Afghanistan: Women face forced marriages and abusive imprisonment, says Amnesty
Afghan women walk past a Taliban fighter in Kabul, Afghanistan, February 13, 2022. The lives of Afghan women and girls are being destroyed by the Taliban's crackdown on their basic rights, Amnesty International said in a new report published this Wednesday, July 27, 2022. AP - Hussein Malla
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The lives of women and girls in Afghanistan have changed dramatically following a repressive campaign against their basic rights by the Taliban, according to a damning report by Amnesty International.
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The human rights NGO Amnesty International was able to carry out the investigation on the ground, speak to many women, and denounces a "
suffocating repression
" which destroys the lives of women and girls.
The set of restrictions imposed on women at all levels creates a sort of suffocating spider's web that impacts Afghan women in all aspects of their lives.
Marie Forestier, researcher at Amnesty International, details the concept of "moral corruption"
Mary Forestier
Marie Forestier, a researcher at Amnesty, is a member of the mission which has investigated the country in recent months: "
The report shows that the set of restrictions imposed on women at all levels creates a sort of suffocating spider's web which impacts Afghan women in all aspects of their lives.
Whether it is for their education, for the way they dress, for the way they work or even to move around, they are suffocated by the rules and restrictions imposed by the Taliban.
»
Ban on going out alone
This repression is particularly centered on the concept of "moral corruption", which allows the Taliban to imprison women who are guilty of it.
“
We have documented the Taliban imprisoning Afghan women for what they call 'moral corruption'.
"Moral corruption" according to the Taliban is moving outside, being in public space, without what they call a mahram, that is, a male family member, a father, a brother, a husband, who is supposed to accompany the women.
And so women who move around or are outside without a mahram risk being arrested and so not only in these cases are women arbitrarily detained but in addition, when they are in prison, they are tortured,
“says Marie Forestier.
Since the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, women and girls have been deprived of their fundamental rights.
Discover our survey.
👇 https://t.co/VLRjqy0TTJ
— Amnesty International France (@amnestyfrance) July 27, 2022
Increase in early marriages
Another worrying phenomenon pointed out in this report, many signs show an increase in early marriages of young girls in the country.
Marie Forestier, researcher at Amnesty International, describes the increase in child marriage
Mary Forestier
Many factors explain this trend, details the researcher, in particular economic: “
Firstly, the humanitarian and economic crisis, that is to say that the families who find themselves without resources and unable to feed their children, for them, one of the most obvious solutions is to marry off their daughter, so that they will recover the dowry money, and they will also tell themselves that their daughter will have to eat in the husband's family.
The other reason is the fact that the schools have closed, there are no longer, or no, professional prospects and education for women.
Some women, or some girls, had plans for education, and could have had a profession and supported themselves.
These wishes, these dreams of the future, are destroyed since they can no longer study.
And the way to ensure an income, to be able to live,
»
Afghan women wait to receive money at a cash distribution point organized by the World Food Program, in Kabul, Afghanistan, November 20, 2021. AP - Petros Giannakouris
In addition to the economic and educational situation, another thing can explain the decision to marry a young girl: the will of the families to protect her from the Taliban.
“
The Taliban who could take them away, abduct them to marry them by force, so there are certain families who were frightened by that and who made the calculation to say to themselves: “We are going to marry our daughter to a cousin like that, in unless the Taliban won't take her away to get married."
Last case, it is the families who think that marrying their daughter to a Taliban will itself protect these families”
, specifies Marie Forestier.
►
To read also
:
Afghanistan: one year after the return of the Taliban, the increasingly bleak horizon for women
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Afghanistan
Womens rights
Taliban