All human beings are born free and equal in terms of dignity and basic rights, and they deserve these rights because they are humans. However, in Afghanistan, the people are going through hardship in its history of human rights, especially women rights since the return of the Taliban on August 15 2021.

Today, the Afghan people have been deprived of their most basic and fundamental human rights, and Afghan women, making half of the society, have been completely excluded from political, social and economic life.

While the world insists on the equality of men and women in all human rights, the women in Afghanistan have been deprived of their most natural and basic rights such as rights to education, work, political participation, freedom, organizing gatherings, and protests, and etc….

In return, the Taliban’s response to women’s protests and lawsuit against these deprivations was nothing but intimidation and threats, severe repression, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, murder and torture.

Rights to education

The right to education is one of the fundamental human rights. These have been also mentioned in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of Any Discrimination Against Women and other general international human rights documents. Humanity and women’s rights have been emphasized in these articles repeatedly.

Based on these rights, all people across the globe must have equal access to education. But Afghanistan, the only country in the world, has denied women of their right to education. The Taliban has banned women from school, university and education.

Rights to freedom

The Taliban also restricted women’s right to freedom in every level of society. Based on orders, all the women are required to wear long black dresses. Putting any other color in official places is punishable. The women must also cover their faces with a black mask. With these restrictions, the Taliban, in addition to removing the identity of women, are seeking to remove their face from society.

Moreover, the Taliban also restricted one of the most basic and natural rights of women, the rights to freedom of movement in the society.

Through a series of restrictions, the Taliban prevented adult women without a male partner from traveling abroad or even within the country to other provinces.

Sadly, women cannot go to government offices and hospitals and health centers without a male partner even in emergency cases. The restrictions come despite the fact that many women have lost their husbands and fathers in wars and explosions and have no male partner in their families.

Women have been deprived of all social and health services in the wake of these restrictions.

These restrictions also deprive many women from the opportunity of scholarships abroad or necessary trips for treatment.

Following a sequence of restrictions, the Taliban also banned women from going to parks, recreation centers, restaurants and women public baths.

This open discrimination is actually a violation of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasizes freedom of movement. Such laws do not exist in the laws of any country, even in Islamic states.

The Taliban want to remove women from society and remove their identities and physical appearance through these discriminatory actions. With these decisions, the Taliban violated important principles of human dignity, freedom and equality, which are at the top of all human rights and freedoms.

Right to work

Men and women are born free and are equal in terms of dignity and social rights, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the most important human rights document agreed and accepted by all governments.

Taking note of this, all women have the right to enjoy the desired economic life, and have a free hand to choose a job to elevate themselves from poverty.

Moreover, based on these human rights declaration, women should not be subjected to torture or cruel punishment, and contrary to humanity and human affairs. They should also not be forced to accept a job and rather they must choose any occupation on their own.

Meanwhile, according to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, member states must recognize the right of women to work and provide them the opportunity to freely choose any job that would help support the family.

The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also emphasized on the fact that equality between men and women in employment leads to the realization of their rights, and also declares: Discrimination in any way against women’s employment rights violates the principle of equality and respect. It is human character and must not be violated.

With the return of Taliban into power, the Afghan women have been widely deprived of the right to work and ordered to stay at home.  The Taliban dismissed female employees working in ministries, government offices, judicial courts and those who were serving in police rank.

Businesswomen, artists, athletes, audio and visual media employees, female journalists and employees of private companies have already lost their jobs as per Taliban order.

The Taliban in a recent decree banned women from all jobs, including those working in foreign institutions and relief organizations. This comes despite the fact that many of these women are the breadwinners of their families, who are now unemployed and struggling with poverty.

In many cases, these women started to beg at the streets or sell their children due to extreme poverty and destitution.

Such exclusion and restriction on women’s jobs, in addition to paralyzing the country’s economic and development cycle, leads to the spread of poverty and misery in the society.

The Taliban have deprived women from working under the pretext that their works are against Islamic standards.

These restrictions come despite the fact that there is no prohibition on women’s work and economic activity in Islamic laws.

If you look at other Islamic countries, women are equal to men in various jobs and play an active role in the development and prosperity of their country’s economy.

By banning women from workplaces, the Taliban have clearly violated one of its most basic human rights, which is mentioned in the most important international documents above.

Right to the politics

The right of political participation of women, equal to men, is clearly stated in the most important international documents.

Among other things, Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights deals with the right of political participation of all members of the society, including women, on equal terms with men.

Moreover, Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights emphasized the right of women to political participation in a society without discrimination.

Also, the Convention on the Political Rights of Women approved in 1952 explicitly and specifically deals with the implementation of the principle of equal rights of women and men in the enjoyment and exercise of political rights in accordance with the Charter and Covenant.

In addition, articles seven and eight of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, had also referred to women’s political participation and the right to vote in all elections and referendums, and the right to be elected and participate in determining government policy. It also touched upon appointing women to government positions and conducting government affairs in all levels are emphasized in equal terms with men.

Afghanistan is a member of all these conventions and human rights documents, but however, women’s right to political participation was completely violated, and no women are seen in the cabinet and high government positions. It won’t be a lie to say that women have been completely excluded from the country’s political scene.

Right to hold peaceful protests

Freedom of assembly and protest is one of the fundamental human rights, which is emphasized in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 21 of the Convention on Civil-Political Rights, Conventions No. 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization and other international and regional human rights documents.

All citizens and socio-political forces in a society have the right to make their voices heard by those in power through peaceful civil gatherings and demonstrations. These marches or gatherings come to make these politicians accountable for their policies, plans, actions and behavior.

However, the Taliban has so far tried to suppress the voice of protesters and went to beat, arrest, imprison and torture them. The women, who protest to defend their rights, face severe repressions that even put their lives and their families in serious danger.

Translated from etilaatroz