Women's human rights in Afghanistan have been seriously violated in recent decades. Before the Taliban regime, women's lives in Afghanistan were different. They had many rights, to wear what they wanted, to be educated and to work. With the rise of the Taliban, women were stripped of their rights and had to follow Taliban laws. Human rights violations range from women's freedom and personal safety to discrimination in employment and education and lack of equality before the law. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, women's rights have gradually improved, but women are still subject to control and suffer a high level of violence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Women's rights are specified in a number of international human rights instruments. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) establishes the rights of all people, including the right to equality before the law and the right to non-discrimination. Regarding the right to equality, the Universal Declaration specifies in article 7 that: “All are equal before the law and are entitled, without discrimination, to equal protection of the law. Everyone is entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination” (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, n.d.). On 18 December 1979, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which became an international treaty on 3 September 1981. The measures adopted which specifically concern women in Afghanistan are mentioned in Article 1 - Discrimination based on sex, Article 6-Exploitation of female prostitution, Article 10 and 11-Equal rights for men and women in matters of employment and education. The United Nations ensures laws aimed at eliminating discrimination against women and guaranteeing them equal rights in society (United Nations, 2009). On December 10, 1948, Afghanistan was one of forty-eight countries to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Unethiopia, 2014). Afghanistan also signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1980 (Nations, CHAPTER IV Human Rights, 2016). The Taliban regime has nullified the rights enjoyed by women in Afghanistan. A photograph taken in Kabul in June 1978 shows that women in Afghanistan walked freely in the streets in knee-length skirts and high heels. However, more recent photos of women in Afghanistan show that there has been a dramatic change, indicating a violation of women's rights and freedom to wear what they want (Sarkar, 2015). According to Taliban laws, women were obliged at all times in public to wear the burqa, which is a garment that covers the entire body, including the eyes. They could not leave their home and walk down the street without a male relative with them. The Taliban's policy severely limited women's freedom of movement: for example, an Afghan woman had to be accompanied by a relative to travel. In May 2001, the Taliban issued an official order banning women from driving cars. It also limited their health and social life to meeting other Afghan women, which resulted in isolation. (Vyas, 2015). Since 2001, after the fall of the Taliban, Afghan women's rights have improved in many areas of education, employment and violence.However, women continue to suffer oppression and abuse. In January 2002, the head of the provisional administration, Hamid Karzai, signed the “Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women”, which proclaimed the right to equality between men and women. (Nations, The situation of women in Afghanistan, 2002). In 2004, a Constitution was approved that makes men and women citizens equal under the law and it is important that women make up 25% of the New Parliament. In 2007, women in Afghanistan set themselves on fire to escape forced marriage (Foundation, RR, 2016). In 2009, the government passed a decree criminalizing violence against women. As a result 350 men were prosecuted for violating this decree. However, it has been challenged as un-Islamic law (Constable, 2013). In 2012, a then 16-year-old girl, Malala Yousafzai, was killed on her way to school by a Taliban gunman. She became an activist fighting for women's right to education, working with the United Nations (Husain, 2013). Although Afghan women's rights have shown improvements since the fall of the Taliban, many of their rights are still violated. After the advent of the Taliban in 2001, Afghan women still suffer discrimination in education and employment. In Afghanistan, men are more likely than women to finish their studies or even access the right to education. Severe gender inequalities persist in the Afghan education system. It has the highest level of gender differentiation in the world when it comes to primary education, with only 71 girls attending primary school for every 100 boys according to the Afghan Ministry of Education. Only 21% of girls complete primary education. Cultural barriers, such as early marriage, impede girls' education. (Strand, 2015). 60% of girls are married before the age of 16, many through forced marriages. Girls from poor families lose the opportunity to get an education. There is also a lack of female teachers. Together, these factors lead to 85% of Afghan women having no formal education. Women in Afghanistan have been heavily discriminated against when it comes to education, but according to the World Bank in 2012 statistics showed a huge improvement in the number of girls attending formal education (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2014). The second area of discrimination that Afghan women face is unemployment. Women now have the right to work, but their husbands can undermine that right by refusing them permission to work. With high unemployment rates, most men believe that employing women will only take jobs away from men. The men harassed Afghan women into unemployment, which negatively affected their daily work environment and safety. They have been threatened with rape and sexually harassed, but many women tend to endure these violations in silence, as they feel that complaining is not an option for them, as they will face harsh consequences (Kittleson, 2016). Taliban, domestic violence against women is still widespread in Afghanistan and has become the most crucial rights violation women still face in their daily lives. Afghan women can suffer domestic abuse for reasons such as wearing inappropriate clothing, leaving home without their husband's permission, refusing to have sex, or for small things like burning food. Afghan women are unlikely to report abuse because they are economically and socially dependent on abusive family members (Moylan, 2015). A study conducted in 2006 by Global Rights, an organization,.
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