TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Jun23/04)
30 June 2023
Third World Network

Afghanistan: Women & girls suffering widespread & systematic discrimination
Published in SUNS #9813 dated 30 June 2023

Penang, 28 Jun (Kanaga Raja) — While the backlash against women’s and girls’ rights has unfolded in different countries and regions in recent years, nowhere else in the world has there been an attack as widespread, systematic and all-encompassing on the rights of women and girls as in Afghanistan, a group of United Nations human rights experts has said.

In a report (A/HRC/53/21) to the fifty-third regular session of the UN Human Rights Council taking place in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls said that every aspect of their lives is being restricted under the guise of morality and through the instrumentalization of religion.

“The discriminatory and restrictive environment, the climate of fear and the lack of accountability for the wide range of violations documented by the experts in the present report make it impossible for women and girls to exercise their rights, restrains all persons and organizations from defending them, and emboldens further abuses.”

The experts said that the pattern of large-scale systematic violations of women’s and girls’ fundamental rights in Afghanistan, abetted by the Taliban’s “discriminatory and misogynistic policies and harsh enforcement methods, constitutes gender persecution and an institutionalized framework of gender apartheid.”

The international community should remain engaged on the situation in Afghanistan and take concrete steps to support accountability for serious human rights violations, they emphasized.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

In their report, the rights experts said women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan have had a tumultuous history, and their progress has been neither steady nor linear.

“The diversity and size of the country, combined with the significantly different political ideologies of ruling regimes, have had a profound impact on the speed and spread of progress.”

Women gained suffrage in 1919, they said, adding that women’s rights, and ultimately gender equality before the law, were progressively enshrined in the constitutions of 1923, 1964 and 1976.

“These progressive changes were, however, challenged by conservatives. In practice, progress was not uniform across the country, varying from one region to another and with women in rural areas unable to enjoy the same rights as women in cities.”

Nonetheless, Afghan women’s movements and their allies in leadership challenged the deeply patriarchal society throughout most of the twentieth century, and women increasingly enjoyed their rights, particularly to education and employment, said the report.

The invasion by foreign forces in 1979 plunged Afghanistan into war. Progress on gender equality drastically regressed as the mujahidin opposition forces, also with foreign backing, fought against the occupation and saw women’s emancipation as a tenet of an external policy imposed on the country, and actively sought to reverse it, the report noted.

“During this period, women were subjected to gross human rights abuses and violations,” the report said, adding that after the withdrawal of foreign forces in 1989, a civil war broke out between various mujahidin factions.

It said during the civil war of 1992-1996, women were subjected to serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, disappearances, displacement, forced marriages, trafficking and abduction, as well as limited access to education.

According to the experts, the civil war contributed to the emergence of the Taliban – proclaiming an Islamic emirate in line with an extreme interpretation of sharia law – which took control over much of Afghanistan in 1996, and that women’s rights regressed further under the first Taliban regime of 1996-2001.

“Under the pretexts of religion and concern for their “safety”, the Taliban effectively imprisoned women and girls in their homes by preventing them from obtaining education, leaving their home without a male relative (maharam), working, speaking publicly and access to health-care services delivered by men (thereby rendering them inaccessible), among other measures.”

According to the experts, after the removal of the Taliban from power by foreign intervention in 2001, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was established and some progress on women’s rights was resumed under the stewardship of determined Afghan women.

“Progress was not uniform across the country; marginalized women, mostly in rural areas, continued to face disproportionate challenges.”

Nonetheless, the experts said that much was achieved by 2021: women’s rights and gender equality were enshrined in the 2004 Constitution and other laws, including the Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women; the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; and the establishment of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, specialized victim support services and accountability mechanisms for gender-based violence.

Women were able to hold parliamentary seats, ministerial and diplomatic posts and senior offices, including as judges and chairs of independent commissions, while legislative, structural and representational changes inspired immense hope for women and girls, said the experts.

They noted that the Taliban took control of Kabul on 15 August 2021; by 30 August, international forces had left the country, and the Taliban declared the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, the title used from 1996 to 2001.

Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, also known as Amir-ul-Momineen, is the head of the de facto authorities, and has absolute authority.

“On 7 September 2021, the Taliban announced an exclusively male, predominantly Pashtun interim cabinet and other key positions at the national and provincial levels. The legislative bodies and other democratic institutions were dissolved.”

The report noted that since assuming power, the de facto authorities have repeatedly, both publicly and privately, stated their commitment to upholding women’s rights in accordance with their view of Islam and Afghan culture.

