The 2021 theme of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is “End violence against women.” This year, Afghan women are now more than ever in need of our advocacy and support for their rights.

16 Days of Activism is an annual international campaign that was established by the Rutgers University Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Today, it is coordinated by UN Women. It enables individuals and organisations around the world to come together to advocate for the prevention and elimination of violence and gender-based discrimination against women and girls (VAWG). The campaign helps to raise awareness about what needs to change to stop the violence, and to highlight the situation of the women that are the most affected, with the aim of creating a more equal world for everyone.

This month, the campaign is 30 years old, and some organisations are choosing to focus on femicide – VAWG that results in death. Up to half of femicides are perpetrated by an intimate partner, but they are also enabled and carried out by political and extremist actors in the community and the public realm. This year, at Monash University’s Gender, Peace and Security Centre, we dedicated our contribution to the 16 Days campaign to women and girls in Afghanistan.

Violence and discrimination have always been the biggest challenge for women, especially in the countries with a history of war and conflict like Afghanistan. Afghan women have fought for their rights and equality for decades. Since 2001, women’s enjoyment of human rights has improved. Women have been able to participate as social activists in their communities. More girls have enrolled in schools and universities. They have played an important role in the economy and politics of the country as employees, business entrepreneurs, representatives, and leaders. But the scenario for Afghan women changed in one day on 14 August 2021. Women lost the rights and freedoms that they had achieved in the past 20 years when the Taliban took  control of the country by force. Emergency actions are needed to protect and support women’s rights in Afghanistan.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council has adopted ten resolutions on “women, peace, and security” to promote gender equality and strengthen women’s participation, protection, and rights in conflict-affected countries, in peace processes, and in post-conflict transitions. However, women in Afghanistan do not have access to basic rights – education, food security, healthcare (including reproductive healthcare), safe housing – or the right to participate in peaceful protest and in the cultural life of the community. While this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign started on November 25, with the global theme of “End violence against women,” women in Afghanistan are facing a system of institutionalised gender-based violence and widespread impunity under an extremist form of Sharia law. Every single human right is under threat with the rule of the Taliban, affecting women, as well as their families and all Afghan communities.

Girls and women are banned from going to school and university and are denied education just because they are female. Even if the Taliban re-opens segregated schools for girls, girls cannot study in their chosen fields. Not only are they unable to follow their interests, more crucially, they will not be able to practice what they have learned through meaningful participation in society, business, and governance. After the Taliban takeover, Afghan women’s political participation declined to zero. Not one single woman is included in the cabinet of the Taliban or in any of its government offices. The swift decision to close the Ministry of Women’s Affairs unequivocally reveals the Taliban’s position against women and their political participation.

Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) gives everyone the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through chosen representatives. The government of the Taliban ignores women’s direct and indirect participation, which not only violates human rights but puts an end to women’s freedom from fear (violence) and from want (poverty). The legal and the institutional mechanisms that catered toward the elimination of violence against women, such as the presence of expert female lawyers, judges, police officers, and the provision of safe shelters for victims/survivors of violence are now a thing of the past.

In a country that has experienced more than three decades of war with many civilian and military casualties, including the loss of male relatives, many women have become widows or de facto breadwinners for their families. The protection gap for widows in conflict and post-conflict states was the subject of an Arria Formula Meeting in the Security Council last month. Losing the right to employment violates women’s rights and creates economic hardship at the same time for families that are reliant on women’s  employment. In this context, some families have had to sell their children to ensure their survival. With more than half of society prohibited from working outside the home, the long-term damage to the economy and development of Afghanistan will be irreparable.

The Taliban has not just undermined the economy and the education system of Afghanistan, it has also destroyed the achievements of women in the arts, music, and sport, with many renowned athletes, artists, and musicians fleeing the country. Women’s sports and artistic endeavours are now invisible in Afghanistan. Women’s humanity has been erased. It is as if women no longer exist as people. All Afghan sports teams, men’s and women’s, have lost the opportunity to participate in international competitions precisely at the moment the developing, conflict-affected country needs people who can promote physical and mental health and well-being for both individuals and the community.

There are many more challenges, violations of human rights, and violence, which Afghan women and girls are experiencing every day because of their secondary gender-based status. They cannot easily raise their voices against this suffering since there is no freedom of speech in Afghanistan, and women have been killed just for participating in peaceful protests. Today, when women in Afghanistan cannot conduct their own 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, it is our individual responsibility as members of the international community, that both benefit from and support human rights, to advocate for Afghan women and girls and stand with them. States and international actors that have committed to fighting for gender equality in their (feminist) foreign policies and in multilateral fora also have a role to play in upholding human rights, and protecting the security and freedoms of women and girls. The ambition of 16 Days of Activism is its effort to create a world united against gender-based violence. The global campaign will continue until every single woman and girl in the world is free from violence and discrimination.

Parisa Sekandari is a law graduate from Herat university. As part of her professional career, she worked as the country director for Afghanistan Vis Alumni Network and as a regional coordinator for Afghans for Progressive thinking. She has previously served as lecturer at Law and Political science faculty of Herat University. Currently she is working with Monash university. 

Jacqui True is Professor of Politics & International Relations and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University, Australia. She is also Director of the Monash Centre for Gender, Peace and Security.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Licence and may be republished with attribution.