On Tuesday at 2 PM US Time, the U.S. Commission on Human Rights convened a session in Congress to address the status of women in Afghanistan. The meeting focused on the numerous repercussions and restrictions imposed by the Taliban on Afghan women and girls.
Wahida Amiri and Mitra Mehran, women’s rights activists, spoke at the Human Rights Commission about the harassment faced by women and girls under the auspices of the Taliban. They asserted that the transformation of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs into the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Morality Police Administration) plays a crucial role in further restricting women and girls. Currently, women in Afghanistan have no access to justice or their fundamental human rights. Those who dare to advocate for their rights are met with violent retribution from the Taliban, including threats of gun violence, oppression, imprisonment, and torture, effectively silencing them through force.
These women’s rights activists have called upon the U.S. Congress to recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
Heather Barr, the Associate Women’s Rights Director at Human Rights Watch, stated during the meeting: “The atrocities committed by the Taliban against women during their three years of rule are unimaginable, and this group must be held accountable for the oppression upon women in Afghanistan. Furthermore, she emphasized that women and girls in Afghanistan are currently experiencing and enduring gender apartheid under Taliban governance. The world must acknowledge this phenomenon.”
Rina Amiri, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghan Women, described the plight of Afghan women as catastrophic in her address during the meeting. She stated, “The normalization of relations with the Taliban must be contingent upon the adherence to human rights.”
Additionally, she remarked that indifference towards the violation of women’s rights by the Taliban poses a grave threat to the global human rights landscape.
It is worth noting that Afghan women are currently enduring the darkest days of their lives under Taliban rule, having been deprived of all rights and privileges, while the world remains a mere spectator.
- نویسنده : Afghanistan Women News Agency
- منبع خبر : Afghanistan Women News Agency
