According to the UN, 87% of Afghan women have suffered some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence.
Married at the age of seven to a man old enough to be her great-grandfather, Fatema suffered rape, beatings and hunger until she couldn’t take it anymore and tried to commit suicide.
Through tears she remembers the beatings she received, like once when she was 10 years old when she was thrown against a wall and “my head was hit with a nail … I almost died.”
Now the 22-year-old lives in one of the few shelters for assaulted women still operating in Afghanistan since the Taliban came back to power in August, but fear losing that place at any moment.
If the shelter closes, Fatema will have nowhere to go. She lost contact with her family and her in-laws promised to kill her for dishonoring her name.
Fatema’s situation is shared by millions in Afghanistan, where patriarchal tradition, poverty and lack of education have held back women’s rights for decades.
According to the UN, 87% of Afghan women have suffered some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence.
Despite this, the country of 38 million people had only 24 shelters for their care before the return of the Taliban, almost all financed by the international community and viewed with suspicion by many places.
Start from scratch
Some organizations that ran shelters abandoned this effort before the arrival of the Taliban.
The director of one of these organizations told AFP which began moving women from shelters in unstable provinces before the US troop withdrawal.
Some returned to their families in the hope that they would protect them from their in-laws. Others were transferred to larger shelters in provincial capitals.
With the advance of the Taliban the situation became desperate, and some 100 women were transferred to Kabul, but the capital also fell.
“We had to start from scratch,” said the director who asked not to be identified.
The Taliban insist that their strict interpretation of the Qur’an grants rights and protection to women, but the reality is very different.
Most of the girls’ colleges are closed, women are prohibited from working in the government except in specific areas, and this week new rules were issued that prevent them from making long trips without the company of a male relative. However, there is still a glimmer of hope.
The Taliban Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, denounced the forced marriage in December and Suhail Shaheen, a possible ambassador to the UN, told Amnesty International that women can go to court if they are victims of violence.
The regime has not formally ruled on the future of the shelters, but they are aware of their existence. Taliban fighters and officials have repeatedly visited the nursing home where Fatema and 20 other women are, according to the employees.
“They arrived, looked at the rooms, checked that there were no men,” said a worker. “They said this place is not safe for women, that their place is at home,” quoted another.
“Accused of lying”
Even before the arrival of the Taliban, many women in abusive situations had few outlets. Zakia went to the Women’s Ministry (closed by the Taliban) for help to flee from a father-in-law who threatened to kill her.
“They didn’t even listen to me,” he said.
The same happened to 17-year-old Mina, who ran away from an abusive uncle seven years ago with her younger sister. “The ministry accused me of lying,” he told AFP.
It is not only women seeking refuge who are vulnerable. Amnesty International said that shelter workers are also “at risk of violence and death.”.
Several workers say they have been threatened over the phone by people who claim to be Taliban in search of women who fled their homes. The cases of abuse could grow in the face of the economic collapse in Afghanistan, with unemployment on the rise and hunger.
“When the economic situation worsens, men are left without jobs and violence increases,” said a refugee worker.
“The situation has possibly worsened … Services in general have declined,” said Alison Davidian, UN Women’s Acting Representative in Afghanistan.
One of the few open shelters is run by Mahbouba Seraj, a pioneer in the fight for women’s rights in the country.
After being inspected by the Taliban, the shelter was “more or less left alone”she said, but worries about women trapped in abusive relationships with nowhere to go.
Zakia at least has a safe place, but until when? “My own father says he doesn’t love me,” he said. (I)
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