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Zan News: Mehria Ashuftah, an Afghan-German political activist and candidate for the Social Democrats, succeeded in entering the Hamburg state parliament by securing over 9,000 votes in the state parliamentary elections. Photo: afghandiaspora Mehria Ashuftah, Afghan Woman, Enters Hamburg State Parliament March 4, 2025 Zan News Zan News: Mehria Ashuftah, an Afghan-German political activist and candidate for the Social Democrats, succeeded in entering the Hamburg state parliament by securing over 9,000 votes in the state parliamentary elections. The Hamburg state parliamentary elections were held on Sunday (2 March). In a message posted on her Instagram page, Ms. Ashuftah stated that her close ones were aware of her success, but she personally refrained from making any predictions on election day. She also emphasized that she had achieved her goal of raising awareness and creating hope among the people. This lawyer and professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Hamburg, who was born in Kabul and migrated to Germany with her family during childhood, had declared during the electoral campaign that her aim is to amplify the voice of Afghan migrants in Germany. It is noteworthy that Mehria Ashuftah is the second Afghan-origin woman to enter the Hamburg state parliament. Prior to her, Zahra Mojaddedi had served in this parliament over the past four years."

Zan News: Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, has stated that since his last report in June of this year, the Taliban have intensified human rights violations in Afghanistan, particularly concerning the rights of women and girls. Photo: UN Photo / Jean Marc Ferré Richard Bennett Calls for Collective Global Response to Taliban Human Rights Violations September 10, 2024 Zan News Zan News: Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, has stated that since his last report in June of this year, the Taliban have intensified human rights violations in Afghanistan, particularly concerning the rights of women and girls. On Monday (September 9), at the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Bennett emphasized that the Taliban's new "Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law marks a new phase of human rights violations that began following the Taliban's takeover in August 2021. According to Bennett, this law not only institutionalizes Taliban's gender-based discrimination and repression but also affects almost the entire population of Afghanistan. He also highlighted the repression of ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities, especially the Hazara community, who are suffering greatly from this oppression. Bennett noted that human rights violations in Afghanistan also impact children, LGBTQ+ individuals, and the elderly, who face public corporal punishment and other forms of violence. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights stated that severe repression of human rights has also made it almost impossible for journalists and human rights activists to operate in Afghanistan. He added that the Taliban do not tolerate any dissenting views and have reverted to their 1990s policies. Bennett stressed that the human rights crisis in Afghanistan has existed not only over the past three years but throughout more than four and a half decades of conflict in the country. He asserted that all parties involved in Afghanistan are responsible for human rights violations and must be held accountable. Bennett called for a collective global response to the Taliban's human rights abuses and emphasized that any normalization of relations with the Taliban should be based on measurable and independent progress in human rights. This comes as the Taliban have banned Richard Bennett from entering Afghanistan and accused him of propaganda against them.

