Trump Again Vows To End Ukraine War, Warns Taliban On Weapons

Violence against women and girls is pervasive across the world, and often underreported.

Rampant physical, sexual, and psychological violence is part of what activists have called a global attack on women’s rights.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has erased women from public life and severely restricted their fundamental rights.

Under the rule of the extremist group, Afghanistan has become the only country in the world where teenage girls are banned from attending school.

“I wanted to become a doctor and serve my country,” Marzieh, a teenaged Afghan girl, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “I studied for nine years, but it was all for nothing. Now, I have ended up staying at home.”

No country has recognized the Taliban, which seized power in 2021. But a growing number of countries, including in the West, are cooperating with its government on trade, security-related issues, and immigration.

“If the world can look at what the Taliban are doing to women and girls and shrug and move on and focus instead on partnering with the Taliban on other issues, that says something incredibly damning about how little the rights of women and girls matter to global leaders,” said Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Under Taliban rule, there has been a surge in forced, early, and child marriages. The United Nations has said child marriages have increased by around 25 percent in the past three years in the country.

Rights groups have said a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis and the lack of educational and professional prospects for women have fueled the sharp uptick.

“I was married at 14, and I had my first child at 15,” Shazia, a child bride, told Radio Azadi. “It was a daughter. I struggled a lot with her. I never thought I would survive. It was extremely difficult for me.”

‘Freedom To Choose’

In neighboring Iran, women are banned from many fields of study, sporting events, and from obtaining a passport or traveling outside the country without their husband’s consent.

Women who violate the country’s Islamic dress code, meanwhile, face fines and sentences of up to 10 years in prison.

A growing number of Iranian women have refused to wear the mandatory hijab, or Islamic head scarf, in defiance of the country’s clerical establishment.

The hijab is a symbol of women’s oppression in Iran, a 20-year-old woman inside the country told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

“This piece of cloth represents a right that has been taken away from us,” she said. “It is the freedom to choose what I want to wear.”

The issue of the controversial hijab was central to the unprecedented protests that erupted across Iran in 2022. The demonstrations were triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law.

During the protests, women and girls removed and burned their head scarves.

The authorities waged a brutal crackdown on protesters and doubled down on their enforcement of the hijab.

Meanwhile, scores of women in Iran are killed by their male relatives each year — including their husbands, fathers, and brothers — in the name of preserving the family’s “honor.”

According to Stop Femicide Iran, an NGO based in New York, over 150 women were victims of femicide in Iran in 2023.

Political Will

Gender-based violence is pervasive even in countries where women do not face restrictions in their appearances, freedom of movement, and right to work or study.

The UN estimated in 2023 that a woman was killed every 10 minutes by her partner or family member. Almost one in three women experiences violence at least once in her lifetime, according to the world body.

In Kosovo, at least 58 women have been killed in cases of femicide in the past 14 years.

Erona, a 20-year-old, was killed in April, almost a year after she got divorced. Her ex-husband is accused of murdering her.

Erona’s mother, Milihatja, believes her daughter suffered years of domestic violence.

“She would come home and tell me that she would never return to him, but something would happen and she would go back,” she told RFE/RL’s Kosovo Service.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, a man live-streamed on Instagram the killing of his ex-wife before eventually turning the gun on himself.

The killing in August 2023 triggered shock and outrage, and underscored the issue of violence against women in the Balkan country.

Maida, who lives in the country’s northeast, divorced and reported her abusive husband around a year ago.

“He came and grabbed me by the neck. My children saw it and started to cry. I told them ‘I’m OK,’ but then he slapped me,” Maida told RFE/RL’s Balkan Service.

Then, she said, her husband threatened to kill her and their children. “I know what he’s capable of, and I decided to go to the police and report him,” she said.

Eventually, she managed to get a restraining order. But she still does not feel safe. “He can come at any time of the day and do what he imagined in his head,” she said.

Experts say gender-based violence is preventable and addressing the issue often comes down to political will.

“These are not mysterious unsolvable problems — they just require that governments be genuinely committed to upholding the rights of women and girls and that they put in place the resources, systems, and expertise needed to do so,” said Barr of HRW.