Afghanistan: women's demonstration in Herat, the Taliban government expected
Afghan women demonstrate in defense of their rights, September 02, 2021, in Herat, Afghanistan.
AFP - -
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
Dozens of Afghan women demonstrated this Thursday, September 2 in Herat, in western Afghanistan.
19 days after the Taliban seized power, the demonstrators wanted to call for respect for women's rights while the government must be unveiled in the coming hours.
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With our correspondent in the region
,
Sonia Ghezali
“
Do not be afraid, we are together.
This is the slogan chanted by
the demonstrators
in Herat on Thursday.
There were dozens of them dressed in long black Islamic dresses, their hair covered by a veil and a medical mask covering half of their faces to demonstrate in the streets of the city.
Several held up signs on which they had written their demands.
As Afghanistan waits for a new Taliban government, it demands that the right to education, health, work, freedom of movement and freedom to choose
be upheld.
The women of Herat "
want their rights to be respected no more and no less,
" read the tweets of the "My Red Line" movement, which emerged during negotiations in Doha in Qatar between the Taliban and the Americans Last year.
► See also: Women's rights in Afghanistan: "We refuse to live under the violent Taliban regime"
Government without a woman
"
Women want to be included in the government
", also claim the demonstrators.
However, the Taliban show no willingness to give them this place.
Long before taking power, religious fundamentalists have always reiterated that
the place accorded to women
would be determined in accordance with Islamic law.
It would seem that according to their interpretation, women cannot occupy positions of responsibility.
A woman is unlikely to hold a ministerial post in the future government formed by the Taliban, despite the fact that they promised an "
inclusive
" government, according to statements by the deputy head of the Taliban political bureau in the United States. Qatar.
► See also: Infographic - The situation of Afghan women in a few figures
"
Lie of history
"
During a solidarity conference with Afghanistan, organized by the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, Guissou Jahangiri, vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and executive director of the NGO Armanshar, paid tribute to these "
courageous women
". She was also outraged by decisions preventing women from working, for example. “
Yesterday, the Taliban prohibited access to industrial complexes, where mainly women work there. In Herat, Hazara women work there. They earn a pittance but now they no longer have the right to go to work,
”she proclaimed.
Guissou Jahangiri also refuses to believe that women will disappear from public space.
“
Afghan civil society is not dead.
Those who wish today […] to justify the presence of the Taliban by saying
"the Taliban represent Afghanistan"
is a lie of history,
"she concludes.
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Afghanistan
Womens rights
Taliban