Will women in tribal areas always remain confined to their homes, or will there come a time when they, like men, will be able to participate in all aspects of life without fear? In the past four decades, if a woman in a tribal society is oppressed or unjustly killed, her family usually tries to keep the matter hidden. They consider a woman's words as dishonorable if they leave the house, whereas before the Afghan Jihad, tribal women worked alongside men, bringing necessities from the market and even dancing with men during weddings and celebrations. Photo: flickr Is Working for Tribal Women a Sin? January 25, 2025 Mohammad Jawad, Pakistan Will women in tribal areas always remain confined to their homes, or will there come a time when they, like men, will be able to participate in all aspects of life without fear? In the past four decades, if a woman in a tribal society is oppressed or unjustly killed, her family usually tries to keep the matter hidden. They consider a woman's words as dishonorable if they leave the house, whereas before the Afghan Jihad, tribal women worked alongside men, bringing necessities from the market and even dancing with men during weddings and celebrations. After the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, religious factions locked women in their homes. Taking advantage of this opportunity, tribal leaders turned girls' schools into guest rooms. The war against terrorism further closed the doors of schools, and on a large scale, schools were bombed. A source who wished to remain anonymous told Zan News that the advantage of girls' schools was that they provided free accommodation and also several fourth-grade jobs, which helped cover household expenses. She added that the political agent had complete authority and could assign schools to whoever he wished. Many wealthy tribal leaders had received four or five schools, the buildings of which they used for personal gain, and they also personally collected the salaries of the fourth-grade employees. The situation has reached a point where even working for women is considered "forbidden." The hardliners of the Taliban have caused the most damage to girls' schools, because in their view, girls should neither receive an education nor leave the house. The schools built in tribal areas were already functioning as guest rooms, but the Taliban could not even accept the name "girls' school." The responsibility for keeping girls deprived of education was not solely the Taliban's, but also political agents under the FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulations) law, which granted them full authority. Their connections were limited to tribal leaders, who demanded the closure of girls' schools. They said that under the FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulations) law, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) had separate offices for the President and Governor, which also included girls' schools. By combining the budgets of both, it was larger than the budget of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but this money was spent on other purposes instead of the welfare of the common tribes. In this regard, a social activist from Waziristan, Pakistan, says that women in tribal areas have not yet gained independence, and strict social restrictions prevent them from working or having jobs. Some people even feel embarrassed to mention their mother or sister's name, and educated individuals also encourage women to stay only within their homes. Fatima, another woman from the remote areas of Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, has faced her family's strict customs and restrictions. Fatima said, "I received an education and participated not only in the development of my family but also my community. However, my family did not allow me to work. They believed that women should only engage in household chores, and stepping into the outside world was not suitable for them." These traditional thoughts have created obstacles for Fatima in pursuing her dreams. In Pakistan, an Afghan woman from Afghanistan, whose assumed name is Shaista, says that when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, she was working in a factory, but with the Taliban's rise to power, she was not allowed to continue working. In light of this situation, she migrated to Pakistan to continue her life, but even here, she has faced numerous challenges. She said, "When we came to Pakistan, we had high hopes that we would find a better life, but unfortunately, we are still without legal documents, which has caused us to face various problems." She added that finding any kind of job here has become very difficult. The number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is in the millions, and most of them face issues related to employment and legal status. The lives of Afghan women became even more challenging when the Taliban government imposed bans on education and other important rights for girls and women. Shaista and other women like her say that they are forced to continuously struggle for a better future for their families.

The severity of the cold weather in the winter season has led to the booming of secondhand clothing markets in Herat province. Exclusive Empty Pockets of the Needy in the Cold Winter Air and the Warm Secondhand Market January 14, 2025 Ariahn Raya The severity of the cold weather in the winter season has led to the booming of secondhand clothing markets in Herat province. Some needy families in Herat province, complaining about their economic difficulties, say that the cost of securing food on one hand and purchasing warm winter clothing on the other is a heavy burden on their weary shoulders. Khadija, a 38-year-old widow with empty pockets and economic struggles, has been drawn to the secondhand market to buy clothes for her six orphaned children from the shops in this marketplace. With a cold and painful sigh, she narrates the bitterness of her life: "I have 4 little girls and 2 boys. I am both their mother and father. There is nothing to eat at home. I am left bewildered, trying to find a piece of bread for my children. Winter has come, and from where should I get new warm clothes? I am forced to buy old coat and hats." With a throat full of sobs, Khadija says that her husband was a soldier in the National Army under the Republic system and was killed in the war with the Taliban. "There was no other way for my husband to work, so he joined the National Army. Eight months into his duty and military training, the news of his martyrdom reached us. He was torn apart. I wish I had died in his place, so my children would have had a father and a breadwinner." Shima is another middle-aged woman who is on hand secondhand clothes. She says that the lack of financial means and job opportunities has deprived her of the ability to buy new winter clothes. "We are poor and destitute people. From morning till evening, I wash clothes in this house and that neighbor's house, doing house cleaning so I can earn enough to manage my own household. My husband is sick and bedridden. I bought jackets and coats for myself and my four children with two hundred and fifty Afghanis. What is the solution?" On the other hand, some doctors in Herat province consider wearing secondhand clothes to be a cause of various diseases. Salmah Haidari, one of the specialist doctors, says: "Old clothes cause many diseases, ranging from allergies to illnesses such as hepatitis, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, and other ailments. We must be very cautious and try to avoid using secondhand and old clothes as much as possible." Nahid Karimi, another doctor, says that needy families should wear secondhand clothes only after disinfecting them. "Firstly, we should try to avoid wearing old clothes, but since poor families need warm clothing, they should first wash the clothes with soap and water, disinfect them, and then place them in the sunlight so that any germs and viruses on the clothes are eliminated." The winter cold and economic poverty have heated up the secondhand market, while OCHA, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, states that one-third of Afghanistan's population, approximately 14.8 million people, will need humanitarian aid this year to survive.

