Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 23rd Jan. UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Monday release a report on the human rights situation in the country revealed that Taliban officials continue to undermine the basic human rights of women and girls.
The report said that hundreds of Afghan women were forced to quit their jobs or have been arrested and denied access to essential services in the last quarter of 2023..
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in a report on the human rights situation that among those whose working lives have been upended, de facto authorities “banned” 400 women workers at a pine nut processing from the workplace and dismissed another 200 at a power plant.
The Mission noted that women were arrested for purchasing contraceptives and that unmarried female staff at a healthcare facility were “advised” to get married by officials from the so-called Department for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or risk losing their jobs.
The officials stated that “it was inappropriate for an unmarried woman to work.”
Many women were also not allowed to board buses or go to work because they were unmarried or because they did not have a mahram – a male chaperone – to accompany them in public.
The report noted that several women were arbitrarily arrested in Kabul and other locations for “not wearing proper hijab”.
The mission said that most were released after their mahrams signed a guarantee that they will adhere to the hijab decree in the future.
UNAMA said that “The measures taken by the de facto authorities contradicts the hijab decree itself.”
“For a first violation of the decree, a warning is to be issued to individual’s mahram (at the place of residence), for a second violation, the individual’s mahram is to be summoned, for a third violation, the individual’s mahram may be imprisoned for up to three days and for a fourth violation, the individual’s mahram is to be brought before the de facto court for further action.”
UNAMA noted that the de facto authorities continued to infringe the right to freedom of expression by limiting the opportunity to seek, receive and impart information and ideas.
Taliban Ministry of Higher Education issued a letter on 14 December, instructing all universities and private education institutions to remove books which are considered against the laws of Hanafi jurisprudence, the report said.
The report stated that books related to Shi’a belief, political parties and materials authored by individuals associated with the elected Government the Taliban deposed.
UNAMA said that 4 women’s rights activists and 3 staff of a radio station were arrested between September and December simply for doing their jobs.
The mission said that 5 of them were released, one rights activist remains in detention and one journalist was sentenced to a year in prison.
The report noted that 11 people were killed and a 51 wounded by unexploded ordnance between October and December 2023 and 49 of the 62 victims were children (41 boys and 8 girls).
