Tag: Women

Poverty Impacts on Efforts to End Child Marriage, say Parliamentarians — Global Issues

Ricksani Alice, 19, who was married at a young age but is now back in school hoping to complete her education thanks to the Spotlight Initiative talks with UNFPA Gender Programme Officer Beatrice Kumwenda at Tilimbike Safe Community Space in Chiludzi village, Dowa, Malawi on November 2, 2020. Credit: UNFPA ESARO
  • by Cecilia Russell (johannesburg)
  • Inter Press Service

Johannesburg, Sep 29 (IPS) – Child marriage continues to be a scourge in many African countries – despite legislation and efforts of many, including parliamentarians, to keep girls in school and create brighter futures for them. This was the view of participants in a recent webinar held under the auspices of the African Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA) and UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO).

The webinar, supported by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and the Japan Trust Fund, heard how progressive legislation prohibiting marriage for adolescents under 18, and in one case, 21, was not enough to stop the practice.

Dr Kiyoko Ikegami, Executive Director, and Secretary General, APDA, noted in her opening address that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected child marriage prevention programmes and increased poverty and inequality, which was a driving force in child marriages.

Chinwe Ogbonna, UNFPA ESARO Regional Director a.i, said while there had been considerable achievements since the 1994 ICPD conference in Egypt – the work was not yet done.

She encouraged the parliamentarians to commit themselves to actions they agreed to at a regional meeting in Addis Ababa in June, which included “amplifying evidence-based advocacy.” In Africa, she said, teenage pregnancy and HIV prevalence are high. Gender-based violence was on the rise, and femicide and the harmful practices of child marriage, and female genital mutilation continued.

The webinar heard from members of parliament in various countries across the African continent.

Fredrick Outa, from Kenya, FPA Vice-President, told the delegates that while Kenya had made ambitious commitments, FGM was an area of concern. Kenya was committed to strengthening coordination in legislation and policy framework, communication and advocacy, integration and support, and cross-border cooperation to eliminate FGM.

Kenya aimed to eliminate GBV and child and forced marriages by “addressing social and cultural norms that propagate the practice while providing support to affected women and girls.”

An MP from Zambia, Princess Kasune, said it was of concern that the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) of 2018 indicated that 29 percent of women aged 20-24 reported being married before 18. The country had various programmes to address this, including partnering with traditional rulers and civil society to fight early child marriage.

“Chiefs and headmen have made commitments in the fight against child marriage …. Traditional rulers are themselves champions in the fight against child marriage,” Kasune said.

She said the practice continues even though the Marriage Act prescribes 21 as the minimum age for marriage.

However, customary law differed, and there needed to be consistency in legislation.

The other crucial campaign against early marriages was to keep children in school. While the government had employed 30 000 teachers in rural areas, more was needed.

“Keeping children in school was critical to lowering the incidence of child marriage,” Kasune said.

Muwuma Milton, MP Uganda, agreed that culture played a part in eliminating harmful practices like child marriage. The country was applying a multifaceted approach to eliminating this – including school feeding schemes, providing sanitary packs for girls, and encouraging young mothers to return to school after delivery.

“A challenge is that the country has unmet needs for family planning services, which stands at 30%, and there is a culture that believes that once a girl reaches menstruation age, they are old enough to get married,” Milton said.

Matthew Ngwale, an MP from Malawi, noted that his country adhered to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol that condemns the marriage of people under 18. The Malawian constitution, Marriage, Divorce, the Family Relations Act (2015), and the Childcare Justice and Protection Act all reinforce this policy.

But, Ngwale said, despite “progressive legislation, Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, where approximately 42% of girls get married before the age of 18, and 9% are below the age of 15. Approximately 7% of boys marry before the age of 18.”

He also noted that child marriage is higher in rural than urban areas. Rural girls are 1.6 times more likely to marry early than their urban counterparts.

Poverty is a clear driver, with women in the predominantly ‘poor’ south marrying at a slightly lower age than those in the ‘wealthier’ north and central regions.

“In Malawi, children from more impoverished families are twice as likely to marry early than those from wealthier families,” Ngwale said, and in a country where data shows that 51.5% of the people live below the poverty line, which is higher in rural areas at 60% compared to urban areas at 18%.