Zan News: The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it has successfully treated 100,000 children suffering from "acute malnutrition" in Afghanistan. Photo: UNICEF WHO Treats 100,000 Children Suffering from Acute Malnutrition in Afghanistan October 13, 2024 Zan News Zan News: The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it has successfully treated 100,000 children suffering from "acute malnutrition" in Afghanistan. In a message on X today, Sunday (October 13), the organization stated that the treatment of malnourished patients in Afghanistan was carried out in cooperation with the European Union's Asia-Pacific Humanitarian Aid. It's worth noting that the WHO previously announced that 2.9 million children under five years old in Afghanistan were facing malnutrition, with 850,000 of them suffering from acute malnutrition. This organization had warned that food insecurity in the country is spreading as a crisis. Meanwhile, the United Nations has previously stated that the UN's aid agencies are facing a severe shortage of funds for providing assistance in Afghanistan. The UN has cited the violation of human rights, especially women's rights, under Taliban rule as the main reason for the decrease in funding

Zan News: The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that approximately 12.4 million Afghan citizens have faced food insecurity from May to October of this year. Photo: AP WFP: 12.4 Million Afghans Facing Food Insecurity October 12, 2024 Zan News Zan News: The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that approximately 12.4 million Afghan citizens have faced food insecurity from May to October of this year. In its September report released on Friday (October 11), the agency stated that 3.9 million people, including 2.8 million children under the age of five, are suffering from acute malnutrition. Additionally, 2.4 million Afghans are grappling with severe hunger. According to the report, at least 23.7 million people in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan require urgent assistance this year. Referencing the Taliban's new law on the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, the World Food Programme added that it has witnessed an increase in the level of oversight by the group on international humanitarian activities. The agency emphasized: "Although WFP operations have not been significantly affected, the agency is actively engaging with the Taliban to protect its staff, partners, and beneficiaries." According to the World Food Programme, food security in Afghanistan has improved compared to the past due to the appreciation of the Afghan currency and seasonal rains. However, according to the data, low employment rates, decreased income, and limited access for farmers remain as problems in the country. This comes as the unemployment rate in the country has increased unprecedentedly since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan. In addition to women, the group has dismissed a large number of male employees of the previous regime for various reasons. Last week, the World Food Programme also stated that to end hunger forever in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, it is necessary to invest in the capabilities of the people themselves.

Zan News: A group of women protestors have issued a statement harshly condemning the support of Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, for the non-participation of women in the third Doha meeting, accusing her of whitewashing the Taliban. Protesting Women: Roza Otunbayeva Whitewashes the Taliban June 23, 2024 Zan News Zan News: A group of women protestors have issued a statement harshly condemning the support of Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, for the non-participation of women in the third Doha meeting, accusing her of whitewashing the Taliban. In the statement released on Sunday (June 23), these women accused Otunbayeva of normalizing the Taliban's actions in Afghanistan and called her statements a "betrayal" of Afghanistan women and girls. It is worth noting that Otunbayeva said on Friday (June 21) at a UN Security Council meeting that the demands of Afghan women would be raised by the special representatives of 22 countries for Afghanistan with the Taliban at the third Doha meeting, despite their absence. The protesting women emphasized that holding the third Doha meeting without the presence of their representatives is unacceptable, given the widespread human rights abuses against women and girls by the Taliban. This comes as one of the conditions for the Taliban's participation in the third Doha meeting is the non-participation of representatives of Afghanistan women protesters. The absence of Afghanistan women from this meeting has been met with strong criticism from human rights organizations. Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, has also said that the failure to adequately address the human rights crisis in Afghanistan and the lack of participation of women human rights defenders and other civil society stakeholders from Afghanistan will undermine the credibility of this meeting. Earlier, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, Acting Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations, had called the exclusion of women from the Doha meeting agenda "disappointing." The third Doha meeting with the participation of the Taliban is scheduled to take place in Doha, Qatar, later this month.

