UN: Every Woman and Girl Has the Right to Feel Safe Everywhere

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The United Nations, emphasizing the right to security for all women and girls, has called on governments to implement protective laws and invest in preventing gender-based violence.

UN Women on Sunday (October 19) wrote in a post on the social network X: “Every woman and girl has the right to feel safe everywhere.” The organization emphasized that governments must, by effectively enforcing laws and ending the impunity of perpetrators of violence, work to create a world free from fear and discrimination.

This message comes as women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule are deprived of their most basic human rights. Afghanistan today is the only country where girls above the sixth grade are banned from education, a restriction that has kept more than 2.2 million girls out of school and threatens the future of the young generation.

The Taliban have also banned women from working in most public and private institutions and prohibited their presence in public spaces, including parks, gyms, and television programs. These widespread bans have pushed the lives of women and girls to the margins and increased poverty, forced marriage, and domestic violence.

Human rights activists say the Taliban’s policies against women constitute “gender apartheid,” and their continuation poses a serious threat to the social and human future of Afghanistan.