Afghan women still suffering abuse, says group

Women and girls are still suffering severe abuse, harassment and repression at the hands of Afghanistan’s post-Taliban leaders, particularly in the west of the country, a human rights group said today.

In a 52-page report, We Want to Live as Humans, Human Rights Watch said life had improved marginally for some women and not at all for others since the ousting of the hardline Taliban regime, which barred women from any role in public life.

“Many people outside the country believe that Afghan women and girls have had their rights restored” after the collapse of the Taliban last year, said Zama Coursen-Neff, a researcher with the New York-based group.

“It’s just not true. Women and girls are still being abused, harassed and threatened all over Afghanistan, often by government troops and officials.”

The gains that have been made have been limited, especially in western Afghanistan, the report says.

“While conditions are undoubtedly better than under the Taliban – girls and women have better access to education and are not beaten by authorities in the streets – many Taliban-era restrictions remain in place.”

Even in the relatively liberal capital of Kabul, where the central government holds sway, a team of 90 women from the Ministry of Religious Affairs “harasses women in Kabul’s streets for ‘un-Islamic behaviour’, such as wearing make-up, and, in some instances, follows them home to castigate their parents or spouses.”

Human Rights Watch said the situation was particularly dire in the western province of Herat – an area largely under the control of US-backed warlord Ismail Khan.

“Under the rule of the local governor Ismail Khan, women’s and girls’ freedom of expression, association, movement and rights to equality, work, education and bodily integrity steadily deteriorated throughout 2002,” the report said.

“Virtually every aspect of women’s and girls’ lives is still policed in Herat …. Where they can go, how they can get there, whom they can go with and how they can dress.”

The Herat government dismissed the report.

“We reject it completely,” said Nasir Ahmed Alawi, spokesman for Ismail Khan. “We have women working with NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and with women’s groups. We have schools for girls.”

Human Rights Watch said authorities prohibited women in Herat from walking or riding in vehicles alone with men who were not close relatives.

With little public transport available – they cannot even ride alone with a male taxi driver - women had “few ways to get to school, work or the market, or to seek medical care”.