Window of Hope Women’s Movement: The main victims of Taliban policies are Afghan children and girls.

The Window of Hope Women’s Movement of Afghanistan condemned the Taliban’s “Couple Separation Principles”

Kabul – Coinciding with International Children’s Day, the Window of Hope Women’s Movement of Afghanistan condemned the “Couple Separation Principles” of the Taliban in a statement, calling it a move to further restrict women’s rights and normalize child marriage in Afghanistan.

The movement warned in its statement that some of the provisions of the principles could provide a legal basis for the continuation of child marriage and widespread violations of girls’ rights. According to members of the movement, the inclusion of provisions related to underage marriage and puberty restriction paves the way for legitimizing early marriages, while the international community considers child marriage to be a clear violation of children’s rights.

The Window of Hope Women’s Movement also expressed concern about the limited right to annulment for girls who were married off as children, saying that difficult judicial conditions and requirements related to proof of objection effectively deprive many victims of child marriage of access to justice.

Another part of the statement states that interpreting a girl’s silence as consent to marriage calls into question the principle of free and informed consent. The movement emphasizes that true consent only becomes meaningful when an individual has freedom of choice, sufficient knowledge, and the ability to make independent decisions.

Members of the movement also consider granting extensive authority to male guardians in deciding on the marriage of girls to be a factor in undermining women’s legal and human autonomy. According to them, this approach removes women from the position of rights holders and turns them into the subject of others’ decisions.

The statement also criticized the increasing difficulty of women’s separation in cases such as husband’s absence, non-payment of alimony, illness and other family problems, and stated that such restrictions reduce women’s access to justice and keep them in unwanted and harmful relationships.

The Afghan Window of Hope Women’s Movement believes that this charter is part of a broader policy to control the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan. Referring to the deprivation of girls from education, restrictions on women’s employment and their reduced presence in the public sphere, the movement described these measures as part of the process of “institutionalizing gender apartheid” in the country.

The movement called on the United Nations, international human rights institutions, child rights organizations and governments around the world not to remain silent about these policies and to take practical and effective measures to protect the rights of Afghan women and children.

At the end of its statement, coinciding with International Children’s Day, the Window of Hope Women’s Movement warned that the main victim of such policies will be the future generation of Afghanistan; Girls who, according to the movement, “should be in school, not in forced marriage.”

Report: Kabul Times News