2022 Year in Review

WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Although child marriages have been a historical tradition within rural regions of
Afghanistan, the Taliban and their views on women’s rights, education, and
forced marriages are vastly different than those displayed and enforced by the
previous government. The Taliban acknowledges a different policy, allowing any
female who has reached the age of puberty to be legally married. It has been
recorded that the number of forced child marriages are rising dramatically
under the Taliban regime. This can be attributed directly to the dire economic
conditions within the nation. Families are becoming increasingly desperate and
turning to child marriages to assist their financial situations and chances of
survival. Rangita De Silva de Alwis, a lawyer and women's rights expert,
expresses that there is a “financial aspect, where girls have become commodities
and are used as barter by families in an environment where economic security is
at peril.” Babies as young as a few days to a month old, and even sometimes
“before the child is born,” have their destinies “already decided” for them,
offered and sold into child marriages.
UNICEF expresses that children who
are forced into underage marriages
are exposed to various risks, such as
domestic violence, sexual abuse, poor
mental health, reduced education
retention, complications with
childbirth and risks of maternal
mortality. It is also acknowledged that
such young girls will have to “face a
future they are not physically,
emotionally and psychologically ready
for, which has a devastating impact
on their health and mental wellbeing.”
De Silva de Alwis further states that
though child marriages are a product
of economic circumstances, there is
also now a current “fear of violence
against girls, and girls are being
forced into marriage by their families
as a way of protecting a girl and a way
of saving a family’s so-called honor.”
P A G E 1 5 4
P h o t o o f G h u l a m H a i d e r , 1 1 , w h o i s t o b e m a r r i e d t o F a i z
M o h a m m e d , 4 0 . S h e h a d h o p e d t o b e a t e a c h e r b u t w a s f o r c e d
t o q u i t h e r c l a s s e s w h e n s h e b e c a m e e n g a g e d .
P H O T O : S T E P H A N I E S I N C L A I R / T H E N E W Y O R K T I M E S