – says in the video.”
AREU, 11 Years of the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Law, 13 November 2021
“Obtaining transparent and comprehensive data on cases of VAW [violence against women] and, in particular, the processing of such cases by the police, the prosecutors and the courts continues to be a challenge due to the lack of a systematic framework and national data collection system. Each actor, the police, the attorney general, the courts, as well as the AIHRC [Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission] and the MoWA [Ministry of Women’s Affairs], keep their own records of the cases they register, which means that data that trace these cases across institutions—and therefore prosecution or conviction rates—have generally not been available. Today, the main sources of statistical information on the implementation of the EVAW law are UNAMA reports,2 and reports by MoWA and the AIHRC, as well as a few reports by the Afghan Women’s Network. [...]
In sum, there appears to be little statistical data available on prosecution and conviction rates, particularly for recent years. Available studies also do not provide information about the legal aspects of cases, such as whether the EVAW law or the Penal Code were the basis for prosecution or conviction. [...]
Several studies highlight how prosecutors have had an inclination towards using mediation in VAW cases, often due to it being the preferred resolution method for prosecutors and families, both of the complainant and of the accused, as mediation is seen by some, particularly by those not supportive of gender equality, as being more in line with traditional norms. [...]
An additional harmful practice highlighted by UNAMA, the Special Rapporteur on Sexual Violence, and the AIHRC is the use of “virginity tests”, which have been frequently imposed on women by police, prosecutors and judges, despite being prohibited unless a court orders it or the person examined consents to it. [...]
As in other places where consensual sexual relations are criminalised, victims of rape face particular difficulties in the justice system in Afghanistan. Charges of zina, or sexual intercourse outside marriage, has sometimes been introduced by conservative prosecutors or judges in rape cases.”