Human Lives Human Rights: In the first part of this series of articles, we discussed the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan, and in this part, we will examine the rights of women in Afghanistan in the context of human rights.
Afghan women have suffered the most severe discrimination from the government, and the peak period of violating these basic rights is related to the first and second Taliban terrorist government in this country.
Despite the progress that occurred in the field of women’s rights after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, unfortunately, now that the Taliban government has come back to power, the discussion of the violation of women’s rights in Afghanistan is on the top again.
During the Taliban regime, women in this country were deprived of rights such as the right to own property, the right to vote, the right to education and the right to have an independent financial position (employment). Also, at that time, Afghan women were deprived of the right to use public health services.
The Taliban government’s pressure on women was so intense that the literacy rate in the cities of this country reached 13% and in the villages, it reached 4%. In addition, until the end of the 90s, due to the poor health of women, out of every 1000 children born in Afghanistan, more than 160 children died under the age of one year.
After the fall of the first Taliban government, the situation changed significantly and women gained rights such as the right to vote, education, employment, health and non-forceful marriage. In addition to the fact that women entered the parliament and the cabinet, international aid was paid to the Afghan government to restore the basic rights of women.
After the re-invasion of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2021 and the occupation of the government by this terrorist group, the situation is returning to the previous routine. Meanwhile, the international organizations, especially the United Nations Human Rights Council, have chosen silence against this widespread violation of women’s rights in Afghanistan.
