Alanya Smith
Following one year of the Taliban’s occupation of Afghanistan, the United Nations has reasserted its commitment to supporting and protecting the rights of women and girls from the Taliban’s expanding oppressive regime.
Changes Under the Taliban
The Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on 15 August 2021. In the conflict of this takeover, there were 700 deaths and 1,400 causalities. Since 20 September, all girls above the age of 12 have been banned from accessing education and gendered segregation has been implemented to discourage university attendance.
“The Taliban have institutionalized discrimination against women; they are denying our fundamental rights”
Targeted, suppressive actions from the Taliban have disrupted the lives of Afghanistan citizens for the last year, strategically eliminating the representation and visibility of women in varied economic, social, political, and environmental fields. This includes removing women from government positions and heavily restricting employment opportunities.
Subsequently, the rise in gender-based violence threats has now restricted women’s ‘rights of freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, including on even their choice of clothing’.
“The Taliban have institutionalized discrimination against women; they are denying our fundamental rights,” states former senior judge in Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, Fawzia Amini.
One year later, women and girls have effectively been ‘erased from public life’ through the strategic undermining of accessibility to education, employment, and security.
Afghanistan representatives speaking at the Human Rights Council stated that reports coming out of Afghanistan indicated that the human rights of women and girls were worse than anywhere else in the world. These reports highlighted the ‘systemic violations’ enacted by the Taliban regime and the ‘critical humanitarian situation’ which is engulfing the country.
Present Occupation
Across Afghanistan, 25 million people are now living in poverty. Consequently, 95% of the population, and predominantly ‘all female-headed households’, experience food poverty.
“the lives of women and girls have conclusively been ‘confined to the home’ and erased from public presence.”
UN Women have dedicated ‘gender alert’ reports which release updates about the situation and ‘normalisation’ of fundamental injustices against the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s occupation. One year later, the lives of women and girls have conclusively been ‘confined to the home’ and erased from public presence.
Yalda Hakim, an international correspondent for BBC News, has discussed the explicit discrimination of removing the right to access education, as established by the United Nations and reinforced in the Sustainable Development Goals; “Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls are prevented from getting an education, locked out of their classrooms, simply because of their gender”
This decision has reportedly resulted in a 2.5% loss of Afghanistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) each year. If the present cohort of girls returned to secondary education, the economy would rise by $5.4 billion.
UN Women chief, Ms Bahous, reinforced the organisation’s commencement to Afghan women: “One year on, with women’s visibility so diminished and rights so severely impacted, it is vital to direct targeted, substantial, and systemic funding to address and reverse this situation and to facilitate women’s meaningful participation in all stakeholder engagement on Afghanistan, including in delegations that meet with Taliban officials”
It is one year since the Taliban takeover in #Afghanistan.
Every day since, life has become harder for Afghan women and girls.
Learn about the impact on women's rights & gender equality in our gender alert:https://t.co/aj4CbrhMKo pic.twitter.com/M5ntwiVxG6
— UN Women (@UN_Women) August 16, 2022
International Response
The UN Security Council has reported that the Afghan economy had reduced by 30%-40% since the Taliban’s taking charge.
Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, Samira Hamidi, states; “We urge the Taliban to respect, protect and fulfill the rights of women and girls. We call on the international community to engage directly with Afghan women to understand their reality, listen to their pragmatic recommendations, and work with them to support women’s rights.”
“Across Afghanistan, resistance groups have formed and continue to grow.”
Violence is echoed across the Taliban’s enforced policies, with detentions, torture, and 160 recorded extrajudicial killings of government and security force officials.
Across Afghanistan, resistance groups have formed and continue to grow, including National Resistance Front and Afghanistan Freedom Front.
Despite these reports, representatives have stated “We [the Taliban] are committed to ensuring security”.
Following the one-year anniversary of their takeover, the Taliban paraded the streets on 15 August 2022 and declared the day a national holiday.
Featured image courtesy of Isriya Paireepairit via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
alanya
Alanya is a Journalism student at Cardiff University and Spotlight section editor at Quench Magazine.