Traditional initiation practices, done as part of a rite of passage when a girl reaches puberty, encouraged early sexual activity, Ngwale said, and the prevalence of child marriage is higher among matrilineal than patrilineal groups.

“Due to food insecurity, child marriage often becomes a more likely coping mechanism as families seek to reduce the burden of feeding the family,” he said.

Climatic challenges, such as droughts and floods, have become more frequent and catastrophic.

Child marriage impacts secondary school completion rates. In Malawi, only 45% of girls stay in school beyond 8th grade.

“Most young girls who leave school due to child marriage have few opportunities to earn a living, making them more vulnerable to GBV. Child marriage lowers women’s expected earnings in adulthood by between 1.4% and 15.6%,” he said.

However, the Malawi government had created a conducive environment for civil society organizations to work with the government to end child marriage – including the official Girls Not Brides National Partnership.

Pamela Majodina, MP Republic of South Africa, told the webinar the country was committed to the objectives of ICPD25. It has passed laws, including the Domestic Violence Act, Children’s Act, Sexual Offences Act, and Child Justice Act, where it is a criminal offense to have sex with a child under 16 – regardless of consent.

Goodlucky Kwaramba, MP Zimbabwe, said her country was committed to reducing teenage pregnancies from 21.6% to 12% by 2030 and delivering comprehensive Family Planning services by 2030.

An MP from Eswatini, Sylvia Mthethwa, said her country, with 73 percent of the population below 35 and youth unemployment at 47 percent, was committed to ensuring that youth was front of mind. While senators were mobilizing financial resources, the National Youth Policy and National Youth Operational Plan had been developed.

Meanwhile, in Tanzania, some successes were already recorded Dr Thea Ntara, MP Tanzania, said rural areas were fully supported in the rollout of free ARVs, and adolescent and youth-friendly SRH services have been available in more than 63% of all health facilities since 2017.

Note: The webinar series is based on a recommendation of the African and Asian Parliamentarians’ meeting to Follow-Up on ICPD25 Commitments held in June 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

IPS UN Bureau Report


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© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service



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Forced out of school, but refusing to give up on education in Afghanistan — Global Issues

year after the Taliban takeover, 17-year-old Mursal Fasihi is still in disbelief that she cannot go back to school. Once a dedicated student, Ms. Fasihi – like all girls of secondary school age – has been unable to return to the classroom due to rules imposed by the country’s de facto leadership.

“It is not right that they are deciding for us, ordering us to go with mahram [a male companion], that we should hide our faces, and stop going to school,” she says, referring to the series of directives that have effectively restricted women and girls from participating in public life.

The last time Ms. Fasihi saw the inside of a school was when she took her final examination for 11th grade in July 2021. A month later, the Taliban swept across Afghanistan, which ended with the fall of Kabul on 15 August.

‘I miss my friends, my teachers and my school’

Some of her friends were able to leave Afghanistan and are now continuing their education overseas. “I really miss my friends, my teachers, and my school. My school was a great place but now I can’t go there,” she says.

Her dreams of becoming a doctor are now uncertain. But her hope will not be extinguished. To fill her time and still feel productive, Ms. Fasihi joined the Youth Peer Educators Network (Y-PEER), a regional initiative led by and for youth, supported by the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA.

Y-PEER focuses on building young people’s life skills to deal with the challenges that they face. Ms. Fasihi joined a training session last July and is now one of the 25 trainers for Y-PEER in Afghanistan.

The training opened her eyes to various issues young Afghans face on a daily basis. As an educated young woman in the city of Kabul, she had not realized how many girls, especially young girls living in poverty or in remote areas, suffer from negative experiences such as early marriage and adolescent pregnancy.

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An unprecedented increase in poverty

The unprecedented increase in poverty, resulting from the economic crisis that came with the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, has brought to the fore discussions about these concerns. Out of desperation, many families have resorted to marrying off their young daughters, offloading responsibility for their care and protection.

“It is sad because how can a child bring another child into this world and raise them?” Ms. Fasihi points out. “At our age, we are just children. We should be studying, aiming for great things. It’s not time for us to get married yet.”

Waiting for the dark cloud to pass

Although Ms. Fasihi’s desire for a formal education is on hold indefinitely, she finds meaning and purpose in being a peer educator for others.

