Islamabad: In the global ranking of women’s peace and security, Afghanistan sits at the last place as the country’s women fear complete and outright discrimination since the Taliban have taken control of the Asian country.
According to a report published by Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, Afghanistan sits at the bottom among at least 170 countries. Jeni Klugman, Managing Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security said, “Afghanistan has fallen to last place out of 170 countries. The country’s absolute score is almost 30 per cent lower that in 2017, driven by worsening rates of violence and worsening community safety.”
The Taliban takeover in August has only added more fuel to the existing dire situation of women, peace and security in the country, which global powers fear, may remain the same or get even worse in the times to come under the Taliban rule. The report also highlights that “future data to show that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August has only exacerbated these conditions”.
Mariam Safi, Founding Director of Organization for Policy and Research Studies (DROPS), said “What makes the findings of these index more worrisome that ever before is that with the return of the television, many expect for these indicators mentioned in the index further deteriorate.”
The report sheds light on a wide range of ground realities in Afghanistan and highlights factors that are pivotal to the evaluation of how women are faring in 170 countries around the world. Norway, Finland, and Iceland are the top three countries in the index, while the last 12 countries, at least 11 are highly fragile states, while Pakistan stands at 167.
“While the Nordic countries feature at the top of the index, we are not perfect. In every society, there are those who experience unequal treatment and exclusion. It is imperative that we recognize this, it helps us to look forward to addressing gaps, especially structural ones to achieve achieving gender equality,” said Mona Juul, Norway’s ambassador to the United Nations.
In Afghanistan, the world is still waiting for the Taliban to fulfill their promise of giving rights to education and freedom to women. However, no signs of revival of women education schools or rights of women in the country, have come into practice. Afghan women are left with no other option but to hope that global pressure on the Taliban may result in some respite from the existing discrimination, they are subjected to suffer, a heavy price being paid for living in their home country.
(With Inputs From IANS)
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