An Afghan girl reads in a classroom at Tajrobawai Girls High School, in Herat, Afghanistan, November 25, 2021. © 2021 REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko |
Three hundred days.
That’s how long it has been since the Taliban banned secondary education for girls – a move that will have devastating consequences for the girls, their families, and the country’s future.
A new video feature highlights six prominent Afghan women: a filmmaker, journalists, a musician, an activist, and a Human Right Watch researcher, each discussing how education changed their lives and the lives of those around them. |
On September 18, 2021, a month after seizing control of Afghanistan, the Taliban ordered the reopening of boys’ secondary schools but made no mention of those for girls.
The Taliban pledged to reopen all schools six months later, but that never happened. True, in a few areas Taliban officials yielded to community pressure and allowed girls’ secondary schools to open their doors, but these instances are rare.
And it’s not just schools. Since August, the Taliban have imposed a wide range of policies violating the rights of women and girls. They have banned women from most forms of paid employment, beaten peaceful women protesters, and forcibly “disappeared” female activists defending the rights of women and girls.
“It feels beyond belief that we could be having a conversation in 2022 about whether girls should be allowed to study,” said Sahar Fetrat, assistant women's rights researcher at HRW. “Every day, millions of Afghan girls are losing opportunities and dreams they can never get back.” |
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The response to a June 22 earthquake in Afghanistan, which killed more than 1,000 people, destroying water networks and health facilities, has created another type of human rights crisis there. |
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Humanitarian aid is lined up for distribution after an earthquake in Gayan village, in Paktika province, Afghanistan, June 24, 2022. © 2022 AP Photo/Ebrahim Nooroozi |
People with disabilities are being overlooked. In general, they often face barriers in receiving humanitarian aid, including food, sanitation, and medical assistance. And in Afghanistan, not only is post-earthquake data on the needs of people with disabilities lacking, but many people have also been left out of the delivery of aid. |
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Welcome to our new iteration of the Week and Rights! We hope you like it. We’re excited by the new design, which allows us to share more facets of complex stories and regions – something you may have noticed with our Afghanistan story. We also have even more space to bring you different types of human rights news. In fact, scroll to the bottom if you want to read a story (and a victory for LGBT rights) that inspired us this week. Look for us in your inbox every Friday, and let us know what you think of the new design – you can reach the Week in Rights team at WeekInRights@hrw.org. |
| If the US federal government ignores escalating extremism while continuing to fund the agencies involved, it could become complicit in ongoing abuses under Texas’ Operation Lone Star. |
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| | Football authorities blindsided Barbra Banda, a top player on the Zambian women’s team, when they announced she was ineligible for competition in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations last week after a “gender verification procedure” that determined her testosterone levels were “too high” to compete as a woman. |
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| The European Court of Human Rights ruled against Turkey this week for its failure to carry out the court’s order to free imprisoned human rights defender Osman Kavala. |
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High Court of Antigua and Barbuda in St. John’s, Antigua on June 1, 2011. © 2011 Press Association via AP Images |
The High Court of Justice for Antigua and Barbuda struck down discriminatory legal provisions last week that criminalized same-sex relations. The court found such laws violated the right to liberty, freedom of expression, protection of personal privacy, and protection from discrimination. |
Workers walk to the Lusail Stadium, one of the 2022 World Cup stadiums, in Lusail, Qatar, December 20, 2019. © 2019 AP Photo/Hassan Ammar |
Migrant workers have suffered terrible abuses building the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. With just months to go before the games begin, FIFA should compensate victims and the families of those who have died. |
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