Taliban attempting to steadily erase women and girls from public life

WORLD: CEDAW

UN experts press release from 17 January 2022

«Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalizing large scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls, a group of UN human rights experts said today.

The experts reiterated their alarm expressed since August 2021 at a series of restrictive measures that have been introduced since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, particularly those concerning women and girls. 'Taken together, these policies constitute a collective punishment of women and girls, grounded on gender-based bias and harmful practices,' the experts said.

'We are concerned about the continuous and systematic efforts to exclude women from the social, economic, and political spheres across the country.' These concerns are exacerbated in the cases of women from ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities such as the Hazara, Tajik, Hindu and other communities whose differences or visibility make them even more vulnerable in Afghanistan, they added.

The experts also noted the increased risk of exploitation of women and girls including of trafficking for the purposes of child and forced marriage as well as sexual exploitation and forced labor.»

Direct link to the press release (ohchr.org)

Gender Law Newsletter FRI 2022#1, 01.03.2022 - Newsletter abonnieren