Afghanistan

The Afghan state has failed to protect women from violence. 12 years after the Taliban’s ouster, despite international support & the hard work of human rights activists, equal protection & equal benefit of the law are notable by their absence for majority of Afghan women.

The GlobeandMail REVIEWED BY CHRIS BERUBE Special to The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Oct. 11 2013 In March, if everything goes smoothly, Canada will finally be out of Afghanistan. The bulk of our military operations […]

The GlobalandMail REVIEWED BY ILANA TEITELBAUM Special to The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Oct. 25 2013 “I once lived in a harem in Afghanistan” is the gripping opening sentence of An American Bride in Kabul, in which […]

As the presidential election approaches in 2014, with the security transition at the year’s end, Afghan women, including parliamentarians and rights activists, are concerned that the hard-won political, economic and social gains achieved since the U.S.-led intervention in 2001 may be rolled back or conceded in negotiations with the insurgents. There will be no sustainable peace unless there is justice, and justice demands that the state respect and protect the rights of women, half its population.

During the height of Canada’s combat deployment in southern Afghanistan, the young correspondent Graeme Smith stood out in the press corps because of his seniority in the city of Kandahar. Many journalists dropped in briefly, […]

By Dana Burde and Leigh L. Linden * We conduct a randomized evaluation of the effect of village-based schools on children’s academic performance using a sample of 31 villages and 1,490 children in rural northwestern […]

Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………….…2 Acronyms and Abbreviations.…….….…………………………………….….3 Executive Summary………………………………………………………….…4 Introduction………………………………………………………………….….7 Research Findings…………………………………………………………….…9 School Attendance………………………………………………….….9 Desired Achievement……………………………….….….……….…10 Poverty……………………………………….…………………………11 Early and/or Forced Marriage……….….….…….…………….……13 Insecurity………………………………….……………….……………14 The Role of Families and Communities………………………..…….16 Physical Access to Education…………………………….….….….…17 Education Quality…………….…….…….……………….…….…….19 Recommendations………………………………………………….….……….23 […]

As research in Afghanistan has shown, girls who marry before the age of 18 and become pregnant early are at higher risk of death and suffering injury during birth. Their children are at higher risk of poor health and death. Those who marry below age 18 are also at higher risk of domestic violence, which not only has harmful consequences for the girl and her family, but multiplied many times affects a country’s larger economy.

With the drawdown of allied Forces inching closer, the Afghan Taliban and its affiliates in their pursuit of the enforcement of a brutal extremist Islamism have escalated violence and oppression against women across the country.

Her body ridden with bullets and left on the outskirts of Paktika province in Afghanistan, Sushmita Banerjee’s killing was horrifying but, sadly, not surprising.

The Indian woman had escaped captivity under the Taliban in 1995 and went on to write a book about her experiences.