In addition to teaching youth about the harms of early marriage and adolescent pregnancy, she is able to share her hope for a better future.

“When the dark cloud passes, we will see a bright morning,” she told UNFPA.

“I hope that young girls will not give up. It is ok to be scared, it is ok to cry, but giving up is not an option. I hope they will continue learning in any way they can. Inshallah, maybe someone will help us, or the schools will reopen,” she said. “Our bright morning will come.”

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The New Cold War Over Access To Safe Abortion in Kenya — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Stephanie Musho, Ritah Anindo Obonyo (nairobi)
  • Inter Press Service

NAIROBI, Sep 22 (IPS) – Fatuma is a 24 year old girl from Korogocho, an informal settlement in Nairobi. She died in December 2021, from complications arising from an unsafe abortion. Her friend and a few of her neighbors found her bleeding profusely and unable to move. They rushed her to the hospital. Unfortunately, she died before she could see the doctor.

Unfortunately, Fatuma’s story is common for girls and women in Kenya. In fact, at least 7 of them die every day from complications arising from unsafe abortion. Worse still, is that with current trends – where 700 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are getting pregnant daily; the harrowing statistics on abortions are likely to be worse. If Fatuma knew where she could access safe abortion services, she would not have died.

Despite the Constitution of Kenya providing for three instances where safe abortion is permitted, the right to choose if and when to become pregnant as well as terminate pregnancies continues to be one of the most contested debates across the world. In Kenya, there has been considerable progress in promoting reproductive justice with the judicial arm of the government advancing the law. An example is the Malindi case(Petition E009 of 2020) that re-affirmed that abortion is a fundamental right as provided for in the Constitution.

Additionally, the court outlawed arbitrary arrests of trained healthcare providers and people seeking safe abortion within Constitutional limits. Nonetheless, these gains are under attack in what Kenyans are calling the new cold war. That is, the fight between pro-gender and reproductive justice proponents, against anti-choice subscribers.

In the past few years, there have been a series of events affecting both the social, political and legal environment for access to life-saving safe abortion services. Firstly, was the arbitrary withdrawal of the National Standards and Guidelines for Reducing Maternal Mortality and Morbidity in 2013. A year after they were reinstated by the High Court, the Ministry of Health suspended all training of medical abortion providers.

In July this year, the Ministry of Health launched the National Reproductive Health Policy(2022-2032), an unjust policy that did not follow due process in its enactment including the need for representative public participation as provided by Article 118 of the Constitution. The policy also leaves out a section of the population in access to reproductive health as it enforces parental consent and does not consider deaths and complications from unsafe abortion as a public health issue despite the statistics.

Additionally, consider the sustained attack on women’s health rights by opposition groups led by far-right extremist organization CitizenGO. They work to negate human rights under the guise of Christianity. They pay hungry and unsuspecting Kenyan youth to trend hashtags that intentionally amplify lies and half-truths about sexual and reproductive health and rights issues, especially abortion, LGBTI+ rights and sexuality education.

They continue to influence public opinion; and regressive laws and policies the world over, including in Kenya. Ironically, the organization which is headquartered in Madrid, is heavily funded by institutions in and individuals from the global north, yet maintain that sexual and reproductive health and rights is a foreign agenda to Africa – and must be rejected.

CitizenGO has in the past run smear campaigns against reproductive justice. These have included Hon. Susan Kihika (former Senator – and now Governor of Nakuru County) for sponsoring the Reproductive Health Bill 2019 in the Senate. This Bill would have provided a much needed legal framework on a wide range of reproductive issues such as assisted reproduction – which continue to operate in a vacuum.

Further, they have bullied Hon. Esther Passaris on social media for hosting a Christmas party for sex workers. Recently, they trolled Hon. Mukulia the sponsor of the East East Africa Community Sexual Reproductive Health Bill and called for his dismissal from the East Africa Legislative Assembly.

Critics could advance religious arguments to counter safe abortion and the rights of gender minorities. However, it is worth noting that these beliefs are subjective. Moreover, Kenya is a secular state that operates the doctrine of church-state separation. This principle creates distance between the two; recognizing that morality and religion are subjective.

