The Afghanistan Human Rights Center has announced that depriving girls of their right to education in the country has led to an increase in cases of forced and underage marriages, with female students being the primary victims.
The rights monitoring organization stated in a report published on Monday, January 29, titled “Women’s Access to Quality Education in Afghanistan Under the Interim Government’s Control,” that the ban on education for women and girls has had devastating consequences for Afghan women, girls, and society as a whole.
The report highlights the negative impacts of preventing girls from accessing education, including social isolation, rendering women inactive members of their families, increasing cases of forced and underage marriages, enduring domestic violence, suffering from mental health issues, and even resorting to suicide or forced migration.
The report further reveals that the organization has found a “worrying percentage” of female students forced into marriages after being denied access to education.
While there is no precise data on the matter yet, the Afghanistan Human Rights Center noted that 10 individuals interviewed for the report had witnessed 34 cases of forced and underage marriages among students in their communities.
One of the victims, Momena (a pseudonym) from Takhar province, who was forced into marriage with a member of the current government forces, stated that she knows 10 of her classmates and village girls who were also forced into marriages with individuals they did not wish to marry after being deprived of education.
The organization added that, despite existing restrictions, it managed to directly or indirectly interview 15 students and victims of forced and underage marriages.
Findings from the research show that 91% of these marriages occurred without the girls’ consent. Additionally, 66% of the victims of forced marriages (from the sample group) were under the age of 18.
The report recounts the story of Faiza (a pseudonym) from Herat, who was forced to marry a 25-year-old man at the age of 14. Similarly, it mentions Hamida (a pseudonym), a student from Badakhshan, who was forced to marry a 38-year-old local commander one year after leaving school at the age of 15. The commander, who serves the current government, had been married twice before, and both of his previous wives now live with Hamida in the same house.
The assessment by the Afghanistan Human Rights Center also found that 66% of the victims of forced and underage marriages were school students, while 33% were university students.
Furthermore, 83% of these victims reported experiencing physical violence from their husbands, fathers, brothers, or in-laws. The report stated that 91% of them suffer from severe mental health issues and depression, while 25% said they had contemplated suicide.
Previously, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, also stated in an interview that the ban on education for girls above sixth grade has had a devastating impact on Afghan girls.
