UN Groups Say Restrictions on Afghan Girls Will Increase Child Marriages

International organizations said that bans imposed on women and girls by the Islamic Emirate will increase the number of child marriages among Afghan girls by 25%.

UN Women, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) published a joint two-page brief summarizing the issues of Afghan women and their demands of the international community.

The brief said that the continuation of restrictions by the current Afghan government on women and girls will impact child marriages by an increase of 25%, increase early childbearing by 45%, increase the risk of maternal mortality by 50%, and the brief emphasized that currently 82% of Afghan women consider their mental health to be bad.

It’s also mentioned that Afghanistan remains the only country in the world that bans girls from going to school beyond grade six as a matter of policy. Afghan women are also banned from attending university.

According to the joint brief, despite the restrictions on Afghan women and girls, they have not given up fighting for their right to live full lives with dignity. “Afghan women are still forming civil society organizations, still running businesses, and still providing services to their communities; most importantly, Afghan women have continued to find ways to make their demands to the international community clear,” the brief said.

UN Women, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in the brief said that Afghan women ask the international community to remain focused on the situation in Afghanistan and to restore women’s rights, including the rights to education and work, in addition to women’s participation in public decision-making.

Meanwhile, a number of analysts dismissed these statements, asserting that the world does not have a policy to address these restrictions.

“Forced marriages can be considered a very small part of the obstacles preventing girls from continuing their education, but what the United Nations Women’s Section claims is not like that. The main and significant obstacles to girls’ education are known by the United Nations, credible international institutions, and major powers, but they are wasting time. They do not have fundamental and principled work in hand to remove these limitations from the girls and women of Afghanistan,” said Nesar Ahmad Sherzai, a political analyst.

“Now that school and education have been restricted for girls and they have been deprived, families are once again forcing their daughters into marriage against the principles and civil law of Afghanistan, which sets the minimum age of marriage for girls at 16,” said Soraya Paikan, a women’s rights activist.

Earlier, a number of countries including the United States called for the lifting of bans against women in Afghanistan and stated that if women’s rights are not observed, “the Taliban” will not be formally recognized.