The Taliban took over Afghanistan, left the entire world stunned. Ever since women in the country are worried about losing their civil rights.
Recently, forty-seven countries came together and expressed their concern about the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Women were compelled to cover their bodies and faces in a burqa and were not allowed to attend school during the Taliban’s previous administration. They were not allowed to leave the house unless accompanied by a male relative.
Women’s status in Afghanistan, even during the non-Taliban rule, was not fantastic in the last few decades. “The Afghan woman is the most victimised within her own home,” says Parveen, an activist from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), who had fought so valiantly for women’s rights throughout the Taliban era and even earlier mentioned that the persons that abuse her the most are her father, husband, and brother. “There is a lot of domestic violence in many homes, women are compelled to wear the burqa, and girls are not permitted to go to school, college, or work,” she adds.
The images of women emerging from Afghanistan right now are of abhaya-wearing, traumatised women attempting to flee Kabul.
The Taliban are now making politically correct statements on allowing girls’ education, women to work, and so on. But it is hard to believe.
However, A joint statement on the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan was released by the EU’s 20+ nations. “Afghan women and girls, like all Afghans, deserve to live in a safe, secure, and dignified environment. Discrimination and abuse of any kind should be avoided at all costs,” the joint statement further read.
“We in the international community stand ready to assist them with humanitarian aid and support, to ensure that their voices can be heard.” “We will monitor closely how any future government ensures rights and freedoms that have become an integral part of the life of women and girls in Afghanistan during the last twenty years,” it added.
It is high time that the international community must unitedly come forward to support the women of Afghanistan, instead of expressing pity towards them and make the world better for women by ensuring their basic human rights.
Image Courtesy: Twitter