Hunger and lack of sufficient food have caused widowed and unaccompanied women to forget the pain and suffering of loneliness and having no guardian. Ali Khara/REUTERS The Expansion of Food Insecurity in Afghanistan Under Taliban Rule: We Have No Strength to Walk from Hunger April 14, 2025 Ariahn Raya Hunger and lack of sufficient food have caused widowed and unaccompanied women to forget the pain and suffering of loneliness and having no guardian. Anar, a 70-year-old widow, left her home in Ghormach district of Badghis province seven years ago due to war and insecurity and took refuge in Herat. She says hunger and lack of access to adequate food have taken away her ability to walk. This elderly woman, who spends her days and nights alone in a small mud house covered with wooden beams, says with a tearful voice that she is always waiting in hope that her neighbors — all of whom are internally displaced — will help her with a piece of bread. "I have no one. I swear to God, some nights I don’t even have a piece of bread to eat and I go to sleep hungry. Sometimes people and our neighbors, who are also poor, bring me a piece of dry bread. Look, I’ve kept these dry, moldy breads out of fear of going hungry. I soak them in a glass of water to soften them and eat them again." As Anar shows her dry and moldy pieces of bread, she says that some time ago, her only 15-year-old son went to Iran through illegal routes, but he died after falling from a high-rise building while working as a laborer. She complains about the unfair distribution of humanitarian aid by the Taliban and says this group distributes aid to their relatives and associates. Bibi Sanam, a 68-year-old unaccompanied woman, sits under the sunlight, threading colorful beads together with a needle and thread in her hand, trying to earn enough to buy even a single piece of dry bread. She says that although her eyesight is weak and she is advanced in age, she is forced to work. Sanam also says she is too weak from hunger to walk. She calls on the Taliban and aid organizations to provide food assistance to unaccompanied women. "I swear to God, I can’t walk — I’m too hungry. I work from morning till night just to earn ten or twenty Afghanis so I can buy one piece of dry bread at night. Our request is that the government help us." This widowed woman, whose face reflects deep despair, says that not only does she lack access to food, but she is also ill. However, health centers under Taliban control do not provide services to her or others like her. Sanam, complaining about inhumane treatment at one of the health centers, says: "I used to always go to the nearby clinic when I got sick, but now they say this clinic used to belong to the Americans and we used to give you medicine, but now we can’t help you anymore." Ghuncha Gul, another widowed woman who threads beads alongside Sanam, has not been spared from economic hardship and poverty. Like other unaccompanied and widowed women, she speaks of the pain of hunger. "What can I say? I have no son and no daughter to work for me. I live alone. I went to my neighbor’s house to borrow some oil. I live in someone else’s house, and if the neighbors give me a piece of bread, that’s good. If not, I go hungry." It is worth noting that after the Taliban came to power in August 2021, work, education, and schooling for women and girls were banned in the country. Many women who were the breadwinners of their families have been forced to either beg for food or resort to sex work to survive.

