GENDER APARTHEID
Afghanistan: 20 years of steady education progress ‘almost wiped out’
14 August 2024
The de facto authorities in Afghanistan “have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education” there, putting the future of an entire generation in jeopardy, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural agency (UNESCO) reported on Wednesday.
Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is strictly forbidden to women and girls over 12.
The Taliban swept back into power on 15 August 2021 and swiftly began curtailing women’s rights.
Three years to the day after the fall of Kabul, the nation’s capital, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education because of the bans.
Including the girls who were already out of school before the Taliban’s reimposition of strict religious legal codes, there are now almost 2.5 million girls in the country deprived of their right to education, representing 80 per cent of Afghan school age girls.
There has also been a decrease by over half of the number of students enrolled in universities since 2021, UNESCOOpens in new window said. As a result, the country will face a shortage of graduates trained for highly skilled jobs, which will only exacerbate development problems, according to the report.
Equally strong impact on primary education
While girls’ education is technically still permitted under the age of 12, the number of those enrolled in primary education has fallen drastically since 2021.
New UNESCO data shows that Afghanistan had only 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared with 6.8 million in 2019.
© UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
Girls and women across Afghanistan lack access to secondary education since the Taliban takeover.
This drop in primary school enrolment is the result of the Taliban’s decision to prohibit female teachers from teaching boys, exacerbating a teacher shortage. It can also be explained by parents’ lack of incentive to send their children to school, in an increasingly difficult socio-economic environment.
It is feared that the increasing drop-out rate could lead to a rise in child labour and early marriage.
UNESCO’s alternative learning methods
Since 2021, UNESCO has set up programmes with the support of local communities in 20 of the country's 34 provinces. Over 1,000 facilitators, including 780 women, have been trained to deliver literacy courses, benefiting over 55,000 young people, the vast majority of them girls.
UNESCO also invests in distance learning via radio and television, providing financial support and training to Afghan media wishing to develop and broadcast educational programmes.
The UN agency continues to call on the international community to fully commit to restoring the right to education for girls and women in Afghanistan, stating that face-to-face education in a classroom is the best possible way for people to learn.
“The right to education cannot be negotiated or compromised. The international community must remain fully mobilised to obtain the unconditional reopening of schools and universities to Afghan girls and women,” emphasised Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.
© UNHCR/Mercury Transformations
Young women who fled Afghanistan study in Pakistan.
International community must not ‘normalise’ Taliban rule
Meanwhile 36 UN independent experts are also calling on the international community not to normalise the de facto authorities in Afghanistan in a joint statementOpens in new window released Wednesday.
The rights experts who report to the Human Rights CouncilOpens in new window and who are not UN staff include the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett.
“Over the past three years, the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, have been subjected to an appalling and intensifying attack on their rights and freedoms by a regime that lacks legitimacy and inclusivity, quashes all forms of dissent, represses civil society and the media, and has shown a flagrant disregard for the principles of justice, non-discrimination, equality, and the rule of law,” the rights experts stated.
The experts emphasised that the deliberate subjugation of women and girls is so widespread and systematic that it has come to amount to crimes against humanity, including the crime of gender persecution.
The situation is so extreme that many Afghans say it is best described as “gender apartheid”.
“The people of Afghanistan deserve to live in a country where the rights, dignity, and humanity of all are respected and protected. Now more than ever, is the time for robust international action to meet their demands with increased protection, support and solidarity,” they concluded.
14 August 2024
The de facto authorities in Afghanistan “have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education” there, putting the future of an entire generation in jeopardy, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural agency (UNESCO) reported on Wednesday.
Afghanistan is currently the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is strictly forbidden to women and girls over 12.
The Taliban swept back into power on 15 August 2021 and swiftly began curtailing women’s rights.
Three years to the day after the fall of Kabul, the nation’s capital, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education because of the bans.
Including the girls who were already out of school before the Taliban’s reimposition of strict religious legal codes, there are now almost 2.5 million girls in the country deprived of their right to education, representing 80 per cent of Afghan school age girls.
There has also been a decrease by over half of the number of students enrolled in universities since 2021, UNESCOOpens in new window said. As a result, the country will face a shortage of graduates trained for highly skilled jobs, which will only exacerbate development problems, according to the report.
Equally strong impact on primary education
While girls’ education is technically still permitted under the age of 12, the number of those enrolled in primary education has fallen drastically since 2021.
New UNESCO data shows that Afghanistan had only 5.7 million girls and boys in primary school in 2022, compared with 6.8 million in 2019.
© UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell
Girls and women across Afghanistan lack access to secondary education since the Taliban takeover.
This drop in primary school enrolment is the result of the Taliban’s decision to prohibit female teachers from teaching boys, exacerbating a teacher shortage. It can also be explained by parents’ lack of incentive to send their children to school, in an increasingly difficult socio-economic environment.
It is feared that the increasing drop-out rate could lead to a rise in child labour and early marriage.
UNESCO’s alternative learning methods
Since 2021, UNESCO has set up programmes with the support of local communities in 20 of the country's 34 provinces. Over 1,000 facilitators, including 780 women, have been trained to deliver literacy courses, benefiting over 55,000 young people, the vast majority of them girls.
UNESCO also invests in distance learning via radio and television, providing financial support and training to Afghan media wishing to develop and broadcast educational programmes.
The UN agency continues to call on the international community to fully commit to restoring the right to education for girls and women in Afghanistan, stating that face-to-face education in a classroom is the best possible way for people to learn.
“The right to education cannot be negotiated or compromised. The international community must remain fully mobilised to obtain the unconditional reopening of schools and universities to Afghan girls and women,” emphasised Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.
© UNHCR/Mercury Transformations
Young women who fled Afghanistan study in Pakistan.
