Amnesty International warns: Safe houses for women victims of violence closed in Afghanistan
According to Amnesty International, the Taliban have closed or destroyed support networks and safe houses for women and girls who are victims of violence in Afghanistan. Prisoners accused of violence against women have been released across Afghanistan.
According to Amnesty International, since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, safe houses and assistance centers for women and girls have been closed, destroyed, or occupied by the Taliban across Afghanistan.
All shelter services have been dismantled, and women who sought refuge in these places due to domestic violence are once again at serious risk of violence and even death. This situation has also put workers at risk.
Amnesty International has said that defense lawyers, judges, government officials and others involved in providing services to shelters have also been exposed to violence and even death threats.
The organization called on the Taliban to revive the Ministry of Women's Affairs and allow safe houses to operate again, as well as to ensure that all safe house service workers can work freely without fear of reprisals.
In one of their first actions after taking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban changed the Ministry of Women's Affairs to the Ministry of Encouraging Righteousness and Preventing Evil.
Amnesty International said that the Taliban's regulations, which allow women and girls to travel in public only when accompanied by a male, further complicate their situation. Prisoners convicted of violence against women and girls have also been released from prison across Afghanistan and arrested in front of victims of violence.
Agnes Callamard, Director of Amnesty International, says that the Taliban's indiscriminate release of prisoners has put the lives of domestic violence survivors at serious risk.
Amnesty International has also called on the international community to provide urgent funding for protection services and to call on the Taliban to uphold their obligations towards women and girls, especially victims of sexual violence.
Source: DW
