Afghanistan: women's rally violently disbanded by Taliban
Event- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- May 29, 2022
- Event Description
Once again, a number of women poured onto the streets of Kabul to protest against the closure of girls’ schools in the country. Unfortunately, the march was violently stopped by the Taliban fighters.
On Sunday, May 29, 2022, the protesting women held a protest rally over the growing rate of poverty, unemployment crisis, and the closure of girls’ schools in the 2nd district of Kabul.
According to protestors, instead of thinking about solving the problems of the people and finding a solution to poverty and unemployment, the Taliban senior members use all their power and energies to restrict women and interfere in the most private affairs of the citizens.
Unfortunately, the Taliban rebels suppressed the protest and forced the women to return back home.
The protesters have called on the world to pressurize the Taliban so that they may recognize women’s rights and work hard in order to reduce poverty and unemployment in the country.
Chanting “Bread, work, freedom,” some two dozen women took to the streets of the Afghan capital of Kabul on May 29 to protest against the Taliban's harsh restrictions on their rights.
The Taliban has rolled back women’s rights since returning to power in August 2021. Girls have been banned from school beyond the sixth grade in most of Afghanistan. In March, the Taliban ordered girls' high schools closed on the morning they were scheduled to open.
"Education is my right! Reopen schools!" chanted the protesters, many of them wearing face-covering veils, as they gathered in front of the Education Ministry.
Demonstrators marched for a few hundred meters before ending the rally as authorities deployed Taliban fighters in plainclothes, an AFP correspondent reported.
"We wanted to read out a declaration, but the Taliban didn't allow it," said protester Zholia Parsi.
"They took the mobile phones off some girls and also prevented us from taking photos or videos of our protest," she told the French news agency.
Since taking power in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country, the Taliban has pledged to rule differently than during its brutal regime of the 1990s that saw women confined to their homes, most entertainment banned, and punishments including stoning and public executions.
But its promises are being treated with skepticism by many Afghans and governments around the world, especially since women have been forced from some government jobs and barred from traveling alone.
This month, Afghanistan's supreme leader and Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered women to cover up fully in public, including their faces.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Freedom of expression
- Offline
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- Women's rights
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 34.524749157519835
Longitude: 69.17834821264277
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 29 May 2022, a number of WHRDs staging a rally to demand girls' and women's rights were met with violent suppression by the Taliban who stopped the rally in Kabul, Afghanistan.