One of the countries with the highest rate of male violence, which is a major problem all over the world, is Afghanistan, where the Taliban took over on August 15, 2021. In the 3 years since the Taliban government came to power, women have been deprived of almost all their rights, they have been fired from their jobs, their voices and faces have been banned in public. Their rights to education and travel were usurped, and the wearing of the burqa was made compulsory. Laws were enacted to ensure that a woman's voice, which is considered "private", cannot be heard in public. 

 

Women, who are waging a determined struggle against the Taliban's systematic violations and violence, are resisting the regime that seeks to eradicate their identities and voices through different means and methods. 

 

Shiba Rufi, who lives in Afghanistan, talked to our agency about the situation in the country and their struggle on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. 

 

SECRET COURSES ARE OFFERED

 

Before the Taliban invasion, Shiba Rufi was a pharmacist and teacher, was also the head of the Kosha Women's Social Association. After the Taliban took over, she was stripped of all her professions and confined to her home. Shiba Rufi expressed the process and its effects on her life as follows: "Before 2021, we were working hard to build the capacities of young women and girls by organizing computer, language and expressive arts courses at the Women's Social Association in Kabul. We were running three-month and six-month courses to teach needlework, bead weaving, knitting and tailoring. When the Taliban came, they shut down all our activities. But we try to continue these activities secretly online."

 

NO LEAVING THE HOUSES

 

Saying that they are deprived of all their legitimate rights, "There are no schools for girls. Women are forbidden to work outside the home and it is a crime for them to leave the house without a male family member (muharram). Girls' education is forbidden after the sixth grade. University is forbidden for girls. We are obliged to wear the burqa. A woman not wearing a burqa is punished and cursed by the Taliban. Girls and women who wander outside the house are warned. The economic situation of the families is very bad, they even have difficulty in buying daily bread," she said.  

GIRLS ARE FORCED TO MARRY

 

Stating that the world is silent about the Taliban's oppression, Shiba Rufi said: "In the three years since the Taliban came to power, support for women has been minimal. Women are struggling under the pressure and oppression of the Taliban and the world is silent despite knowing our situation. Women in Afghanistan are forced to marry the Taliban. Girls are sold. People sell their children because of poverty. The Taliban take underage girls and marry them for the second or even third time." 

 

WOMEN RESIST FROM DAY ONE

 

Noting that women who raise their voices for their rights are imprisoned and even murdered. "Women are experiencing psychological problems due to increasing restrictions, and their mental health is not good. Women are fighting against the Taliban since day one" said Shiba Rufi and added: "The struggle continues, but the Taliban does not accept any human rights and rules. That is why women are punished in every way. Women did everything to get their rights. But the Taliban imprisoned them and took financial and moral guarantees from the families of the protesters. Women were threatened with weapons, physically and verbally abused, insulted. They humiliated women in public. All of this is still going on. Women who defend human rights, and even the men of these families, are insulted and threatened in the media or from the pulpit of the mosque."

 

'FIELD COURTS ON THE RISE'

Stating that "field courts" where women are punished are increasing day by day, Shiba Rufi said: "All these incidents are turned into silence without being recorded. No one in Afghanistan is optimistic about the Taliban, but they are forced to remain silent due to torture and oppression. The number of women and men who fight against injustice, who do not surrender to oppression, injustice and inequality is limited." 

 

WOMEN'S FORMS OF STRUGGLE 

 

Emphasizing that despite all this persecution, women have not stopped fighting on the streets and raising their voices through the media, "Right now, online schools, secret training courses are going on. Women are using silent struggle to awaken people's minds about their legitimate rights, to give people the spirit of struggle, and they are working secretly to make people aware of their legitimate rights. Through this work, women are empowering people in terms of struggle," she said. 

 

NO OFFICIAL ACTIVITY

 

Pointing out that no institution or organization can operate officially, "Some institutions and organizations operate secretly to the extent that they are funded by foreign organizations. Very few organizations are able to interact with the Taliban and engage in some activities in the health and trade sectors," Shiba Rufi said.  

 

'I AM IN MY HOMELAND AND I AM FIGHTING'

Shiba Rufi, who said that she took to the streets in the second week of the Taliban's arrival and raised her voice for justice, said: "I have been tortured many times and I am still subjected to violence, persecution, insults and humiliation by the Taliban. However, I am still in my hometown and I am fighting against the Taliban. I am the voice of my sisters until they achieve justice and equality. There are women like me who are struggling and trying to hold their sisters' hands. We hope that our future will be free from all these problems of inequality. There are fighting women like me who stay at home and try to hold their sisters' hands so that we can have a better future. We hope that our future will be free from all these problems of inequality." 

 

CALL TO WOMEN 

 

Shiba Rufi made the following call to women: "The support is limited and does not reach the majority of women in need in Afghanistan. We ask the women of the world to unite with us, raise their voices for humanity and the women of Afghanistan at world summits and support us. Do not leave the women of Afghanistan alone, it is our wish that misogyny is eradicated from our society. There is violence against women in every society, but the Taliban in Afghanistan is extreme. We ask the women of the world to unite against inequalities. Let us fight together to achieve gender equality, humanity and justice. Let us fight together to achieve humanity, justice and equality so that all women in the world are free from all forms of gender inequality. Until justice and equality are achieved, I ask you women to remember us and support us to get rid of the Taliban. Until we achieve a society free from violence." 

 

Emphasizing that the struggle of women in Afghanistan continues, Shiba Rufi said: "Our slogan is: 'We are all together, let's break the oppression.' Women of the world, women's rights activists, support us." 

 

MA / Zemo Ağgöz - Hivda Çelebi