Forced marriages in Afghanistan: Taliban leader calls for "serious measures"

Afghan women demonstrate in defense of their rights, September 02, 2021, in Herat, Afghanistan.

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In Afghanistan, the supreme leader of the Taliban on Friday asked the government, in a decree, to "take serious measures to ensure respect for the rights of women" in the country.

He mainly spoke of forced marriages.

"No one can force a woman to marry," said Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, ordering courts, governors and several ministries to fight against forced unions, very common in Afghanistan. 

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with our correspondent in Kabul,

The Taliban are accused of forcibly marrying women, including widows, to their fighters.

The Islamic emirate denies it.

However, some terrified men admit to being pressured by the Taliban to marry their daughter.

Several testimonies of women reported in the international press confirm that fathers of families decide to give their daughter in marriage without their consent to the Taliban to ensure their protection.

The

, deprived of development aid since the seizure of power by the Taliban, pushes families to marry their underage daughters in order to repay debts or to feed themselves.

The decree of the supreme leader therefore wants to put an end to these practices which seem to have increased recently.

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Forced marriages in Afghanistan (2013) 

Women's rights activist

welcomes this decree: a first for the Taliban, she said.

Indeed, the fundamentalist movement was illustrated when it was in power between 1996 and 2001 by an unprecedented oppression of women.

Mahbouba Seraj adds, however, that she is also awaiting a decree on education and the right to work of Afghan women.

Indeed, only a few women were allowed to return to work.

Colleges, high schools and universities are still

.

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: in Afghanistan, to continue working, women must adapt 

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• Afghanistan

• Women

• Womens rights

• Taliban