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The Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Agenda:
Deliberation on the role of technology and education in achieving
gender equality with special emphasis on the political and economic
empowerment of women.
Delegate name:
Jane Leslie Pilmenraj.
Committee:
United Nations Commission on Status of Women
Date: 30|10|23.
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Exordium
Protests in Afghanistan for women’s right started in 1919 and have been ongoing
ever since. Their most prominent battle has been for acknowledgement and to be
valued. Women’s education has been banned by Taliban, despite the revolts;
Taliban has chosen to ignore all their pleas. During the previous years, women
rights have been violated persistently despite undertaking that women would be
allowed to practice their rights within Sharia Laws including women’s right to
study and work.
Women have been discouraged and targeted, mainly because of their gender for
participating in politics. They have been excluded from important decisions. They
have been subjected to harassment, contemn and disdain for even attempting to be
a part of the government. We hope to overcome these obstacles and give everyone
equal rights.
Current Status of Women in Afghanistan
In 2002, after years of being denied their rights under the previous Taliban regime,
Afghan women celebrated International Women’s Day full of hope. It stressed that
world support for x their rights should go beyond expressions of solidarity.
Despite struggles, Afghan women and girls made steady advances towards
fulfilling their human rights. However, the situation has significantly regressed to
the pre-2002 period, and women are denied their fundamental rights and freedoms
including the rights to education, to work, to the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health, freedom of movement and freedom from fear and want
and from discrimination.
Later, girls in Afghanistan have been banned from secondary school and women
from tertiary education. Women and girls have been banned from entering
amusement parks, public baths, gyms and sports clubs. Women have been banned
from working in NGO offices.
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Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, women have
been wholly excluded from public office and the judiciary. Today, Afghanistan’s
women and girls are required to adhere to a strict dress code and are not permitted
to travel more than 75 km without a mahram. They are compelled to stay at home.
All over the country, women report feeling invisible, isolated, suffocated. Many
are unable to have their basic needs met without access to employment or aid,
including access to medical healthcare and psychological support in particular for
victims of violence, including sexual violence. It’s a sobering reminder of how
swiftly and aggressively women’s and girls’ rights can be taken away.
When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, women were
among the most profoundly affected. While the end of fighting offered a respite,
particularly for women in rural areas, others’ lives have been severely constricted.
20 years of gains made under Western occupation unravel as the new government
issued edict after edict scrubbing women from public life.
Situation to be addressed
Before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, many women and
girls were already struggling to receive adequate healthcare.
A May 2021 Human Rights Watch report found that, after two decades of conflict
in Afghanistan, there was an “an unmet need” for modern forms of contraception;
that prenatal and postnatal care, as well as cancer treatment, pap smears and
mammograms, were often unavailable or nonexistent; and that medical facilities
often lacked staffing and essential supplies
Epidemics of polio, measles, malaria, dengue, cholera and COVID-19 had further
strained the country’s healthcare system. HRW previously found that nearly 10%
of the population had to travel more than two hours to reach a medical facility, and
nearly half had to travel more than 30 minutes. That could mean women without a
male guardian, or mahram, might not be able to visit a healthcare
professional. Some news outlets have reported on Taliban officials preventing
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doctors from treating women without a mahram. And even women who have
a mahram may not feel comfortable discussing certain needs, such as reproductive
care, in front of the guardian.
Women's education can help with the capabilities development of Afghan women,
which in turn can enable them to play their part in the country's development. Girls
had been banned from school beyond sixth grade soon after the Taliban returned to
power in August 2021. Afghanistan is the only country in the world with bans on
female education. Since December 2022, women are no longer allowed to study.
There are some courses which continue via online teaching, but the female students
are no longer permitted to take the examinations. Without education, girls face an
even higher risk of being exploited, maltreated or married off early. Their chances
of later studying or finding a good job then disappear.
Since the Taliban took power, professional opportunities for women have been
severely restricted. Many women lost their jobs. Others are only allowed to
continue if they work from home. Women who still have a job have to be
accompanied by a mahram. In Afghanistan, the labor force participation rate
among females is 16.5%. This loss of employment for women has pushed many
families even deeper into poverty. Women working with humanitarian projects,
which are urgently needed, have frequently been hindered in their work or
prevented from carrying it out.
As of April 2023, Afghan women are no longer allowed to work for the UN. And
the situation is similar in the education and healthcare sectors. Female doctors are
not permitted to treat male patients or work together with their male colleagues.
Since the seizure of power by the Taliban, 84 per cent of journalists stopped
working because of the fear of repression. Those who do continue are placing their
lives at risk. Female lawyers and judges have mostly been excluded from their
work.
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Lack of reliable electricity and IT infrastructure are formidable barriers to internet
access for all Afghans, but social norms and restrictions also mean internet access
skews heavily toward Afghan men. In 2022, 25% of men reported having access
versus 6% of women. These figures have been relatively stable in recent years,
though the percentage of women who report having access rebounded somewhat
last year from a low of 2% in 2021.
Background
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan 1979 to support the tottering Afghan
communist regime, touching off a long and destructive war. The USSR withdrew
in 1989 under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-communist
mujahidin rebels. A series of subsequent civil wars saw Kabul finally fall in 1996
to the Taliban, a hard-line Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to
end the country's civil war and anarchy. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist
attacks, a US, Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled
the Taliban for sheltering Usama BIN LADIN.
A UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 established a process for political
reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution, a presidential
election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005. In December 2004,
Hamid KARZAI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan
and was reelected in August 2009. The Taliban conducted an insurgency for two
decades against the Afghan Government and international forces from the United
States and other countries. In February 2020, the US and the Taliban signed an
agreement that led to the withdrawal from Afghanistan of international forces in
exchange for commitments on counterterrorism and other assurances. The Taliban
seized control of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.
Conclusion
UN Women is on the ground in Afghanistan, supporting Afghan women and girls
every day. The in-country strategy centres on investing in women—from scaling
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up support to women’s organizations and women humanitarian workers delivering
life-saving services, to investing in women-led businesses. This work could not
have been possible without the instrumental support of our Afghan women staff.
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