Besides, the Constitution operates a robust Bill of Rights that are legally binding – and not mere suggestions. In addition to expanding the right to safe abortion in Article 26(4), it explicitly provides for the right to the highest attainable standard of reproductive health in Article 43. Additionally, it protects the right to privacy and human dignity. CitizenGO and such like organizations must therefore operate within the ambit of the laws of the Republic.

While the outcomes of these fights are denial of information and services for marginalized groups; this fight is not just about access to services and information. It is about unequal power relations. There are people who are giving big monies towards initiatives that work to curtail human rights and freedoms; permeating government, media and other key sectors against progress.

It is therefore dire that as supporters of sexual and reproductive health and rights, we invest time and resources studying the ever-changing strategies and tactics opponents use to undermine these rights and re-strategize for the war at hand. We must prioritize movement building and reproductive rights resilience. Until then, girls and women in Kenya – and beyond, will continue to die preventable deaths.

Stepanie is a human rights lawyer and a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Ritah is the Youth Project Coordinator at Reproductive Health Network, Kenya.

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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New UN guide helps support perinatal mental healthcare in ‘stigma-free’ environment — Global Issues

Life-altering moments like pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood can be stressful for women and their partners, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

It can trigger a period of poor mental health or lead to a worsening of previous mental health conditions.

Moreover, among women with perinatal mental health conditions – just before and shortly after giving birth – around 20 per cent will experience suicidal thoughts or undertake acts of self-harm, said WHO.

Guiding with cultural sensitivity

Ignoring mental fitness not only risks women’s overall health and well-being, but also impacts infants’ physical and emotional development.

The UN health agency’s new guide for integration of perinatal mental health in maternal and child health services upholds that good mental health can improve health outcomes  and the quality of maternal and child health services for all women.

And it compliments other services, including screening, diagnosis and management of PMH conditions into maternal and child health (MCH) – highlighted in the Nurturing Care Framework; WHO recommendations on maternal and newborn care for a positive postnatal experience; and the WHO guideline on improving Early Childhood Development.

The guide provides the best available information aimed at supporting MCH providers in identifying symptoms of mental health problems and responding in a way that is adapted to their local and cultural context.

Planning guide

“The guide provides an evidence-informed approach for planning the integration of perinatal mental healthcare into MCH services and assessing its impact,” said the UN health agency.

WHO outlined that effective integration requires, for example, a core team responsible to oversee it, a situation analysis and needs assessment to identify a feasible package of interventions that meet women’s needs during the perinatal period, and adequate workforce training and supervision to deliver services.

“MCH services during the perinatal period represent a unique opportunity to support women in a respectful and stigma-free environment,” said the UN health agency.

This, in turn, leads to increased attendance and better engagement in care for women and their babies and greater well-being and advancement of society.



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Female genital mutilation ‘amounts to torture,’ impunity must end — Global Issues

Following criminal proceedings over the death of a 21-year-old student who was subject to the brutal practice in the Bonthe District, three Special Rapporteurs issued a statement condemning female genital mutilation as “a grave form of violence against women and girls that amounts to torture”.

“It violates the fundamental rights of its victims, including their physical integrity and rights not to be subject to torture or other cruel treatment and to life, sexual and reproductive health,” they said.

Deep-rooted practice

Discriminatory customs are entrenched in social norms and configurations of power, inevitably tied to one’s status and place in communities, the experts said.

“Much like other harmful practices of similar nature, female genital mutilation reflects and perpetuates a broader trend of gender inequality”.

The three stressed that female genital mutilation can neither be normalized nor used as a justification to invoke sociocultural and religious customs to the detriment of the wellbeing of women and girls.

“They must be construed in line with the broader trend of gender-based violence, which simply cannot continue with impunity,” spelled out the Special Rapporteurs.

Judicial justice needed

According to reports, the criminal proceedings against one of the perpetrators charged with female genital mutilation that led to the victim’s death have been impeded by the systemic failure to protect women and girls.

“The lack of a dedicated and enforceable legislation that expressly criminalizes and punishes female genital mutilation is hindering judicial or other investigation into and persecution of these harmful practices and unlawful killings,” the experts said.

“Laws and policies need to provide clear accountability frameworks and disciplinary sanctions with respect to female genital mutilation,” they said.

