The Taliban regime in Afghanistan is sending women to prison to stop the threat of gender-based violence, according to a United Nations (UN) report published Thursday.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has said this confinement “would amount to an arbitrary deprivation of liberty” and that “confining women who are already in a situation of vulnerability in a punitive environment would also likely have a negative impact on their mental and physical health, revictimization and put them at risk of discrimination and stigmatization upon release”.
Taliban authorities told the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that women who don’t have a male relative to with, or whose male relatives are deemed a threat to their safety, are being sent to prison.
It was unclear if the orders were based on court referrals but the report states that where some de facto (Taliban) officials “had safety concerns for a survivor, she would be sent to the women’s prison, for her protection, akin to how prisons have been used to accommodate drug addicts and homeless people in Kabul”.
Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, the UN report said there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centres in Afghanistan where survivors of gender-based violence could seek refuge.
None of these shelters exist anymore as the Taliban has described them as a Western concept and told the UN there was no need for them.
The UN’s report is a snapshot of legal and judicial responses by the Taliban to complaints of gender-based violence against women and girls. It covers incidents from August 2021 through March 2023, including murders, honour killings and rapes.
“The lack of clear delineation of responsibilities among the various de facto institutions on the handling of complaints of gender-based violence against women and girls and referrals between entities creates a gap in accountability for justice actors and makes it difficult for women and girls to know which entity to approach when they have a gender-based violence complaint,” said the report.
Women denied human rights in Afghanistan
Afghanistan ranks as the worst place in the world to be a woman, according to this year’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) index, which measures a country’s inclusion, justice and security for its female population.
In early July this year, the Taliban announced beauty salons – a traditionally safe space for women – would be forced to close across the country. Beauty salons were often run by women, and may have been the only source of income for households.
Afghan women are also barred from parks, gyms, denied a post-secondary education, cannot work (except in health care and some private businesses) and can’t leave the house without a male chaperone.
Many Afghan women have escaped the Taliban’s regime by fleeing to Pakistan. However, since October 31 of this year, a deadline from the Pakistani government has seen more than 200,000 Afghans cross back into Afghanistan where they’re at grave risk of being persecuted.
“Afghan women have been denied the most basic human rights in what can only be described as gender apartheid,” said Vrinda Narain, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law in McGill University’s Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.
“The world needs resolute collective international action to end the war on women.”