BAHARIN LEHIB

Kabul- Child and forced marriage is a violation of human rights still practiced all over the world. Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. Afghanistan is one of the countries where this phenomenon is still common. 183 child marriages were registered over 2018 and 2019 in Herat and Baghdis provinces alone, according to a report released by UNICEF. 28 percent of Afghan women aged 15–49 years were married before the age of 18, the report said.

Afghan women’s organizations made great efforts to end child and forced marriage. They launched a campaign called, “Running away from home is not a crime” for those who had to run away from their homes not to be forced into child marriage. The women’s organizations also opened women’s shelters for the survivors of child marriage. In addition, they made great efforts to put pressure on the government for passing a law combating violence against women.

578 reports of forced marriage  

After the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, they closed down all organizations defending women’s rights and women’s shelters. The Taliban issued a series of decrees and guidelines that violate the human rights of women and girls and set the legal age of marriage for girls as 9 within the framework of Sharia law. The Taliban closed down the women’s shelters and arrested the women, who had taken shelters there.

According to a report released by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), there were 578 reports of forced marriage, including 361 child marriages in Afghanistan between December 2022 and February 2023.

She ran away from home not to marry a 60-year-old man

Mehtab Karim is one of the survivors of forced marriage in Afghanistan. When she was 15, her parents tried to force her to marry a 60-year-old man as a third wife. She ran away from home and took shelter in one of the women’s shelters.

“I felt very angry. I cried a lot but no one heard me. In 2008, I eventually got engaged to this man who was older than my father. On my wedding night, I wore the clothes of my brother and cut my hair,” Mehtab Karim told NuJINHA. “Then, I left home in Paktika Province to Kabul with very little money. Everyone thought I was a boy. When I arrived in Kabul, I met a woman and she helped me to go to the Ministry of Women's Affairs. Then, I was taken to a women’s shelter.”

‘I have become a lawyer and helped many victims’

While staying in the women’s shelter, Mehtab Karim continued her education and became a lawyer. “I have become a lawyer and helped many victims and survivors of forced marriage.”

Speaking about the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education, she said, “We are the only people who can save ourselves from this misery. If I had remained silent, I would have a bad life now. I did my best to build a future for myself. There were many girls survivors of domestic violence and forced marriage in the women’s shelter. They all completed their education. I even saved my cousin's two daughters from child marriage. If Afghan women unite, we will destroy the Taliban and establish our own republic.”