© OCHA/Christophe Verhellen. A woman and her child in a camp for displaced people in Afghanistan.
In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, if women report to the de facto authorities that they have been subjected to gender-based violence, authorities may send women to prison for "protecting them," according to a new report released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on December 14.
This latest report finds a number of alarming phenomena in Afghanistan. For example, fears of de facto authorities, as well as "fear of re-victimization", many women survivors prefer to seek redress through "traditional dispute resolution mechanisms" within their communities rather than filing formal complaints.
How imprisonment is the same as protection
The report notes that the victims' plight also lies in the fact that complaints of gender-based violence are mainly handled by male police and judicial officers. Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, women have been almost completely excluded from public life and civil service positions in Afghanistan.
The report cites Taliban officials who believe that sending women to prison is for their own safety and that it is the only option.
UNAMA noted that the alleged imprisonment of women to protect them from gender-based violence "amounts to arbitrary deprivation of liberty" and has serious consequences for their physical and mental health.
The remedy was "almost gone" and the shelter was demolished
The report shows that mechanisms and policies that give victims access to legal remedies and protections have "all but disappeared" since the Taliban takeover.
About 23 state-sponsored women's shelters have been demolished, and Taliban officials claim that "women survivors should live with their husbands or other male family members."
UNAMA reiterates the obligation of the de facto authorities to ensure justice in cases of gender-based violence, to end the "perpetuated culture of impunity" and to provide victims with access to protection and services.
