‘The Taliban is at war with half its population’, the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security has warned at its recent conference on the situation facing women and girls in Afghanistan. There should be no recognition or talks with the Taliban military regime unless the cruel restrictions on women and girls are lifted.
Over 150 delegates met at LSE’s Centre for Women, Peace and Security conference on Monday 3 June, to debate the current situation in Afghanistan and to demand the international community insists basic rights and freedoms are restored for women and girls in the country as a condition of any aid or economic investment.
Afghan women leaders, living in exile in UK and USA, shared details of the worsening conditions women and girls are forced to endure. Millions have been pushed into poverty, depression and self-harm because of the Taliban’s actions.
In a message of support from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, Mr Richard Bennett described how he had witnessed the severe oppression of Afghans by the Taliban regime. Women and girls are routinely denied basic human rights, including education, healthcare, and movement. He called on the Taliban to “dismantle their institutionalised system of gender oppression”, to urgently “reverse discriminatory policies and directives, immediately lift the restrictions on the freedom of movement of women and girls, and restore the right of women to work in all sectors, including for the United Nations and humanitarian agencies.”
As one former Afghan diplomat stressed in her talk, (name withheld for safeguarding), the restrictions are not based on Afghan culture nor Islamic principle. Over 80 bizarre and punishing edicts have been issued that restrict the ability of women to work, to move around outside the home, and to stop girls from being educated. There can be no economic recovery nor long-term financial sustainability, experts warned, if women are not allowed to earn an income, run a business or get education and training.
A growing threat to life was detailed with disturbing evidence. Forbidding female doctors and nurses is putting women’s health at chronic risk during childbirth. Meanwhile, all laws and institutions protecting women and girls from domestic violence have been removed. Women who report incidents are being thrown in prison.
Considering the horrifying human rights situation for women and girls and the bleak economic future for Afghanistan this brings with it, the LSE WPS Centre calls on the international community to uphold the UN Security Council’s Resolution in February condemning the current situation. Additionally, those rogue regional states that are backing the regime, notably Russia, China and Iran, must be sanctioned for supporting extremist fundamentalism and the erasure of women and girls’ human rights and their exclusion from the economy.
Moreover, in any future negotiations, Afghan women who represent organisations and civil society from across the country should be included. This at least will offer some light in the darkness for millions of women and girls reduced to living in despair.
The LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security is a leading academic space for scholars, practitioners, activists, policymakers and students to develop strategies to promote justice, human rights and participation of women in conflict-affected situations around the world.
For more information about the Centre or the Conference please contact Professor Joanna Lewis at J.E.Lewis1@lse.ac.uk or Mark Briggs at m.a.briggs@lse.ac.uk