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	Afghan De Facto Authorities restrictions on the rights of women and girls undermine future by United Nations news, agencies   Dec. 2022   On 24 December 2022, the De facto Ministry of Economy took the decision to ban women personnel in International and National Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from working.   This is extremely concerning, considering the necessity to employ women aid workers to reach out to affected women and girls. In the context of a country like Afghanistan, facing one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, the restrictions imposed on the rights of Afghan women and girls, especially on their mobility, make them face unique vulnerabilities and compound their dire humanitarian needs.   Due to previously imposed restrictions on women’s interactions with men and their mobility, the decision taken by the De facto Ministry of Economy not only erases women’s presence and their contributions to the humanitarian response, it will also prevent all affected women and girls from receiving services and lifesaving assistance.   The decision will lead to the response missing out half of the population, and to increased needs and deaths for millions of women and girls.   NGOs and humanitarian organisations provide critical life-saving services for many people in Afghanistan, providing food, water, shelter and healthcare, and some critical programmes, such as pre- and post-natal and infant care, are only provided by women.   Many staff working for these NGOs are female and many of the organisations have women in leadership roles. They are essential partners for the UN and other agencies in the delivery of their humanitarian and development programmes throughout the country.   This decision is directly grounded in discrimination on the basis of gender. Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the De Facto Authorities have imposed sweeping restrictions on the rights of women and girls and have taken major steps to regulate their lives. This decision comes shortly after the De facto Authorities banned all women from attending universities on 20 December 2022..   Samira Sayed Rahman, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, said "We have 28 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, but the de facto authorities made the decision that women cannot work in national and international NGOs".   “It is practically impossible to continue our work without female staff. This is a conservative society and we need female workers to access women. This is a country where men and women do not interact in the public space. We would be cut off from half of Afghanistan".   In a rare show of unanimity, all 15 members of the UN security council called for the full participation of women and girls in Afghanistan. “These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people as well as the expectations of the international community”. The Council also said it was “deeply alarmed” by the increasing restrictions on women’s education, calling for “the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan”.   http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/statement-women-advisory-group-humanitarian-country-team-hct-de-facto-ministry-economys-decision-ban-women-personnel-ingos-and-ngos-working http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-afghanistan-womens-participation-aid-delivery-must-continue http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/un-condemns-reported-ban-women-working-ngos-and-international-organizations http://www.savethechildren.net/news/we-need-women-help-women-afghan-women-cut-aid-following-taliban-ban-female-ngo-workers   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/news/2023/01/afghanistan-top-un-delegation-tells-taliban-to-end-confinement-deprivation-abuse-of-womens-rights http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/af-Out-of-jobs_Out-of-poverty_Gender-Alert.pdf http://www.nrc.no/news/2022/december/a-ban-on-female-aid-workers-in-afghanistan-will-cost-lives-warn-leading-aid-groups/ http://www.nrc.no/news/2023/january/afghanistan-taliban-ban-stops-humanitarian-work/ http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/islamic-relief-calls-lifting-ban-female-aid-workers-afghanistan http://www.icrc.org/en/document/afghanistan-icrc-deeply-concerned-millions-women-and-girls http://www.rescue.org/press-release/irc-suspend-programmes-afghanistan-following-taliban-ban-women-working-ngos http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/story/action-against-hungers-afghan-women-workers-speak-out/   Dec. 2022   The UN family and the entire humanitarian community in Afghanistan share the outrage of millions of Afghans and the international community over the decision by the Taliban de facto authorities to close universities to female students across the country until further notice and calls on the de facto authorities to immediately revoke the decision.   The UN and its humanitarian partners also urge the de facto authorities to reopen girls' schools beyond the sixth grade and end all measures preventing women and girls from participating fully in daily public life.   Banning women from attending university is a continuation of the systematic policies of targeted discrimination put in place by the Taliban against women. Since 15 August 2021, the de facto authorities have barred girls from attending secondary school, restricted women and girls’ freedom of movement, excluded women from most areas of the workforce and banned women from using parks, gyms and public bath houses. These restrictions culminate with the confinement of Afghan women and girls to the four walls of their homes.   Preventing half of the population from contributing meaningfully to society and the economy will have a devastating impact on the whole country. It will expose Afghanistan to further international isolation, economic hardship and suffering, impacting millions for years to come. The ban of women from universities, including female teachers and professors, will contribute to additional economic losses.   Education is a basic human right. Excluding women and girls from secondary and tertiary education not only denies them this right, it denies Afghan society as a whole the benefit of the contributions that women and girls have to offer. It denies all of Afghanistan a future.   The steps taken by the de facto authorities to exclude women and girls from education, the workplace and other areas of life increase risks of forced and underage marriage, violence and abuse.   Continued discrimination against more than half the population of the country will stand in the way of Afghanistan achieving an inclusive society where everyone can live in dignity and enjoy equal opportunities.   