Family violence in Taliban rule; Reducing divorce and increasing violence against women

Report: Faizullah Turk

Farzaneh Khalegi, who is 23 years old, is very worried about the increase in violence against Afghan girls. He says: "In a country called Afghanistan, there is no such thing as the right and rights of girls, and the Taliban has also prevented the rights given to women by Islam. The perpetrators of all violence are the Taliban and the voices of Afghan women are in the grip of violence."

He, who is now an immigrant in Iran, continues to say: "He lost his father and mother between the ages of three and four, and then he spent 12 years living in an orphanage or orphanage, far away from the arms of his family. After finishing school, he also passed the concourera exam and has been successful in the field of computer science for 2 years. He, who has a creative and active mind since childhood, decided to take the field of computer science to the level of master's and doctorate, but he did not achieve his dream even though he was violent. He has also gone through hardships.

Mrs. Khaleghi also said: "After the rule of the Taliban, everything was destroyed; The women's dormitories and shops were closed, out of necessity, he had no place to live, and in order to have a shelter, even though he still wished to continue his education, he got married and became engaged to his cousin without receiving dowry or special ceremonies. Is."

This lady continues to add: "I became famous as an orphan in my in-laws' house during a one-year engagement, and was subjected to mental violence and physical torture by her fiancé's family, and after a year, her in-law's family, without informing her, He sent his fiancee to Iran, and after hearing the news, he made hundreds of calls to Vipam, but he did not receive any response.

He also added, "Even though my husband was absent, he went to the court to issue a divorce, but the court was not willing to issue a divorce decree for him."

Farzane Khaleghi continued to say: "After there was no news about the fate of her fiance, and to make her fate known and to change her life, she filed for divorce, although the dowry of four hundred and fifty thousand was determined, but without He got his divorce, and the moment he didn't stay in the field, he chose another person; To experience a good life away from violence."

Meanwhile Mehtab Iftikhar is a human rights activist who has worked with Rozeneh Omid organization and human rights organizations in Afghanistan and is still connected with women's rights activists, says: "With the arrival of the Taliban in Afghanistan, thousands of violence against Afghan women have been committed in the society and family; Even women are deprived of their human and Islamic rights."

She, who has three children and is currently immigrating to Iran, adds: "She was subjected to physical violence and beatings by her husband and the Taliban, and once her phone was taken by the Taliban. And once again, her husband broke her phone and physically tortured her. She also had pictures on her phone, but now she doesn't have it."

With the restriction of women users, closure of university schools, social activities, family violence has also increased unprecedentedly for Afghan women.

He continues to say: "Forced marriages, marriage to older men, fathers and brothers beating girls, depriving them of the right to inherit, wearing clothes at home at the request of men are the things that have turned women's families into domestic prisons."

He criticized the men of the families and said: "Under the rule of the Taliban, women see the first obstacle and violence in the family, from their fathers and brothers. With the arrival of the Taliban, most of the men's views have been transformed into the Taliban's mentality and they have subjected women to violence from time to time. He keeps it according to his taste.

Ms. Mehtab continues to say: "Fathers in Afghanistan have become the home of the Taliban; they sell their daughters for money without their consent to forced marriages with an older Taliban man."

He also said: "After the wedding, when the girl arrives at her husband's house, she gets beaten up; They cannot get divorced, because it is the rule in the Taliban society; There is no female employee in the court area, if there is, it is because of an effort, and some cases of family problems are not mentioned in the court area; If a woman appeals in court to be free from violence and defend her human rights, she is considered a bad woman, a shameless woman, and she is humiliated and threatened by her father's family, and it is even said that she went to a wedding in a white dress and came with a white shroud. These are the cases that have made women and girls in Afghanistan, like a dead body.

This lady continued to say, "She has been subjected to physical violence to such an extent that even sometimes her memory does not work properly and she cannot do physical work either."

He considered the Taliban society of Afghanistan built to die; He said: "Taliban is backward in the mind; they have had a negative impact on all Afghan men for more than two years; forced marriages have increased; women's voices are not heard; women used to rest in their graves for centuries, but now their desire and human rights Their society goes to the grave alive, they die every day."

Mehtab Iftikhar considers the causes of violence in the gay family to be illiteracy, nonsense customs and traditions, old thoughts, conversations from the past; unemployment of working women, closure of education and training, travel ban, forced veiling, lack of financial independence and says: "In In the previous government, if there were problems, we would have raised our voice, it would have been a little better, but now women are oppressed in all kinds of ways, they have no one to defend them, and no one will listen to their voices no matter what the situation is."

