The United Nations Organization for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, known as UN Women, reports that women make up the majority of the displaced population in Afghanistan. According to this organization, displaced women face increasing risks in the country.
UN Women tweeted today, December 13, stating that around six million people in Afghanistan are one step away from famine.
According to this organization, in such a crisis, Afghan women and girls are the most deprived and have less access to services.
“When women and girls face direct barriers on their right to movement and work, they are the last to access to food, water, safe shelter and health care”, UN Women added.
According to this organization, besides the restrictions, the norms expect women to sacrifice for the rest of the family and that means “women eat less and eat last”.
The organization has added that women in Afghanistan are forced to sell their assets to buy food. Even in extreme cases, families are forced to sell their girls for marriage.
In another Twitter thread, the UN Women says that restrictions on women’s basic rights, coupled with low literacy rates, have left many women without identification cards. This, in particular, prevents them from accessing vital services, including humanitarian assistance, UN Women emphasized.
Afghanistan is facing increasingly severe poverty following the Taliban’s return to power which resulted in a cut of international aid – what the country’s economy relied on.
According to the World Bank survey released on November 22, the living conditions remain “dire” for the people of Afghanistan as “two-thirds of households in the country continue to struggle to meet basic food and non-food needs.” The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) reported that 28.3 million people will need humanitarian and protection assistance in Afghanistan in 2023.
