The Taliban government in Afghanistan has been sending female abuse survivors to prison while claiming that it is for their “protection,” a new United Nations report has revealed.
These survivors of gender-based violence are sent to prison in case they don’t have a male guardian or a male relative with whom they could feel “safe”.
The report also highlighted that the Taliban regime has shut down as many as 23 state-sponsored women’s shelters because they feel that there is no need for such shelters in Afghanistan. These shelters were a ray of hope for women who had nowhere to go and no one to turn to before the Taliban took over the country.
One of the Taliban officials told UN representatives that such shelters are a western concept. He stressed that women should stay with their brothers, fathers, or husbands.
Women are scared of reaching out to Taliban officials for justice since there is no mechanism in place and there is no guarantee that their complaints will be addressed justly.
“It remained unclear which de facto formal justice actor is responsible for which action(s) along the justice chain when it came to the handling and processing of gender-based
violence complaints from women and girls,” noted the report.
15-year-old Arzo was once a carefree and fun-loving teenager. Now she’s fighting for her life after drinking battery acid to escape reality. @CNN correspondent @amcoren reports on the surging suicides in Afghanistan under misogynistic Taliban rule. pic.twitter.com/VPzDCFlTWo
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) December 16, 2023
“Some de facto officials stated that in instances where they had safety concerns for a survivor, she would be sent to the women’s prison, for her protection, akin to how prisons have been used to accommodate drug addicts and homeless people in Kabul,” read an excerpt from the report.
For the last two years, Afghan nationals have been forced to abide by strict Sharia laws and a strict apartheid system that has been implemented by the Taliban.
The de facto Ministry of Interior says that all cases of violence against women are solved according to Sharia laws. Sharia represents the moral code and religious law of a prophetic religion and is the expression of Allah’s command for Muslim societies.
If civilians fail to conform to their extreme leaders, they are handed physical punishment and prison sentences.
After Western forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, women and girls lost all rights to a dignified life. According to UN Women, more than 50 orders and restrictions targeting women and young girls have been implemented in the country.
The Taliban have waged a war against women. They had taken the same approach in the 1990s as well. During their rule in the 1990s, women were not allowed to get an education or step outside without a male chaperone.
A UN report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan revealed that women continue to face “restrictions in their movement, attire, employment options, and ability to seek public office or perform the public role”.
Women and girls are not allowed to attend colleges or schools. They have been essentially erased from public spaces. The United Nations has even labelled the Taliban’s actions in Afghanistan as “gender-based apartheid.”
Women are being systematically targeted by the regime in Afghanistan. They face harsh punishment if they violate any of the restrictions imposed by the government.
Afghanistan in the 90s:
No one expected the Taliban to do any better than the 1990s when it came to respecting human rights. However, people did not expect that the group won’t change its ways at all.
The complete annihilation of a humane society, which began in August 2021 in Afghanistan, is gradually reaching its tipping point. The group had promised a moderate approach this time according to their interpretation of Sharia law, however, their approach is far from moderate.
The government has again started amputating, lashing, and executing people for petty crimes such as theft and robbery.
During their rule in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, the group would often execute, shoot, amputate, and flog people publicly for crimes of murder, robbery, and prostitution. Sometimes the bodies of people would be put on display. The Kandahar stadium has witnessed many of these heinous punishments.
Last year, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) revealed that 2,106 civilian casualties—700 killed and 1,406 wounded—have been recorded in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.
