NAIROBI, Jul 1 (IPS) – The annual report of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan exposes the alarming phenomenon of an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls.
In the new reportRichard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur, provides an intersectional analysis of the creation and maintenance of this institutionalized system of unparalleled gender oppression, painting a picture of a worsening situation for women and girls.
“The situation is that the de facto authorities, who control the country but are not yet recognized as a government, are not only failing to meet their human rights obligations under the human rights treaties they have signed, they are deliberately implementing policies and practices that ignore those policies to create a society in which women are permanently inferior to men,” Bennett said in an exclusive interview with IPS.
“Of course there is sexism in every country, some worse than others, but this is very different from any other country.”
Bennett points to the horrifying pattern of large-scale systematic violations and oppression of the fundamental rights of women and girls that is unfolding, fueled by the Taliban’s discriminatory and misogynistic policies and harsh enforcement methods such as gender apartheid and persecution.
“Only in Afghanistan has a government closed schools for girls over 13, over the sixth grade, and not allowed women to go to university. And this, combined with segregation, means that women really suffer. For example, women can only be treated by female doctors and the same goes for teaching. It is a very segregated society as a whole. Just today a businesswoman told me that she could only do business with female clients. This not only affects the current situation and the current generation, but also the future.”
The Special Rapporteur believes that the Taliban’s institutionalized system of discrimination is most visible in its brutal issuance and enforcement of edicts, decrees, declarations and orders that in themselves constitute serious violations of human rights and violations of international law.
Between June 2023 and March 2024, they issued an estimated 52 edicts. These include banning foreign non-governmental organizations from offering educational programs, including community-based education. The Taliban banned women from participating in radio and television shows alongside male presenters.
In July 2023, female beauty salons were forced to close. In August 2023, women were banned from entering Band-e Amir National Park. In October 2023, women were banned from holding board positions in non-governmental organizations. In February 2024, women were required to wear a black hijab on television, with their faces covered so that only their eyes were visible.
“We are concerned about intergenerational issues, but also intersectional issues. There is discrimination against women and girls belonging to an ethnically, religiously or linguistically marginalized group, or against persons with disabilities, or against women who run households. Travel requires guidance from a close male relative and some women do not have such a person available. All this is extremely restrictive and will also affect future generations because it will lead to a lack of education and professions,” says Bennett.
The report concludes that “women and girls are being maneuvered into increasingly narrow roles where the deep-rooted patriarchy, reinforced and legitimized by the Taliban ideology, sees them as belonging: as bearers and educators of children, and as objects available for exploitation, including debt bondage, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and other forms of unpaid or poorly paid labor.”
The UN Special Rapporteur emphasizes that progress had been made in Afghanistan even before the return of the Taliban.
“It wasn’t perfect, but for 20 years there was remarkable progress. As a result, in Afghanistan, there are very many professional women, and women who are the heads of households as the main source of income, the main breadwinners for their families. The restrictions have very serious negative effects.”
Bennett is one of the leading proponents of the global #AfghanGirlsVoices campaign launched by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations. The campaign is now in its second phase and aims to ensure unlimited access to education for Afghan girls and young women.
After seizing power in 2021, the Taliban quickly imposed a ban on girls’ secondary education, then extended this restriction to universities and, more recently, private learning centers. Young women have also been prevented from leaving Afghanistan to pursue tertiary education.
“There has never been universal education in Afghanistan, not even in the 20 years leading up to the return of the Taliban. However, the education system gradually improved, although not so much in remote or rural areas. Some of this was due to a lack of resources, as well as ongoing internal conflict. So it was uncertain and difficult to maintain schools. But when the Taliban returned to power after August 2021, an education system built over two decades quickly fell apart,” he says.
In addition to school closures, he speaks of concerns about the quality of education from two perspectives. First, the alarm bell about an ongoing brain drain in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power. Many teachers and university lecturers have left the country.
The other concerns are changes in the curriculum and, in particular, a marked increase in madrassa education. Madrassa education has always been a feature of life in Afghanistan. “But now, at least anecdotally, there seems to be more religious education than a broad education. Girls can go to madrassas,” he says.
On recommendations and urgent solutions for the future, Bennett emphasizes that “no country should close schools. We therefore continue to call for a reversal of this policy and the reopening of schools with quality education. My recommendations are what I call a full-tool approach, because just one approach or any tool will not work.”
Overall, he says the report calls for justice and accountability, integrating the voices of human rights and women into political processes and diplomatic engagement, stressing that strengthening documentation of human rights violations and abuses is crucial, as is strengthening protection and solidarity for Afghan women, girls and human rights defenders.
Bennett has a direct message to the current rulers in Afghanistan, the Taliban, to reverse their policies and respect human rights. The second message is to the international community, urging them not to normalize or recognize the unacceptable and deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan.
Stressing further that the global community must firmly oppose the normalization of diplomatic relations or the induction of the Taliban into the UN unless and until they meet concrete, measurable and verifiable standards of human rights and women’s rights and girls.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service