He also said, "With the coming of the Taliban, all the calamities have come upon women, from oppression and oppression from the family to whipping people in the middle of the gathering. This is a great horror to show."

This human rights activist said: "If the family does not have the support of the society for their daughters, no one can oppress them or force them to marry. Now there is no one by our side. The compulsions for the girls in the families have caused them to either die or die." They either give in to forced marriage or commit suicide, the Taliban are old-fashioned and 80-90% of them are illiterate, they are ignorant of the world, they sell women as sex, they consider women as slaves for giving birth to a boy. If they do not bring them, they do injustice, they do not take wives over their wives."

He also said: "They have spent years in the mountains because of their illiteracy, their manners, their gestures and their ignorance of the microphone."

He continues to say: "With the arrival of the Taliban, divorce has decreased; And when the women who were divorced in the republic are brought back to marry their first husband.

on the other hand Kristna Azizi, human rights activist He says: "With the arrival of the Taliban and the fall of the republican system, many restrictions were imposed on women. These restrictions caused women to be isolated and deprived of the daily activities that they played their role in the society during the republican period. These restrictions caused that Housewives; And these khans have caused a series of mental, psychological, economic and other problems for Borznan."

Mrs. Azizi also said: "When women are at home and do not have special activities, it causes them to have a confused and unknown future. This position is very dangerous. It has negative effects on the psyche of women and girls in Afghanistan."

This human rights activist described the situation of women in Afghanistan as fragile and added: "Afghan women and girls have no work independence; With mental problems, social isolation, forced marriages, underage marriages, and high levels of family violence, they commit suicide and attack their families."

Kristna Azizi continues to say: "Many problems that have come upon families today are economic issues, which have caused the rise of family violence; this has caused violence, suicides, unplanned migrations, running away from home, and running away. left the country; And the families do not have the ability to support the family."

He continued to add: "This situation hurts women more because the restrictions have increased on women. Nowadays, Afghan women have more rights and know their social rights. When these women see that other countries have reached their rights; They suffer from these Afghan travelers, and this continues to cause war and conflict in the family, and causes families to break up or commit suicide and run away."

Kristna Azizi says: "The level of advertising for women has gone up and they cannot be alone at home and work in the kitchen. They have already had the experience of freedom of work and individual independence. It is not possible to tolerate this trend and its continuation will cause a sharp increase in violence in the family and society."

Despite all this, Heshmatullah Wajdani, a journalist and human rights expert, called Afghanistan a patriarchal and traditional country and says: "Most men are the first person and the masculinist point of view has played the first role in all decisions; And most of the time, women are subjected to violence, and in the society, the behavior of men is different towards women, and in many cases, they consider women as the second person or the second sex."

With the arrival of the Taliban, this view has increased; As the Taliban themselves saw in the way that they treat women as giving birth to children, fulfilling the wishes of men, and looking after the family, they do not value them more than anything, even though there were few opportunities for women in twenty years. Women worked, studied, but with the arrival of the Taliban, women became exclusive to the family and violence against them has also increased.

Wadjani is now in exile in Pakistan as a freelance journalist and spokesperson of the Federation of Afghan Journalists. He also says: "There are many types of violence, whether it is in the community or family, all of them have caused psychological, emotional, sexual, and physical harm to women. The majority of Taliban people make forced marriages with underage girls and force the families to give their daughters to these people based on money.

On the other hand, this human rights expert adds: "If divorce has decreased with the arrival of the Taliban, but the sense of superiority of men in the society has decreased and a number of women who were divorced before are brought back to marry the first person, the society is completely patriarchal. He has contempt and hatred towards women, so he can witness a kind of serious and cruel violence not only in families but also in society."

He also added: "Women who used to work in various institutions are now viewed with contempt by the Taliban, and in some cases they are even considered non-Muslims. He called this a form of violence that, in more than two years of the Taliban's rule, Women in Afghanistan experience it."

Heshmatullah Wajdani continues to say: "The Taliban promised in the Doha Agreement that women could receive education up to the master's and doctorate level, but this was not implemented and they do not."

Now, the international community and institutions involved in the affairs of Afghanistan and the countries that have provided financial support to the Taliban should play their main role; They should put pressure on the Taliban and force the Taliban to value women's rights, and also by the international community and the United Nations Security Council, now that they have imposed punishments on some members of the Taliban, these punishments should be increased; Until the Taliban respect women's rights in a practical way."