On 10 September 2021, in a letter to the United Nations, the de facto authorities reiterated this commitment and vowed to gradually take concrete steps with the help of the international community, it said.

The country’s economy currently faces critical challenges, including the freezing of State assets in foreign banks, a decline in public spending, lower household incomes, high unemployment and reduced consumption, as well as disruptions to the payment system and supply constraints, said the experts.

“Despite the stabilization of the afghani, lower inflation and increasing exports and tax collection, Afghanistan is afflicted by poverty and food insecurity, with more than two thirds of its people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.”

Sustained restrictive policies on women’s education and work, persistent instability in the banking sector and any potential reduction in aid from the international community will further harm the economy and people’s survival, with a particular impact on women, who have already suffered from restrictions on and violations of their rights, further compounding their lack of economic freedom and their vulnerability to downside risks, said the experts.

They noted that upon assuming power, the de facto authorities suspended the 2004 Constitution and all domestic legislation, notably the Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and also abolished institutions and mechanisms that promoted gender equality and provided protection against gender-based violence, such as the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

“The de facto authorities claim they are reviewing all laws for their compliance with sharia law. As at May 2023, the outcome of that review is unknown,” the experts noted.

Consequently, they stressed, it is not clear whether during the past 21 months any domestic laws are in place to protect women’s and girls’ rights.

GENDER-BASED DISCRIMINATION

The experts also said that the de facto authorities claim that they respect the treaties ratified by Afghanistan in accordance with sharia law, a vague statement that does not clarify what, if any, reservations they hold in relation to international human rights law.

Far from “protecting” women and girls, as they claim, they perpetuate the most extreme forms of gender-based discrimination and generalized censorship through restrictive edicts targeting women and girls, the abolition of legal protections and accountability mechanisms for gender-based violence, and the ongoing denial of rights, the experts added.

“One of the most illustrative examples of the systematic discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan today is the relentless issuance of edicts, decrees, declarations and directives restricting their rights, including their freedom of movement, attire and behaviour, and their access to education, work, health and justice.”

The report noted that between September 2021 and May 2023, more than 50 edicts were issued including the right of women to attend university being “suspended” and all forms of education beyond grade 6 banned for girls.

The report said while restricting women’s and girls’ rights is the primary intended outcome of the edicts, several edicts are directed at men; for example, a civil servant faces suspension from work if his wife or daughter does not wear a “proper hijab”.

The experts said that they are deeply concerned that the enforcement of punishment on men for the conduct of women and girls is intended to normalize discrimination and violence against women and girls and obliterate women’s agency.

In their totality, the edicts significantly limit women’s and girls’ ability to engage in society, have access to basic services and to earn a living, the experts underlined.

Women have described the continual announcement of restrictions as “day by day, the walls close in”, feeling “suffocated”, and the cumulative effect leaving them “without hope”, the experts said.

The experts also said that the edicts often lack specifics, such as definitions or details about implementation and punishment for contraventions, leading to a climate of legal uncertainty and fear, in which people self-censor to avoid punishment by the individual Taliban officers who have their own understanding of the restrictions and punishments for perceived transgression.

“Implementation is not consistent, especially at local levels; and although ad hoc solutions have sometimes been found to mitigate the considerable damage of the edicts, they are not sustainable.”

On 31 August 2021, the acting deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that no women would occupy top leadership positions in a Taliban government, the report noted.

“Women are now wholly excluded from political and public life in Afghanistan. There is not a single woman holding public or political office, and a limited number remains in the civil service.”

In their report, the experts said that prior to August 2021, women comprised 27 per cent of members in the lower house of parliament, 22 per cent in the upper house, and 30 per cent in the civil service, and held key roles in the Government, independent commissions and the judiciary.

They said while many of these officials have since left the country, many others live in fear of retribution for having worked with the former regime, despite the declaration of a “general amnesty”.

The experts said that they are deeply concerned about the continuing reprisal attacks on former officials.

They also noted that women participated in the 2002 emergency assembly (Loya Jirga), played an active role in the 2003 constitutional Loya Jirga, and participated as voters and candidates in the subsequent presidential and parliamentary elections.

“Women accounted for more than 30 per cent of voters between 2004 and 2019. Today, they are excluded from all forms of participation in political and public life.”

The experts further said that since August 2021, women have led peaceful public demonstrations demanding in particular their rights to education, work, participation in public life and freedom of movement and expression.

“These protests have often been met with excessive use of force, intimidation, arrest, arbitrary detention (on occasion possibly amounting to enforced disappearance) and ill-treatment.”

