KShortly before the anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of power in Kabul, fighters from the radical Islamist organization violently dispersed a women’s demonstration for more rights. The militants fired into the air on Saturday to disperse around 40 protesters who chanted “bread, jobs and freedom” in front of the education ministry in the Afghan capital, an AFP correspondent reported.
Some women who fled to nearby shops were chased by the Taliban and beaten with rifle butts. According to the AFP reporter, journalists who wanted to report on the first women’s demonstration in months were also beaten. The demonstrators demanded the right to work and political participation. They carried a banner that read “August 15 is a black day” – Monday marks the first anniversary of the Taliban taking power.
At the time, the Taliban had promised a more moderate form of Islamist rule than the one they practiced in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. But in the past twelve months, women’s rights, among other things, have again been massively curtailed.
Tens of thousands of girls have been excluded from secondary schools. Women are also no longer allowed to work in government offices. Separate visiting days for men and women have been introduced in the capital’s parks. In May, Taliban chief Hibatullah Achundsada also ordered women to cover themselves completely in public.
The United Nations Children’s Fund Unicef has meanwhile criticized the massive underfunding of humanitarian aid for the population. “Contrary to the perception in Germany, Unicef can now provide significantly more help in all parts of the country,” writes the Managing Director of Unicef Germany, Christian Schneider, in the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. However, only a third of the required funds have been made available so far in the current year. “While the world is rightly looking back to Afghanistan, governments must take the opportunity to finally scale up aid.”
“Food supply is catastrophic”
Schneider described the food supply as catastrophic. “More than a million children are critically malnourished. Eight out of ten people will continue to drink polluted water today. Children are paying the ultimate price in this never-ending humanitarian catastrophe.”
Above all, Schneider denounced the Taliban’s practice of deliberately cutting off girls from education. She, in particular, must not let the international community down. “When everyday life is as ruthless as it is on this anniversary, then the right to education is particularly important.” The price for doing nothing would be “immeasurable,” warned Schneider.
The organization Pro Asyl criticized that tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan were still in danger of their lives – “while the federal government is only insufficiently implementing its plans to save people at risk”. The number of people who should get protection is far too small. Pro Asyl recalled the congress “Afghan Local Forces – The Situation of Former Employees of the German Government”, which took place in Berlin on Saturday.
There, signatures to a petition “Save instead of talking” were handed over to the human rights commissioner of the federal government, Luise Amtsberg (Greens). Pro Asyl called for “a reform of the local staff procedure, a federal admissions program worthy of the name, the continuous issuing of humanitarian visas and the acceleration of family reunification”. Even after the start of a federal admissions program, humanitarian visas would have to continue to be issued. Around 20,000 people supported the demands, it said.
