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WITHAri was seven when her parents died, forcing her to move in with her uncle. But when he died four years later, his two widows beat Zari and forced her to work long hours weaving rugs. During his teenage years, Zari tried to kill himself.
After her suicide attempt, Zari, now 28, moved to a shelter for abused women. For the past eight years, she held onto the belief that things would get better. She made friends and learned to sew clothes, eventually teaching others to do the same.
But with the Taliban now in command of Afghanistan, she risks losing everything again.
Shortly after the hard-line group came to power in mid-August, ending the US-led war, the small shelter sent several of its residents back to their homes. Zari and four other women who also have no family are the only ones left.
Overnight, the unmarked building nestled in the Afghan capital went from its sanctuary to a place of danger. “The (staff) curse us, they tell us, ‘Your life is in your hands. You can go wherever you want. I am scared. I don’t know where to go, ”said Zari, who spoke to the Guardian on condition that we didn’t use her real name.
The shelter is one of some 30 such establishments in Afghanistan. Constructed over the past 20 years, they have functioned as a low-key and often hidden part of the international community’s commitment to advancing the rights of Afghan women. Most of the women’s cases were resolved within months, but some spent years in the shelter, learning new skills so that they could re-enter society.
Over the past six weeks, that crucial lifeline has all but disappeared. Most shelters have closed at the behest of the Taliban, meaning the women have either been sent home, often to their attackers, or moved to secret locations. For those still in business, like Zari’s, the future is uncertain. Of the three shelter directors who spoke to the Guardian, none are welcoming new women.
The plight of the shelters symbolizes the struggle for gender equality and the ability to address violence against women in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Islamist group closed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, replacing it with the headquarters of its “morality police”, created an all-male government and banned girls from attending secondary school. Human Rights Watch has documented the Taliban’s abuses against women since taking power, including the search for high-profile women, mandatory dress codes, and denial of freedom of movement outside their homes.
Mahbooba Seraj, a veteran women’s rights activist and manager of a shelter for 30 women in Kabul, says the Taliban is still working on what to do about women’s shelters. “They are afraid that the women in the shelters will leave, end up in the streets and become prostitutes, which is very possible,” she said by phone from Kabul. “And they don’t want that.”
Two weeks ago, 15 Taliban policemen, including undercover policemen, visited Seraj’s shelter for several days, noting the names of residents and snooping around. The women wore veils so they could not be identified, Seraj said.
Seraj told the Taliban their visit was exceptional – a man had never crossed the threshold of his shelter before. “They looked at me like they didn’t believe me. And a policeman asked, “Even the Americans? I laughed and said, “Neither American nor Afghan. Period.’ Why they thought Americans were visiting is beyond me.
Now Seraj, the 73-year-old founder of the Afghan Women’s Network, an advocacy group, wants to know what the Taliban is planning for abused women. Even before the group took power, Afghanistan consistently led the list of countries with the lowest protection for women.
“The problems of Afghan women are the same as before the Taliban came to power. Women are still abused, still have abusive families, and are still addicted to drugs. Despite a landmark 2009 law on the elimination of violence against women, more than half of all Afghan women reported physical abuse and of those who were married, 59% were in a forced union, according to the report. government studies.
The past 20 years have proven how invaluable protection services are to Afghan society, said Kevin Schumacher, deputy executive director of Women for Afghan Women, a Washington-based nonprofit that operates the world’s largest network of country shelters. “The next time there is a blatant human rights violation… and the victim happens to be a woman, where will she go? Society does not operate on the basis of our ideological views. If the Taliban are to rule a country, they must have answers to these very real social needs. “
However, this is not the first time that Afghan women have risked losing their refuge. The previous US-backed government made several attempts to bring the shelters under its control, describing them as corrupt brothels full of female drug addicts. In 2011, the government wanted to subject women entering shelters to medically unfounded and humiliating “virginity tests”. International donors who fund the shelters were successful in preventing the takeover.
The US State Department, which had shared funding for the shelters with the UN, estimates that around 2,000 women and girls – mostly in Kabul – used the shelters each year. A State Department spokesperson said it spends $ 11million (£ 8million) annually on shelters.
It is not yet clear what funding, if any, shelters can expect. Afghanistan is bracing for an economic collapse and humanitarian catastrophe, made worse by the worst drought in decades. During the NATO-led war, foreign aid supported the Afghan economy, and its fate will now depend on whether or not the Taliban can gain the support of their former enemies. Despite the Taliban’s call to the UN last week for legitimacy, no country has recognized its government.
Earlier this month, the UN managed to secure $ 1.2 billion in emergency aid for Afghanistan, but there is no guarantee that these funds will be gender sensitive. A 2019 report by the International Rescue Committee found that only 0.2% of global humanitarian funding from 2016 to 2018 was for gender-based violence.
“As donors attempt to stem the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, they must remember to devote part of these efforts specifically to helping women,” said Heather Barr, associate director of the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch. “As the Taliban has prevented many women from earning a living, there is also an urgent need to preserve, as much as possible, protective services for women and girls facing violence. “
When a Kabul-based shelter that once housed 80 women closed during the Taliban takeover, her cook lost her income as well as a way to support her extended family. “My mother and I were the breadwinners, but now we both stay at home, not knowing how we’re going to survive,” said the 30-year-old, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Since last year, she had cooked twice a day, received £ 190 a month and was independent from her abusive husband, who was a crystal meth addict. Her mother, who was a cook at another shelter funded by the same Western NGO, also lost her job.
“Now that I am locked in my house, I am suffering a lot, mentally and financially,” says the girl. She fears for her two daughters, who are due to enter high school next year. “As an illiterate Afghan, I used to work to help my two daughters go to school, but now they can’t even get an education.
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