The Taliban Movement was a Sunni Islamist fundamentalist movement that successfully ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. The Taliban government has been severely condemned for violating the human rights of women.
They were compelled to wear ‘burqa’ of specific length and slight variation could result in public punishment, as women were beaten with thin sticks at the ankles for wearing burqas that were ‘too short’. Moreover, the women were deprived of elementary education and voting as well.
Today, there is no such regime in Afghanistan so the rhetoric situation should be... woman and man working together in all the walks of life. However, this is not the actual picture.
The living condition of women folk in Afghanistan is so bleak that they prefer self- immolation since they consider it to be the only way out to escape the harshness of life in this conservative and violence-plagued country.
A case like the previous one has come up again and this time, a sixteen-year-old girl has become the victim of this pernicious trend... a trend of detesting life and giving oneself to immolation.
After marrying a forty-year-old man, Gulsum, a sixteen-year-old girl’s life became miserable. It started to deteriorate further as her husband, became accustomed to heroin, alcohol and started manhandling her. The abuse became worse when she confronted him about his addictions, unable to bear any longer, she took the extreme step of self-immolation by dousing herself with gas and letting herself to ablaze.
This is one such case, which has become known, but there are lots of them that are still covered in the name of religion or some ‘psychological problem’.
Present scenario:
Statistically, there were 93 such cases last year and 54 so far this year and more than 70 percent of these women have passed away.
Womankind Worldwide says millions of Afghan women and girls continue to face systematic discrimination and violence in their households and communities. However, guarantees given to Afghan women after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 have not translated into real change.
These abuses including rapes, assaults and other such crimes are being committed with total impunity by government forces and armed political groups who are prepared to terrorize the civilian population in order to secure and reinforce their power bases.
Who could be the culprits:
While frequently claiming that they wish to ‘restore’ religious, ethnic and humane standards, those engaged in the fighting have persistently indulged in widespread human rights abuses and looting of property. Even non-violent groups such as women’s organizations have been systematically targeted for attacks. Consequent upon which, women find no shelter to shed their grievances.
What could be done:
1. Issuing a clear warning to the military factions in Afghanistan that the world’s governments will not ignore abuses of human rights against women and other civilians.
2. Ensuring that standards set out in international humanitarian and human rights law designed to protect women’s rights are upheld in Afghanistan. At present, women who are working to promote development, equality and peace in Afghanistan risk imprisonment, torture and other human rights violations and abuses.
3. Publicly state their commitment, ensuring that the intergovernmental bodies which monitor human rights violations against women, including the UN Commission on Human Rights and its Special Reporter on violence against women , the UN Commission of the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, have adequate resources to carry out their tasks effectively.
4. Support education and training programs in Afghanistan designed to promote awareness of women’s rights as human rights.
5. All governments, particularly those in Pakistan and Iran, to respect fully the rights of Afghan refugees and offer them adequate protection, both at border-posts and in refugee camps.
Comments
Its ridiculous… the cases of human right abuse had been the daily story during the Talibani regime in Afghanistan. Still it is going on is really shocking. What is the advantage of change of the government in Afghanistan if the old story continues. Women are taking the extreme steps to self-immolate themselves is really thought provoking for the whole humanity.
Violation of womens’ rights in Afghanistan despite regime change is deeply regrettable. The country should empower the She Forceto a curb out crimes against women.
These heartrending incidents are really force to ruminate that do we have a right that we called ourself human. why still we dont want to give them equal level... And in Afghanistan where taliban consider women merely a materialistic thing. Why they forget that to whom they are behaving like animals, is someone mother, sister or wife.
These barbaric practices cannot be curb by imposing strict laws but we have to change the mentality of people. and i think women too, have to raise their voice... i know, who initially raise the voice will face the atrocity. but we they dont have any alternative. one has to take initiative.