Supporting women

The UN experts urged the Sierra Leone Government to establish a comprehensive set of legal prohibitions, including through strengthening the memoranda of understanding with local practitioners and amending the Child Rights Act to explicitly prohibit the performance of female genital mutilation to girls under the age of 18.

In the meantime, they welcomed the President’s announcement of his intention to support a bill on risk-free motherhood, which will help improve access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls.

“Sierra Leone is taking concrete and meaningful steps towards advancing human rights, including through the recent abolition of capital punishment,” the experts said.

The Government’s response to female genital mutilation will be a testament to whether such commitment can extend to women’s rights”.

About the experts

The experts who signed the statement are Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not paid for their work.

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Helping Afghan women to heal — Global Issues

“I have helped women survivors of violence regain their strength and resilience for the past 20 years. Each time I supported a woman, I felt victorious. I always wanted to do more and help even more women.

Now, I feel like every day new barriers are standing in my way, time stronger than the previous one. The number of women and young girls who need counselling is increasing.

Families are struggling to put food on the table more and more day by day and there are literally no jobs, putting violence at home on the rise. Women who were sole wage-earners have lost their employment—this is impacting their mental health. Schools are closed for girls; they feel like they have been robbed of their hopes. It is also becoming harder to engage men in the community to protect women against harmful practices and social norms.

WFP/Julian Frank

Women wait for their children to be screened for malnutrition at a clinic in Balkh Province, Afghanistan.

Early and forced marriage on the rise

All of this has made families resort to harmful ways of coping with everyday difficulties. Among them, early marriages and forced marriages are now frequent occurrences.

I have been working for over 20 years in this field. Families in my province know me. Women feel safe to share with me more than just the need for mental care. I listen to them every day as they tell me about the dreams they had—where they used to work or wanted to, where they wanted to go to school. They are eager to learn, and they are asking for more spaces for women where they can be free, learn and share their experiences.

In the mornings when I leave for work, I always tell myself that I am more than a counsellor. I am a healer for the women I work with, for my community. I am helping women overcome trauma but most importantly, I am helping them find the hope they lost and make new, brighter plans. Every day, I help women to enrol in literacy and vocational training classes so that they can continue learning.

What my job has taught me is that women need women to support each other in their healing journey. We need to continue helping women and girls around us to keep learning; it the only way to learn, to heal, to be healthy, to hope as they continue their journey on this bumpy road. The power to brighten our dark days lies in each and every one of us.”

* Names, locations, and course of events have been changed in this article to ensure the safety of the Afghan woman human rights defender featured.

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Heartbroken but hopeful, under Taliban rule in Afghanistan — Global Issues

“I told myself that I should travel to Kabul and buy additional equipment, including a fridge, before I expanded my bakery business. This dream never came true as my country fell into the hands of the Taliban.

I used to run a business in my province. I employed five women to bake cookies and cakes that I would sell in a shop I rented in the women’s market.

In Afghanistan, bakery businesses thrive during Eid—a festival that brings Afghan families together to mark new beginnings. For Eid, Afghans welcome guests into their homes where they serve cookies, cakes, donuts, cream rolls, pastries and dried fruits.

My province is very isolated. Mountains and unpaved and bumpy roads discourage people from travelling outside the province unless there is an urgent need. Fearing the damage along the way, shopkeepers do not bring bakery products from Kabul—the capital city of Afghanistan and the main hub where food, clothes and everyday essentials are transported to other provinces. I decided to produce all of these in my province.  First, I opened the bakery business, then I rented my own shop in town, where I sold other items produced by women—handicrafts that celebrate our culture and clothes for women and children.

As word spread that there was a bakery open in our province, people would travel from remote villages to purchase my products. I then realized it was time to expand the business by opening more shops around town. This meant hiring more women and buying the equipment—like fridges to store and keep the products fresh.

© UNICEF/Sayed Bidel

Women receive food rations at a food distribution site in Herat, Afghanistan.

‘I had to shut down my business’

Within those weeks, as I was planning my expansion, the Taliban took over Afghanistan. I did not expand my business; I had to shut it down. The women I employed lost their jobs—most people in my province lost their jobs. Women faced restrictions in running businesses and working at all. Businesses can barely survive as people have lost their jobs and there is no purchasing power anymore, and as banks are no longer able to give financial loans.

