The Denial of Women’s Rights in Afghanistan 2021

BACKGROUND: The Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women acknowledges the progress in
Women’s Rights made in Afghanistan in the last twenty years and the Afghan Constitution which has
solid protections in place for women as equal citizens. These rights and many others have
deteriorated and are in peril of being lost due to the withdrawal of American troops and their allies as
well as the rise of the Taliban.

Despite gains, Afghanistan has one of the highest infant mortality (40%) and maternal mortality (638
per 100 live births) rates in the world. According to Human Rights Watch (2017) the Afghan government
reported 3.5 million children are out of school, with 85 percent being girls. Only 37 percent of
adolescent girls are literate, compared to 66 percent of adolescent boys. About 60 per cent of girls
aged 10 attend school. This falls to 30 percent by the age of 15. Once married, few girls are permitted
to continue their education. Older girls, girls from low-income families, and girls living in rural areas are
unlikely to continue their schooling. 80 percent of girls with disabilities are prevented from attending
school. More than 35 percent of Afghan girls are married, due to forced and child marriages, before
the age of 18 and nearly 10 percent before their 15th birthday (World Vision, 2021).

It is important that the Government of Canada, as a signatory to the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, acts to protect the Afghan women’s and girls’ human rights, and their
unconditional right to education at all levels.