BAHARIN LEHIB

Kabul- On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, November 25, Afghan women call on women all around the world to unite and be in solidarity with each other against gender-based violence.

‘Our struggle never ends’

“The Taliban always attack women, seeing women as their enemies,” said Shakila Saboor, a women’s rights activist in Afghanistan’s Baghlan province. “I was a teacher before the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, women have been banned from education and work. A number of women took to the streets to protest the bans. The Taliban began to kidnap and arrest them to intimidate them. Despite everything, we never give up because our struggle never ends. We are determined to achieve victory.”

‘Women’s unity can end violence against women’

“November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women,” said Yalda Ahmad, an Afghan psychologist and women's rights activist. “As women, we are welcoming this day while there is an alarming increase in violence against women all around the world. Women in my country, Afghanistan, are subjected to the most brutal violence; they are deprived of their rights, they are banned from education and work. They suffer from poverty but they are not allowed to work although they are the breadwinners of their families. I feel the suffering of women in Iran. I feel the suffering of women all around the world because we suffer from the same thing. I believe that women’s unity and solidarity can end violence against women.”