I am heartbroken, but hopeful. I recently re-opened my business, and I am working on a marketing plan to keep it running. Now that many households know about my business—and since women need a women-friendly space more than ever—I am determined to make anniversaries, celebrations, and family occasions memorable by serving fresh cookies, cakes and pastries. My shop will again be a place for women to come together.”

* Names, locations, and course of events have been changed in this article to ensure the safety of the Afghan woman human rights defender featured.

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Sri Lanka’s economic crisis pushes health system to brink of collapse — Global Issues

When Ruchika found out she was pregnant with her second child, in October 2021, she could not have imagined that she would find herself, hours before delivering her baby, in a crowded distribution queue, pleading for fuel to get to the hospital.

“The majority of the crowd was sympathetic,” Ruchika recalled. “The authorities allowed me to buy the fuel I needed after examining my medical documents to confirm my story, but there were still a few who were shouting at us.”

Pregnant women in Sri Lanka find themselves in a world that was unimaginable just a few months ago. The crisis is critically undermining sexual and reproductive health services, including maternal health care and access to contraception, and services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence have also been compromised.

Patients asked to supply medical equipment

Ruchika made it to the hospital the day after her harrowing wait for fuel, just in time to deliver her baby. But fuel was not her only concern.

Two months before her due date, Ruchika heard that women were being asked to supply gloves, blades and other basic materials needed for safe childbirth when they visited the state hospital to deliver.  “The hospital had run out and had no way to replenish their stocks,” Ruchika recalled.

She was terrified. “I immediately called my doctor and asked about the availability of materials and if I needed to make preparations as well. ‘We have the material for now,’ is what he told me,” she said. “But he couldn’t give me any assurances about what the situation would be in two months for my delivery. I was worried about how bad things would get so I asked my doctor twice if my baby could be delivered safely even if it was two months early.”

The doctor refused, citing risks to the baby’s health. “He assured me that as long as I got to the hospital in time he would make sure we were both healthy – but even that was such a struggle.”

She ended up not only worried about her own access to fuel, but also that of the hospital staff. “The week before my delivery, my husband asked about my doctor’s fuel status because we’d heard so many stories of doctors and nurses not being able to report to work because of the fuel crisis,” she said.

Appeal for funds

Ruchika’s family continues to struggle. When her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter got sick, they had to go to six pharmacies to find the nebulizer she needed. And weeks after giving birth, Ruchika is well past the date she was due to get her stitches removed. She is waiting for her doctor to let her know when she can come in. Right now, the doctor is required to save the limited fuel he has to travel only when one of his other patients goes into active labour. 

“The current economic crisis has far-reaching consequences for women and girls’ health, rights and dignity,” said Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA. “Right now, our priority is to respond to their unique needs and safeguard their access to life-saving healthcare services and support.”

An estimated 215,000 Sri Lankan women are currently pregnant, according to data from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health,  including 11,000 adolescent girls, and around 145,000 women will deliver in the next six months.

UNFPA is appealing for $10.7 million to urgently meet the sexual and reproductive health needs, and protection needs, of women and girls in Sri Lanka. This funding would go towards life-saving medicines, equipment and supplies, including supplies for the clinical management of rape and services for domestic violence survivors.

It would also supply 10,000 delivery, maternity and dignity kits and provide more than 37,000 women with cash voucher assistance for reproductive health services, expand services for violence survivors, and support 1,250 midwives.

Still, with infrastructure and transportation challenges, childbirth could remain a life-threatening prospect for those unable to access skilled medical care.
 

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‘We are the hope, we are the power keeping Afghanistan together’ — Global Issues

“The first nights and days were especially horrible. Afghanistan was turning into chaos—people were running everywhere; offices were closing. It was all happening in front of my eyes.

In 24 hours a democracy we worked for over a 20-year period crumbled. The first thought I had in mind was what is going to happen to the women of Afghanistan? What were we going to do? 15 August was the day the women of Afghanistan started to become non-human, the day when we knew there was no place for women’s rights anywhere anymore.

I was forced once in my life to leave my country, in 1978. I was young, I had a lot of energy and I wanted to stay in Afghanistan; but because of the forces that came to power I had to leave. This time, it was different—now, I am an Afghan American citizen. I felt it was not time to leave Afghanistan, to leave my sisters, to leave everyone I loved and cared about. I knew they had nothing else. I thought my presence would give them strength—that is why I decided to stay; I decided not to be a refugee again.

