United Nations, US

A top UN official said on Tuesday (September 26) that suicide and suicidal ideation are "everywhere" for Afghan women as they face increasing isolation under the Taliban regime. The restrictions often come from male relatives encumbered by the Taliban's increasingly restrictive decrees for women.

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"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 UN Security Council, warning of "three marked shifts that demand our urgent attention."

Taliban returned to power in 2021 after the US-led coalition left Afghanistan. Since then, the regime has sought to impose its strict interpretation of Islam to restrict women's presence in social life and has even curbed their movement outside homes. Women are banned from school, restricted from visiting public spaces freely and aren't even allowed to work.

Bahous said that women's power over decision-making has reduced dramatically. This, she said, is true not only at national and provincial levels but also within communities, families and even within their homes.

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"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. 

Bahous also said that the list of restrictions is ever-growing and the 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".

This has led to an increase in child marriages and child labour.

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The UN Women chief finally said that there was a heightened concern about Afghan women's mental health.

"As the percentage of women employed continues to drop, 90 per cent of young women respondents report bad or very bad mental health, and suicide and suicidal ideation is everywhere ... They tell us that their elimination from public life is like a continuous fear of violent death."

She called on donors to find "innovative" ways to help Afghan women and girls who have the "courage and creativity" to defy these restrictions -- be it online, through cash assistance and scholarships, or through safe migration.

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