Education is the key to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, as a tool that changes lives, lifts communities up and brings people together. By shattering stereotypes and preconceptions, it’s the number one enemy of inequality.
What happens when the basic right to education is forcibly stolen from thousands of people simply because of their gender.
“No country in the world should ban women and girls from receiving an education. Education is a universal human right that must be respected,” said Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay.
On December 20, the world received the heartbreaking news that Taliban authorities in Afghanistan banned young women from universities “until further notice”. This followed an earlier directive prohibiting girls from attending secondary school. Afghanistan has now become the only country in the world where access to education has been suspended for women and girls.
Afghan universities were declared off-limits to women because female students were not following instructions including a proper dress code and interaction between students of different genders.
According to the numbers released by UNESCO, between 2001 and 2018, Afghanistan recorded an increase of enrollment in all education levels, from around one million to 10 million students. The number of girls in primary school increased from almost zero to 2.5 million. Women's presence in universities improved from 5,000 students in 2001 to over 100,000 two decades later.
Today, 80% of school-aged Afghan girls and women, 2.5 million, are out of school. The order suspending university education for women affects more than 100,000 students attending public and private institutions.
“The international community has the responsibility to ensure that the rights of Afghan girls and women are restored without delay. The war against women must stop,” highlights Audrey Azoulay.
The decision of the Taliban government's Ministry of Higher Education sparked international condemnation and despair among young people in the country. In the following days, students went to the streets in public demonstrations, where they screamed: “All or none. Don’t be afraid. We are together”. However, these are quickly shut down by Taliban officials. “They also brought military women with them, whipping the girls. We ran away, some girls were arrested. I don’t know what will happen,” a young student describes.
Taliban continues to take radical measures to silence and eliminate women from society. In Afghanistan the hope for a future for women dies a little bit more everyday. With the closure of university campuses, also a door is closed on their human rights.