The experts said in September 2021, the Taliban issued an edict banning unapproved demonstrations, and since then the environment in which protests are held is increasingly hostile.

The experts said they have received numerous credible reports of Taliban officers brutally beating, arbitrarily arresting and detaining women protesters, many of whom have been later released upon guarantees to cease their activism and remain silent about their treatment, as well as payments.

“Victims report having been subjected to gender-based violence, including sexual violence, often amounting to torture, by Taliban officers seeking information about demonstration organizers.”

The report said the Taliban are denying girls and women their right to education beyond primary level as they did between 1996 and 2001, in contravention of their obligations as the de facto authorities under article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“The ban on girls’ education makes Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls and young women are forbidden from attending secondary school and higher education institutions,” said the experts.

“The denial of education is having a crushing effect on women and girls and is a significant driver for Afghans to leave the country, as parents want to provide education opportunities for their daughters.”

The experts, however, said most Afghans, including some members of the Taliban, do not support the exclusion of girls and women from the education system, and are seriously concerned about the consequences for the whole country.

They said that prominent Afghan religious scholars have spoken in support of girls’ education since there is no religious or cultural justification for the ban.

The experts stressed that the blatant violations to the fundamental right to have access to quality education will have life-long consequences regarding not only employment opportunities but also access to basic services such as health care.

The report also said that the de facto authorities are violating women’s rights to work through the imposition of bans on women registering organizations, working in non-governmental and foreign organizations (such as in embassies and with the United Nations), instructing women civil servants in most sectors not to report to work, restricting physical access to employment sites without a maharam, and preventing women from pursuing professional training.

“According to World Bank figures, women’s participation in the labour force has stagnated at around 16 per cent in the past two decades (with an exceptional rise to 22 per cent between 2013 and 2019), ranking Afghanistan among the countries with the lowest levels of female labour force participation. Women’s employment dropped 25 per cent between the second quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to a 7 per cent decline for men.”

The experts said that banning the access of women and girls to hammams (public baths), parks and gyms have, together with the maharam and hijab policies, created an environment in which it is difficult for women and girls to leave their homes.

They also said the strained health system, the economic crisis, the limitations on movement and the restrictions placed on male health-care professionals treating women and girls complicates the access of Afghan women and girls to critical and routine health care.

These problems will only be further exacerbated if restrictions on women and girls are not reversed, they added.

The report said that women and girls also do not enjoy equal rights within the family in Afghanistan.

It said harmful practices and persisting forms of inequalities include forced and/or child marriage, polygamy, dowry obligations, discriminatory requirements for guardianship and custody of children, legal and practical inequalities in divorce and division of matrimonial assets, lack of access to the right to remarry following dissolution of marriage or death of the husband, and the unequal status of widows and of women and girls in relation to inheritance.

“Violence in the family sphere continues to disproportionately affect women and girls. In 2017, the Central Statistics Organization in Kabul estimated that 50.8 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 had experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.”

Accounts heard by the experts, also reflecting the suspension of services to detect and respond to gender-based violence in the private sphere, point to a significant increase in spousal and intra-family violence against women and girls, said the report.

The experts said that they are deeply concerned about reports of gender-related killings, or femicide, stemming from the systematic enforcement of discriminatory gender roles and punishments for what the de facto authorities deem as inappropriate female behaviour.

GENDER PERSECUTION & APARTHEID

The experts also said they are deeply concerned that gender persecution is occurring in Afghanistan under the rule of the de facto authorities.

They said the Taliban are severely depriving women and girls of their fundamental rights, including their rights to substantive equality, quality education, equal participation in economic, social and political life, equality before the law, freedom from torture and other inhumane acts, freedom from discrimination and freedom of movement, peaceful assembly, and of association and expression.

“The Taliban is punishing those who transgress its rights-violating edicts, enforcing severe deprivation of fundamental rights through acts or crimes of violence, such as arbitrary detention, torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment.”

Gender persecution constitutes a crime against humanity under article 7.1 (h) of the Rome Statute, as well as being a serious violation of the rights to equality and non-discrimination of women and girls, besides several other rights as identified by the experts in their analysis of Taliban edicts, the experts underscored.

They noted that apartheid framing was first used in 1999 to characterize the situation of women under Taliban rule.

“Although not currently a crime under the Rome Statute, there are proposals for the application of the definition of the crime against humanity of apartheid in the Statute to gender.”

Adapting the definition of article 7.2 (h), gender apartheid could be understood as inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one gender group over any other gender group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime, said the experts.

They said this is an accurate description of the situation documented in the present report, in which systematic discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of Taliban ideology and rule.+