Human Rights: Afghan women stand up to the Taliban

Shabnam von Hein

Maryam Maroof Arvin is the 30-year-old co-founder of the Purple Saturdays Movement. Every week, the women's rights advocacy group organizes peaceful protests against the massive curtailment of women's freedoms in Afghanistan. They are trying to raise awareness about civil rights and democracy in Afghan society. The organization was founded in the capital, Kabul, after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. "We can only rely on ourselves," Arvin told DW.

She is one of several women's rights activists still in Afghanistan who refuse to give up. Arvin and the other women in her network don't only organize protests. Girls are no longer allowed to attend school after sixth grade, so the women teach them secretly at home. They also collect aid for single mothers and needy families and care for orphans.

Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August 2021, the most vulnerable people in society have been left to fend for themselves. Almost all international aid organizations have left the country because the Taliban systematically violate human rights, women's rights in particular.

The Taliban has introduced a series of laws and political measures that deny women and girls across the country their basic rights purely based on gender. Female employees have been sent home, girls' secondary schools have been closed, and women have been banned from attending university.

Arvin was studying for her master's degree when the Taliban barred women from universities in December 2022. Like almost all Afghan women, at home and abroad, she is outraged by the United Nations' initiative to negotiate with the Taliban without any representation by women. "We know that, as in the Doha meeting, they are seeking talks with the Taliban to pave the way for the recognition of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. In doing so, they are ignoring the Afghan people and, above all, Afghan women," Arvin said.

Last week, in response to a UN initiative, Taliban representatives met in Doha, Qatar, with diplomats from 25 countries and international organizations to discuss the future of Afghanistan. Before the meeting even began, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid made clear that the issue of women's rights was an "internal matter" for Afghanistan and would not be on the agenda in Doha. Other countries, he insisted, needed to acknowledge Afghanistan's religious and cultural values.

"Women's rights are not an internal Afghan matter," US diplomat Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told DW. "We wanted to engage in conversation with the Taliban, and we had to start somewhere."

DiCarlo said the Doha meeting was a first step in initiating a step-by-step process. She stressed that the goal was for the Taliban "to live in peace with their neighbors and adhere to international law, the UN Charter, and human rights."

"The Taliban know how to use the international stage to their advantage," commented Afghan writer and education expert Hazrat Vahriz in an interview with DW before the Doha meeting. "The Taliban have always participated in reconciliation talks, even meeting with Ahmad Shah Massoud or other opposition groups in Turkmenistan before they seized power in 2021. They should not be underestimated. They have successful diplomats whose sole focus is imposing their terms. The Taliban expect the people of Afghanistan to be their subjects and accept them as rulers."

The Taliban are seeking international recognition of their government and are also campaigning for the sanctions on them to be lifted. Their goal is to gain access to Afghan assets frozen by the United States. Afghanistan has been plunged into a severe economic crisis resulting from frozen bank accounts, extensive international sanctions,and the emigration of skilled professionals. According to the United Nations, 97% of the Afghan population now lives in poverty.

"Afghanistan is not the only country where human rights are violated," comments Hazrat Vahriz. "Some in Afghanistan believe it is the responsibility of the international community to solve problems caused by the mismanagement and misrule by our elites. This will only happen if the Taliban do not pose a threat to the interests of powerful countries — the United States and Western countries in particular. But it won't come about because the Taliban will keep their promises to America. The Afghan population must campaign for themselves."

And women are at the forefront of this effort. "We have to combine our forces," says Arvin. The co-founder of the Purple Saturday Movement is calling on all human rights activists, intellectuals, and dissidents to form a coalition and organize more effective domestic resistance to the Taliban.

"We are advocating for a legitimate, democratic, and inclusive government. And we have to accept that, in doing so, we cannot rely on those who simply use human rights to promote themselves," says Maroof, in a bitter dig at the international community.