A group of women protested Monday in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, over the Taliban-installed ban on education from sixth grade onwards and for depriving women of work.
«We call on the United Nations and the international community to pay attention to us and save women from these violations of their rights,» protested Marghalare, a former employee of the Afghan Interior Ministry, according to the news portal Tolo.
Some young women have gone so far as to display their educational documents on large banners. «The document we have in our hands is useless because we are all at home and have no work,» said Shokoria, one of the protesters.
The protest, called by the Movement of Powerful Women of Afghanistan, was repressed by the country’s police authorities with violence, intimidation and humiliation. According to witnesses, the officers allegedly broke these banners to disperse the crowd, as reported by the Jaama news agency.
This comes after the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said that the country has established severe restrictions and barriers aimed at making women «invisible» in society, a setback he described as «unprecedented», according to the agency.
The Taliban authorities have faced criticism over the closure of schools and the exclusion of female students from them, amid a raft of discriminatory measures against women that keep them away from their jobs and govern aspects of their daily lives.
Since then, there have been sporadic women-led protests in Afghanistan to demand rights. The various policies implemented by the Taliban have been condemned by UN agencies and the international community.
Women have suffered setbacks in the workplace, but also in education, to the point that Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world that prevents girls from accessing secondary education. Some 3.4 million girls and adolescents are out of the education system, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