International community must not ‘normalise’ Taliban rule
Meanwhile 36 UN independent experts are also calling on the international community not to normalise the de facto authorities in Afghanistan in a joint statementOpens in new window released Wednesday.
The rights experts who report to the Human Rights CouncilOpens in new window and who are not UN staff include the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett.
“Over the past three years, the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, have been subjected to an appalling and intensifying attack on their rights and freedoms by a regime that lacks legitimacy and inclusivity, quashes all forms of dissent, represses civil society and the media, and has shown a flagrant disregard for the principles of justice, non-discrimination, equality, and the rule of law,” the rights experts stated.
The experts emphasised that the deliberate subjugation of women and girls is so widespread and systematic that it has come to amount to crimes against humanity, including the crime of gender persecution.
The situation is so extreme that many Afghans say it is best described as “gender apartheid”.
“The people of Afghanistan deserve to live in a country where the rights, dignity, and humanity of all are respected and protected. Now more than ever, is the time for robust international action to meet their demands with increased protection, support and solidarity,” they concluded.
Taliban security personnel patrol a street as a burqa-clad Afghan woman walks by in Badakhshan Province (file photo).
At least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, said on August 15.
"In just three years, the de facto authorities have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan, and the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy," the agency said in a statement.
It comes as the Taliban marked three years since its forces seized Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, after the U.S.-backed government collapsed and its leaders fled into exile.
Since the Taliban's return to power, women have been squeezed from public life -- banned from many jobs as well as parks and gyms -- and barred from secondary and higher education.
The restrictions amount to what the United Nations has described as "gender apartheid."
SEE ALSO:
Afghan Taliban Created World's Most Serious Women's Rights Crisis, HRW Says
There are now nearly 2.5 million girls deprived of their right to education, representing 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls, UNESCO said. This represents an increase of 300,000 since the previous count carried out by the UN agency in April 2023.
"As a result of bans imposed by the de facto authorities, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since 2021," UNESCO said.
Access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, the agency added. It blamed the drop on the authorities' decision to ban female teachers from teaching boys as well as the lack of incentive for parents to send children to school.
The agency is "alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive drop-out rate, which could lead to a rise in child labor and early marriage."
Enrolment in higher education is equally concerning, the statement said, adding that the number of university students had decreased by 53 percent since 2021.
At least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, said on August 15.
"In just three years, the de facto authorities have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan, and the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy," the agency said in a statement.
It comes as the Taliban marked three years since its forces seized Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, after the U.S.-backed government collapsed and its leaders fled into exile.
Since the Taliban's return to power, women have been squeezed from public life -- banned from many jobs as well as parks and gyms -- and barred from secondary and higher education.
The restrictions amount to what the United Nations has described as "gender apartheid."
SEE ALSO:
Afghan Taliban Created World's Most Serious Women's Rights Crisis, HRW Says
There are now nearly 2.5 million girls deprived of their right to education, representing 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls, UNESCO said. This represents an increase of 300,000 since the previous count carried out by the UN agency in April 2023.
"As a result of bans imposed by the de facto authorities, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since 2021," UNESCO said.
Access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school, the agency added. It blamed the drop on the authorities' decision to ban female teachers from teaching boys as well as the lack of incentive for parents to send children to school.
The agency is "alarmed by the harmful consequences of this increasingly massive drop-out rate, which could lead to a rise in child labor and early marriage."
Enrolment in higher education is equally concerning, the statement said, adding that the number of university students had decreased by 53 percent since 2021.
SEE ALSO:
The Push To Recognize 'Gender Apartheid' As A Crime
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay urged the international community to remain mobilized "to obtain the unconditional reopening of schools and universities to Afghan girls and women."
Lack of access to education has been among the main points of criticism by Afghans toward the Taliban authorities.
"There are those who are not literate enough, and more importantly, a part of society, women, are deprived of education, and this is a big problem for the people of Afghanistan," a male resident of the northern Balkh Province who preferred not to be named due to security concerns, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
"The issues of education -- women's education and work -- and their participation at national and international level have been completely nullified and pushed to the sidelines," a female resident of Kabul, who also preferred not to be named, said.
The Taliban celebrates their return to power both in mid-August around the date Kabul fell and at the end of the month, when the last U.S.-led international troops left Afghanistan.
The withdrawal, agreed by the United States and the Taliban on February 29, 2020, allowed the radical Islamist movement's return to power 20 years after being ousted by U.S. forces following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
The Taliban government remains unrecognized by any other state.
WATCH: Rights groups have documented targeted killings, disappearances, and extrajudicial arrests of hundreds of former Afghan service personnel, while RFE/RL has spoken to two women who say they live in fear due to their past roles in the military.
Torture And Death: The Dangers Faced By Former Afghan Soldiers Under Taliban Rule
International aid organizations have warned that millions of Afghans struggle in "one of the world's largest and most complex humanitarian crises, three years after the change in power."
"Heavily dependent on humanitarian aid, Afghans are trapped in cycles of poverty, displacement, and despair," a statement by 10 aid groups -- including Save the Children, World Vision, Islamic Relief Worldwide, and the International Rescue Committee -- said on August 13.
SEE ALSO:
Afghan Evacuees Remain In Limbo In Albania 3 Years After Taliban Takeover
Women and girls are among the most seriously affected by this humanitarian crisis, Human Rights Watch has said. The Taliban has created "the world's most serious women's rights crisis," the organization said on August 11.
With reporting by AFP
Joint Statement by the Alliance for Human Rights in Afghanistan: Need for an Urgent Rethink of International Response to the Human Rights Crisis in Afghanistan:
Three years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the undersigned organizations, remain alarmed that the international response to worsening Taliban human rights violations, especially against women and girls, is increasingly ineffective and sometimes even harmful.
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