Afghan women stage rare protests, braving Taliban reprisals

As handfuls gather on International Women’s Day, UN rights rapporteur calls for release of detained rights activists.

Small groups of Afghan women have gathered in private spaces to demand that harsh restrictions on their freedoms be lifted, despite recent Taliban crackdowns on protests that have seen activists detained.

The demonstrations were staged in different locations, including the provinces of Takhar and Balkh, as the world celebrated International Women’s Day on Friday, according to the activists from the Purple Saturdays group – an organisation formed to raise awareness and oppose restrictions on women’s freedoms.

In northern Takhar province, seven women held papers obscuring their faces, reading “Rights, Justice, Freedom”.

“Our silence and fear is the biggest weapon of the Taliban,” a demonstrator whose face was covered said in a video.

In Balkh province, several women also held up signs saying “Don’t give the Taliban a chance” in front of a banner reading “Save Afghanistan Women”.

About 20 women gathered at an event organised by the Afghanistan Association of the Blind in northern Mazar-i-Sharif city on Thursday. “It is very painful that a woman has no value in our society today. She cannot use any of her rights,” said one attendee.

On Friday, Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, called on the Taliban government “to immediately and unconditionally release all those who have been arbitrarily detained for defending human rights, especially the rights of women and girls”.

On #InternationalWomensDay I stand with the women of Afghanistan, call on the #Taliban to respect the human rights of women & girls under international law, and urge the immediate and