Restrictions imposed on Afghan girls will lead to 25 percent increase in child marriage: UN agencies

UN Women, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) have released a joint two-page brief. In the brief, the UN agencies have highlighted the issues faced by Afghan women and their demands from the international community.

According to the two-page brief, Taliban-imposed restrictions on women and girls will lead to a 25 percent increase in child marriage, a 45 percent increase in premature births and a 50 percent increase in maternal mortality. According to the brief, 82 percent of Afghan women currently rate their mental health as poor.

It further states that Afghanistan is the only country in the world that prohibits girls from studying in school beyond the sixth grade. In addition, Afghan women are also banned from attending university, Tolo News reports.

Afghan women continue to fight for their right to live with dignity despite restrictions imposed on them by the Taliban, according to a joint statement issued by United Nations agencies.

The brief states, “Afghan women are still creating civil society organizations, still running businesses, and still providing services to their communities; most importantly, Afghan women continue to find ways to articulate their demands to the international community.

UN Women, IOM and UNAMA said that Afghan women have urged the international community to focus on the situation in Afghanistan and restore women's rights, including the right to education and work, Tolo News reported.

UN Women, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in the brief that Afghan women call on the international community to focus on the situation in Afghanistan and restore women’s rights, including the right to education and work, as well as women’s participation in public decision-making.

Meanwhile, several analysts said the world has no policies to tackle these restrictions. Political analyst Nisar Ahmad Sherzai stressed that forced marriage can be considered a very small part of the obstacles preventing girls from continuing their education.

“Forced marriage could be considered a very small part of the obstacles that prevent girls from continuing their education, but UN Women claims that this is not the case. The UN, credible international institutions and major powers are aware of the main and significant obstacles to girls' education, but they are wasting time. They do not have fundamental and principled work to remove these limitations from Afghan girls and women,” Tolo News quoted Nesar Ahmad Sherzai as saying.

“Now that schools and education for girls have been restricted and denied to them, families are once again forcing their daughters to marry, against the principles and civil law of Afghanistan, which sets a minimum age for girls to marry at 16,” women's rights activist Soraya Pakon said, Tolo News reported.

Earlier, many countries including America had demanded the removal of restrictions against women in Afghanistan and said that the Taliban would not be given formal recognition until women's rights were respected.