ATLANTA (Pajhwok): The caretaker government’s restrictions on Afghan women and girls may amount to femicide if they are not reversed, a team of United Nations experts has warned.
Since it seized power in August 2021, the IEA has barred women from most jobs and workplaces and girls cannot go to school beyond the sixth grade.
Women are also banned from public spaces and must cover themselves from head to toe outside the home.
In a statement on Friday, the UN experts accused the caretaker government of “most extreme forms of misogyny” and said there could be multiple preventable deaths that may amount to femicide if the restrictions were not lifted.
The restrictive measures and bans imposed by the IEA have caused international condemnation and outrage, but the government authorities have shown no sign of willingness to lift them.
“Unless the restrictions are reversed rapidly, the stage may be set for multiple preventable deaths that could amount to femicide,” said the experts, who shared their preliminary observations from an eight-day trip to Afghanistan.
The bans have reportedly contributed to an increase in the rates of child marriages and forced marriages, as well as the growth of gender-based violence “perpetrated with impunity,” the statement said.
The UN experts noted, however, that gender-based discrimination in Afghanistan precedes the Taliban rule and is engrained in society.
They urged the international community not to use Afghan women and girls for political purposes, saying their rights should never be a negotiation tool.
Appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, the experts include Richard Bennett, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and the head of the working group on discrimination against women and girls, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck.
Last year, the UN had said the caretaker government’s treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan might amount to a crime against humanity and should be investigated and prosecuted under international law.
However, the statement by the world body was rejected by the IEA, calling the curbs on females Afghanistan’s internal matter.
sa/mud