The UN in Afghanistan and its humanitarian partners remind the Taliban that taking away the free will of women to choose their own fate, disempowering and excluding them systematically from all aspects of their public and political life is regressive and stands against universal human rights standards upon which peaceful and stable societies are based on.   The World Food Programme shared survey results revealing that women and girls in Afghanistan are hit hardest by the humanitarian and economic crises there. Limitations on working make it impossible for many to feed themselves and their children, increasing the risk of desperate coping strategies – including selling assets, pulling their children out of school or skipping meals altogether, said WFP.   http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-food-security-update-november-2022 http://unama.unmissions.org/un-afghanistan-condemns-taliban-decision-suspend-women-universities-and-calls-its-immediate-reversal http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131907 http://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-dedicates-2023-international-day-education-afghan-girls-and-women http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/afghanistan-end-destructive-destabilizing-policies-against-women-turk-urges http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/12/afghanistan-talibans-outrageous-exclusion-women-and-girls-universities   Aug. 2022   Food and economic crisis in Afghanistan taking a toll on women and girls, by Melissa Cornet - CARE Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Advocacy Advisor   The preliminary findings of a new CARE report confirm the harsh toll the food and economic crisis in Afghanistan is having on women and girls.   “Our research confirms some very concerning ways women are being impacted by the food and economic crisis in Afghanistan. Of the women surveyed, a staggering 87% report a considerable decrease in their household income since August 2021. These reduced incomes impact every facet of a family’s life, including the ability to buy enough food, to buy nutritious food, to seek urgent medical attention, to have adequate shelter - the list goes on,” said Melissa Cornet, CARE Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Advocacy Advisor.   For the research, CARE surveyed 345 women in urban and rural communities in nine provinces in Afghanistan, conducted in-depth interviews with 18 women, carried out nine focus group discussions with men, interviews with food security specialists and humanitarian actors and a comprehensive desk review of existing data since August 2021.   The preliminary findings also confirm the devastating impact the crisis is having on girls.   “Afghanistan has seen a high spike in the practice of early and forced child marriages, where cash-strapped families unable to feed all their children resort to selling children - and those children are usually girls. Of those we surveyed, 12% of households indicated having to marry one of their daughters aged under 18 due to the food crisis. Imagine being so desperate for food that you marry off your young daughter, just so that she and the rest of the family can eat. Devastating and heartbreaking for families and shattering for little girls whose lives will be forever changed,” said Ms Cornet.   Women reported eating less food than other household members. Some 80% of women surveyed said they had to skip at least one meal in the two weeks before the research. A common trend is that there was insufficient food in the household to accommodate the needs of everyone and, as a result, women preferred feeding their children over themselves. The findings also show that men are adjusting their intake as well, to ensure their wives can eat.   One of the women surveyed in Parwan province shared, “Before August 2021, we would cook three or four food items per meal (rice, chicken, meat etc). Now we only cook one item. The food is just too expensive now. Some nights we would eat nothing and go to sleep hungry.”   Another finding shows that women’s needs are not being taken into account adequately when it comes to humanitarian assistance. Less than 15% of women surveyed had been consulted by humanitarian actors on the type of assistance they needed before receiving it, and only 19% said that the assistance had been adapted to their specific needs.   Ms Cornet said, “Some aid is delivered in mosques, which are often not accessible to women and some distribution points are too far away. Distance causes issues with transportation costs and requires women to travel outside of their community, possibly needing to be accompanied by a mahram (a male relative).”   “Humanitarian agencies must ensure that all assistance takes gender equality into account, that women and girls are consulted, and that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is central to the response. But the provision of humanitarian aid is not sufficient unless paired with urgent action to address the economic drivers of the crisis. The international community must act immediately to prevent a deterioration of the already dire humanitarian and food security situation.”   http://www.care-international.org/news/food-and-economic-crisis-afghanistan-taking-toll-women-and-girls-according-preliminary   The crime against humanity of gender persecution in Afghanistan, a report by Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists   The Taliban’s severe restrictions and unlawful crackdown on women and girls’ rights should be investigated as possible crimes under international law, including the crime against humanity of gender persecution, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists said today in a new joint report.   The report, ‘The Taliban’s war on women: The crime against humanity of gender persecution in Afghanistan’, presents a detailed legal analysis of how the Taliban’s draconian restrictions on the rights of Afghanistan’s women and girls, together with the use of imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, could amount to the crime against humanity of gender persecution under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).   Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists consider that the prosecutors of the International Criminal Court should include the crime against humanity of gender persecution in their ongoing investigation into the situation in Afghanistan. The organizations are also calling on other states to exercise universal jurisdiction or other lawful means to bring to justice Taliban members suspected of responsibility for crimes under international law.   “The Taliban’s campaign of gender persecution is of such magnitude, gravity and systematic nature, that cumulatively the acts and policies form a system of repression which aims to subjugate and marginalize women and girls across the country. Our report indicates that this meets all the five criteria to qualify as a crime against humanity of gender persecution,” said Santiago A. Canton, Secretary General of the International Commission of Jurists.   “Since their take over, the Taliban has imposed draconian restrictions on the rights of Afghanistan’s women and girls. Let there be no doubt: this is a war against women – banned from public life; prevented from accessing education; prohibited from working; barred from moving freely; imprisoned, disappeared and tortured including for speaking against these policies and resisting the repression. These are international crimes. They are organized, widespread, systematic,” said Agnes Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International.   The report covers the period from August 2021 to January 2023 and bases its analysis on a growing body of evidence collected by credible sources, including Amnesty International’s 2022 report Death in Slow Motion, civil society organizations and UN authorities. It also provides a legal assessment of why women and girls fleeing persecution in Afghanistan should be presumptively considered refugees in need of international protection. It complements the work of UN experts and women’s rights groups to lay the foundation for the robust response needed to ensure justice, accountability and reparation for the crimes against humanity of gender persecution.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/05/afghanistan-talibans-treatment-of-women-and-girls-should-be-investigated-as-the-crime-against-humanity-of-gender-persecution/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/11/afghanistan-latest-taliban-treatment-women-and-girls-may-be-crime-against Visit the related web page
	What Covid revealed about gender inequality in India by Soutik Biswas for BBC India   How do you assess the impact of the Covid pandemic on a population?   One way is by examining life expectancy, or the average number of years a person can expect to live.   A team of 10 researchers from the UK, the US and Europe have studied the mortality impacts of the pandemic in India by sex, social group and age. Their peer-reviewed paper has been published in Science Advances, a US journal.   They found that life expectancy at birth in India was 2.6 years lower and mortality was 17% higher in 2020 compared to 2019. This implied 1.19 million excess deaths in 2020. Excess deaths are a simple measure of how many more people are dying than expected, compared with previous years.   The researchers of the new study say life expectancy declines in India were larger and affected a younger age profile compared to high-income countries.   They found that mortality rose among all age groups, but compared to high-income countries, the increase was particularly pronounced in younger age groups, leading to larger declines in life expectancy.   The researchers also found something which was more worrying.   For one, females experienced a life expectancy decline of one year greater than males. This contrasts with patterns in most other countries and may be due to gender inequality, say the researchers from University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley and Paris School of Economics, among others.   Also, marginalised social groups - Muslims, Dalits, and tribespeople - in India saw larger declines in life expectancy compared to privileged upper caste people, exacerbating existing disparities.   The researchers agree that before Covid, these groups already had significant disadvantages in life expectancy. The pandemic worsened these disparities, with declines comparable to or greater than those seen among Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics in the US in 2020, the study says.   “These findings uncover large and unequal mortality impacts during the pandemic in the world’s most populous country,” Sangita Vyas, of CUNY Hunter College and one of the researchers, told me.   More than 4.7 million people in India - nearly 10 times higher than official records suggest - are thought to have died because of Covid, according to a 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) report. India's government rejected the figure, saying the methodology was flawed.   To be sure, the latest study looked at deaths from all causes, not just deaths from Covid. “For that reason we can't conclude that women in India were more likely to die of Covid than men,” says Ms Vyas. “What we can conclude is that the increase in mortality from all causes was greater for women than men”.   The researchers believe these patterns partly stem from gender inequality.   Previous research shows Indian households spend less on healthcare for females compared to males, a disparity which likely worsened during the pandemic. Fewer females appear in India’s official Covid-19 case data, despite surveys showing similar infection rates among males and females.   Furthermore, severe disruptions to maternal healthcare and livelihoods due to lockdowns likely contributed to these trends.   How did the researchers come to these findings? They surveyed data of more than 765,000 people - a sample size that accurately reflects the diversity and distribution of a quarter of India's population - to identify patterns missed by incomplete data and disease surveillance.   India’s National Family Health Survey 5 collected high quality data on recent household deaths and socio-economic characteristics. This allowed researchers to analyse age, sex, and group-specific mortality patterns. They compared mortality in 2019 and 2020 using data from the same households interviewed in 2021.   The researchers believe more research is necessary to explore why females in India experienced higher excess deaths than males, why excess mortality affected younger age groups more in India compared to other countries, and why Muslims saw significant declines in life expectancy compared to other social groups.   "These patterns likely resulted from disparities in healthcare access and underlying health, differing impacts of lockdowns on public health and livelihoods, and increased discrimination against marginalised groups," says Ms Vyas.   * Indian women march to ‘reclaim the night’ after doctor’s rape and murder. Protests reflect anger at 31-year-old’s killing, as well as a failure to address the daily struggles faced by many women: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/aug/15/indian-women-march-reclaim-the-night-doctor-rape-murder-protests-womens-safety
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