Taliban sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, says UN report

Source: Associated Press

Taliban sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, says UN report

Updated 3:28 AM EST, December 14, 2023

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban officials are sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, according to a U.N. report published Thursday.

Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centers in Afghanistan where survivors of gender-based violence could seek refuge. Now there are none, the U.N. report said.

Officials from the Taliban-led administration told the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that there was no need for such shelters or that they were a Western concept.

The Taliban sends women to prison if they have no male relatives to stay with or if the male relatives are considered unsafe, the report said. Authorities have also asked male relatives for commitments or sworn statements that they will not harm a female relative, inviting local elders to witness the guarantee, it added.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-women-gender-based-violence-2ec109df53ac84a899553296cc8720cd