Suppression of women's rights continues in Afghanistan: UN reports

Kabul: According to a recent United Nations report, since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August last year, women and girls in the country have been persecuted for speaking out for fundamental rights and have been confined to their homes. According to Khaama Press, the Taliban continues to impose its brutal regime on Afghan women, prohibiting them from exposing their faces in public and depriving them of reproductive rights, which represents one of the most severe examples of the regression of women's and girls' rights. According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the proportion of women participating in peace talks is also declining, with no women in positions of leadership in the war-torn country.

"Only with equal representation of women in leadership and participation, can we build stable, peaceful societies," said the UN Chief in a tweet on Sunday. When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, they immediately began rescinding women's and girls' rights. Women began to protest on the streets during the Taliban's first week in power, despite the grave dangers they faced. Women-led protests began in Herat province in western Afghanistan in early September and quickly spread to other provinces. According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban's response was brutal from the start, with protesters being beaten, protests being disrupted, and journalists covering the demonstrations being detained and tortured.

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Unauthorized protests were also prohibited by the Taliban. The Taliban's abusive responses became more severe over time, culminating in particularly brutal response to a protest on January 16 in Kabul, when Taliban members used pepper spray and electric shock devices to threaten, intimidate, and physically assault protesters. Notably, the situation in Afghanistan for human rights has deteriorated since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's return to power in August of last year. Although the fighting in the country has ceased, serious human rights violations, particularly against women and minorities, continue unabated. Aside from that, the country's consistently rising food prices have emerged as a new challenge for Afghans. Food prices have nearly doubled in less than three months, according to Khaama Press.

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