Suicide ‘everywhere’ among Afghan women, UN official tells Security Council
- Edicts by Afghanistan’s Taliban are being enforced on women and girls with more severity, including by male family members
- That is exacerbating mental health issues and suicidal thoughts especially among young women, UN Women chiefs says
Suicide and suicidal ideation are “everywhere” for Afghan women as they become increasingly isolated and restricted, often by male relatives tasked with upholding the Taliban’s decrees, the UN’s women chief told the Security Council.
Since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban government has used its austere interpretation of Islam to erode women’s rights, banning them from schools, closing public spaces such as parks and salons to them, and refusing to let them work.
“They tell us that they are prisoners living in darkness, confined to their homes without hope or future,” Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, told the Council on Tuesday, warning of “three marked shifts that demand our urgent attention”.
First, she said, women’s power over decision-making has been dramatically reduced – not only at the national and provincial level, but within their communities, families and most notably within their own homes.
“This is driven by increased poverty, a decrease in women’s financial contributions, the Taliban’s imposition of hyper patriarchal gender norms, and women’s growing isolation,” she said.
The second shift is that on top of the ever-growing list of restrictions, those restrictions “are being enforced more frequently and with more severity, including by male family members, as the Taliban hold them accountable to enforce their decrees”, she said.
With the restrictions come increases in child marriage and child labour, Bahous added.