Zan News - Badakhshan: Local sources in Badakhshan province report that the Roz Development and Economic Institute, in cooperation with Taliban education officials, has distributed hijabs to girls in four schools in Faizabad City, the provincial capital. Distribution of Hijabs and Uniforms for Girl Students in Faizabad Schools by Roz Economic Institute in Collaboration with the Taliban June 4, 2024 Zan News Zan News - Badakhshan: Local sources in Badakhshan province report that the Roz Development and Economic Institute, in cooperation with Taliban education officials, has distributed hijabs to girls in four schools in Faizabad City, the provincial capital. The sources said on Monday (June 3) that hijabs were distributed to at least 200 girls in grades 5 and 6 at No. 2 Girls' High School, Bagh Shah, Al-Jihad, and Makhfi Badakhshi High Schools. The families of the students considered this action by the hijab-producing institute as a "good service" to the Taliban and added that the main goal of the institute is economic use. On the other hand, Nazia Baharistani, the head of the institute, said that her goal is to provide clothes and uniforms for all students in Badakhshan elementary schools and to help poor families. Meanwhile, Taliban education officials in Badakhshan have announced that the institute has distributed school uniforms in addition to hijabs to students. According to the announcement of this department, hijabs and uniforms have been distributed to 50 girls in each school and it is planned to distribute hijabs and uniforms to about 500 girls in elementary schools in the Baharak and Shahada districts. It should be noted that the Taliban, after returning to power, have imposed extensive restrictions on the clothing of women and girls and have ordered women to wear hijabs in public places. The Taliban have also banned girls above grade six from attending school.

Women Hairdressers: The Taliban Even Envied the Bread on Our Table Photo: ATIF ARYAN | AFP via Getty Images From the Taliban's Lock on Hairdressers' Scissors; to Women Taking Refuge in Strangers' Homes January 29, 2025 Ariahn Raya Women Hairdressers: The Taliban Even Envied the Bread on Our Table Thousands of women and girls who earned a living through hairdressing during the twenty years of the Republic system say they are now facing a chaotic economic and psychological situation. These women hairdressers say that Mullah Hibatullah (the absent leader of the Taliban) has not only emptied their tables of bread by issuing the decree to ban women's hairdressing activities in Afghanistan, but has also forced many of them to leave the country. Salma Faizi, who had a beauty salon in a corner of Pul-e-Surkh in Kabul, says that six months after the issuance of the Taliban leader's decree, she was forced to seek refuge in Iran to support her five orphaned children. "The Taliban even envied the bread on our table because I was a woman and earned my living this way for my children. When my salon was shut down, I sold the items I had at home for six months and used the money to support my life and my children. I couldn't survive any longer, so I had to come to Iran. But right now, the situation here is worse than in Afghanistan." Bahnaz, another woman hairdresser who is now working in a clothing production workshop in Kerman, Iran, shares the reason for her migration in an interview with Zan TV: "My husband couldn't work because he had lost one of his legs in an accident. We were seven people at home. I didn't become a hairdresser out of happiness. When I saw my children hungry, I entered this profession and learned it. But the Taliban didn't let us earn a living from this way. I was forced to seek refuge with the Iranians. Here, I work for 50,000 Tomans a day, but it's not enough to sustain life." On the other hand, these women hairdressers who are in Iran say that due to economic difficulties and the lack of employment opportunities in that country, they have developed mental health issues. Feroozah, who used to work as a hairdresser in Herat, says: "Right now, our living situation is very bad. My husband was addicted, and I became both the father and mother for my children. But the Taliban took our profession away, and they also took our home. In Iran, there's no work for me. I’m so stressed that I've become mentally ill. I can’t sleep at night, and I suffer from headaches." Meanwhile, some women's rights and human rights activists, concerned about the situation of women hairdressers, are urging the Taliban to lift their restrictions and provide women with opportunities for work and employment again. Adila Jafari, a women's rights activist, says: "These women did not become hairdressers out of happiness; rather, the hungry stomachs of their families forced them to find a way to earn bread. Most of them are widows, orphaned daughters, or women whose husbands are sick or disabled. But the Taliban have wronged them. Our demand is that they allow women to work and engage in activities again so that their problems can be resolved." Women hairdressers, who lost their profession following the Taliban leader's decree on the 25 July, 2023, speak of their economic instability and mental health issues. According to information provided by the Women's Hairdressers Union in Kabul, more than 60,000 women and girls were working as hairdressers in Afghanistan. However, with the issuance of the ban on hairdressing activities, many of these women have migrated to neighboring countries in search of income and to support their families.