‘This too shall pass’

In my life, I have also always wanted to be a witness—a lot of Afghanistan’s history happened in front of my eyes. I am 74 years old; I’ve seen beauty and disasters, achievements and destruction, and everything in between. I wanted to stay and remind everyone that, like everything else in history, this too shall pass.

The lives of Afghan women have changed 180 degrees. As the democracy for which we had worked so hard disappeared, so did the work that we did as Afghan women for our country disappearing at the same time. The women of Afghanistan went from existence—from being part of society, from working, from being part of every aspect of life as doctors, judges, nurses, engineers, women running offices—to nothing. Everything they had, even the most basic right to go to high school, was taken away from them. That to me is an indication that they do not want us to exist. Our brothers are not helping us; we are left alone and what is happening is that we are becoming extinct.

UNAMA/Shamsuddin Hamedi

Women and children have been the most impacted by the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

‘We exist, and we are here’

Afghan women are some of the most resourceful and strong women in the world: their resilience is unbreakable. But there has been a lot of work done, and every time we need to start over and over again from zero—and this is what is absolutely killing us. But we have to do what we have to do, and we are going to do it.

Simply because they do not want us to exist does not mean that we will stop, because we do exist, and we are here. We are going to do anything in our power. And we have the world standing by us—the world has not given up on us. We are receiving help: UN Women is supporting me to run a centre in Kabul, for example. The Afghan women diaspora is helping; our women friends all around the world are helping.

Every single woman in Afghanistan is doing something extraordinary—just by staying alive, just feeding their family and by keeping their hope up that maybe, one day, things will be okay for them. I am impressed by every single Afghan woman: the ones who are inside the country, and the ones who are outside the country with their hearts broken, who are also crying day and night as their work, as everything they’ve built, and everything we’ve fought for, is dismantled day by day.

The world must look at us as the women of Afghanistan, not as just second-class citizens somewhere. We are the women of a country to which a lot of wrong has been done. The world knows us. For the last 20 years, we have proven to the world who we are. Help us stand up again. Those of us who are standing up in Afghanistan, help us stand up in Afghanistan. Those of us who cannot live in Afghanistan anymore, help us get out so we can stand up outside our country. The world should not think they are giving us crumbs— stand up behind us, next to us, and see what we can do.

Give us the respect we deserve

We are the hope, we are the power keeping Afghanistan together. The world should give us the respect that we really deserve. We are stretching our hands out and we ask you to help us. 

There were times when the world has gone into dark and bad places, when we thought that the sun would never rise again. But nothing lasts forever—this I believe with all my heart. I am hopeful; I have to be. I have a lot of hope for a better Afghanistan, an Afghanistan which belongs to its people, to all of us.

There is one point that I want to make very clear: what is happening to the women of Afghanistan can happen anywhere. Roe v. Wade destroyed years of progress, taking away the rights of women over their own bodies. Women’s rights being taken away from them is happening everywhere and if we are not careful, it will happen to all the women of the world.

I will not be here anymore one day, but my hope for the world is that young brave women around the world will tell my story and they will raise generations and generations of women that speak up, like I did, for centuries to come.”

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UN agencies recommitment to women, girls in Afghanistan one year after Taliban takeover — Global Issues

“It has been a year of increasing disrespect for their right to live free and equal lives, denying them opportunity to livelihoods, access to health care and education, and escape from situations of violence,” said Sima Bahous, Executive Director at UN Women. 

Ms. Bahous outlined how the Taliban’s “meticulously constructed policies of inequality” have set Afghanistan apart from the rest of the international community, wiping out decades of progress on gender equality and women’s rights in mere months. 

‘Terrible act of self-sabotage’ 

Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are banned from going to high school and effectively barred from political participation, as the Taliban has an all-male cabinet and there is no Ministry of Women’s Affairs. 

Afghan women are now mostly restricted from working outside the home, they must cover their faces in public, and they have to be accompanied by a male chaperone when they travel. Furthermore, they continue to be subjected to multiple forms of gender-based violence. 

