Afghanistan: the land of the rightless women

Translated by Angela Tagliafierro

In Afghanistan, the stoning of the adulterous women has been introduced again. After the requirement of the burqa, after closing the schools and forbidding women to work, the Taliban regime succeeded in completing its main mission: cancelling every mark of human right for women.

The Afghan women must have heard about this news, but not surprisingly. At this point, they will not delude themselves into thinking of living a life worth to be lived.

Taliban are fighting against democracy and leading a crusade against women and their rights. “We promise we will lead a moderate government”. Their last known words before the American army withdrew. Someone even believed them, trusting an extremist group who proved not to recognise the women rights. Or rather, they have never proved to consider women like human beings.

As a matter of fact, since 2021, when the Taliban got power back, they have aimed to create again the whole regime they had established in the nineties, imposing limitations more and more clear towards women. The Charted approved in 2004 was completely emptied, and the Penal Law was replaced by a strict and fundamentalist interpretation of the Sharia. Since 2021, 12 decrees have been launched to restrict the education of women and almost eighteen were launched to restrict their freedom of movement.

We are in 2024 and this process has almost ended: the education for girls over twelve years has been suspended, women are not allowed to work in public and private places, to travel by car or plane alone but accompanied by a male relative, to visit public places (such as parks, gyms, toilets).

Then, stoning is only the last of the violations of human rights of women in Afghanistan. In the chapter on stoning (based on the Sharia), the Iranian Law states that “stones must not be so big to make the condemned person die after the launch of one or two of them; furthermore, they must not be so small to be considered like stones”. It must be an agony. Adulterous women must suffer publicly and be a warning to other women. You will get in trouble.

The supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada affirmed that this could be defined as a violation of the women rights because it is in contrast with the democratic principles symbol of the West World. According to him, the rights longed by Afghan women are in contrast with the Sharia. As a representative of Allah, he must strengthen the Sharia practise in Afghanistan. Who can blame him?

Someone may also wonder how we arrived at this point. The answer is not so difficult: it is not difficult to obtain this result when you have nobody to be accountable. Nobody consider them as culpable for the abuses they have been committing for years. Nobody condemned them, nobody acted concretely. Only words, gone in the dark.

A return to the past? Absolutely not. The situation is worse than in the nineties. The UN experts defined the condition of women in Afghanistan like gender apartheid. This is not a crime codified in the International Law, but maybe it is the moment to move some step towards it.

It is obvious that the international community failed once again. Afghan women have been left alone once again, abandoned by a community which was more efficient only speaking, not acting.

This time words are missing, too. Violations against Afghan women are still ongoing and will be carried on secretly. This is the weapon Taliban have: our silence.

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