“This deliberate slew of measures of discrimination against Afghanistan’s women and girls is also a terrible act of self-sabotage for a country experiencing huge challenges, including from climate-related and natural disasters to exposure to global economic headwinds that leave some 25 million Afghan people in poverty and many hungry,” she said.  

Afghanistan remains in the grip of a deep economic and humanitarian crisis, as the head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Natalia Kanem, pointed out.

Lives at risk 

Soaring food and fuel prices – worsened by a drought and the war in Ukraine – mean that roughly 95 per cent of the population, and nearly all female-headed households, do not get enough to eat. 

Ms. Kanem said keeping girls out of secondary school not only violates their right to education and prevents them from realizing their full potential, it but also puts them at increased risk of early marriage, early pregnancy, violence and abuse. 

“The breakdown of the health system has compromised women and girls’ access to reproductive health services, including maternal health care, particularly for the more than nine million people living in remote areas of the country. For the estimated 24,000 women who give birth each month in hard-to-reach areas, childbirth can, in effect, be a death sentence,” she said. 

Economic costs 

Afghanistan was already struggling with education even before the Taliban takeover last August, as more than four million children were already out of school, 60 per cent of them girls. 

Barring girls from attending secondary school also has a monetary cost, according to a new analysis by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It shows that the country loses 2.5 per cent of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) because of the decision.   

UNICEF said the Afghan economy would gain at least $5.4 billion if the current cohort of three million girls were to complete secondary school and join the workforce.

UNAMA/Shamsuddin Hamedi

Women and children have been the most impacted by the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

True potential denied 

The estimates do not take into account the non-financial impacts of denying girls access to education, which include future shortages of women teachers, doctors and nurses, as well as increasing health costs related to adolescent pregnancy.   

Broader benefits of education are also excluded, such as overall educational attainment, reduced child marriage and reduced infant mortality. 

The analysis indicates that Afghanistan will be unable to regain the GDP lost during the transition and reach its true potential productivity without fulfilling girls’ rights to access and complete secondary school education. 

“The decision on March 23, not to allow girls back to secondary school was shocking and deeply disappointing,” said Dr. Mohamed Ayoya, the UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan. 

“UNICEF wants to see every girl and boy across Afghanistan in school and learning,” he added. “We will not stop advocating until that goal is achieved. Not only is education a right for every child, it is the foundation for future growth in Afghanistan.”  

Women, peace and development 

The United Nations has repeatedly stressed its commitment to continue delivering in Afghanistan, and advocating for women and girls there. 

Ms. Bahous, the UN Women chief, underlined how excluding women from all aspects of life robs the population of half its talent and energies.  

She urged the de facto authorities to open schools for all girls, remove constraints on women’s employment and participation in politics, and revoke all decisions and policies that strip women of their rights. 

“Without the full participation of women and girls in all aspects of public life, there is little chance of achieving lasting peace, stability, and economic development,” she stated. 

Meanwhile, her agency is scaling up the provision of life-saving services “for women, by women” to meet the overwhelming needs, while also supporting women-led businesses and employment opportunities across all sectors. 

“One year on, with women’s visibility so diminished and rights so severely impacted, it is vital to direct targeted, substantial, and systematic funding to address and reverse this situation and to facilitate women’s meaningful participation in all stakeholder engagement on Afghanistan, including in delegations that meet with Taliban officials,” she said. 

© UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi

Women in a waiting room of a clinic in Afghanistan.

Stepping up operations 

UNFPA has stepped up its presence across Afghanistan and is working with national partners to scale-up provision of sexual and reproductive health services – again, for women, by women – including in remote areas.  

The agency reached more than 4.3 million people over the past year and distributed essential medicines and supplies to hospitals, as well as menstrual hygiene supplies to countless women and girls. 

Ms. Kanem added that as winter approaches amid rising needs, UNFPA are already providing cooking utensils and blankets to desperate people, and stands ready to do more. 

“As the world faces multiple, overlapping crises, we must not forget the women and girls of Afghanistan. When women’s and girls’ basic rights are denied, we are all diminished,” she said. 

“We must work together, united in our common and firm belief that there can be no durable peace, recovery or stability for Afghanistan unless women’s and girls’ basic human rights to education, to participate in public life and to access services vital to their health, dignity and well-being, are respected and protected”. 

 



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