RASC News Agency: Sources from the government hospital in Herat have reported to the media that in the month of October of the current solar year alone, there were 38 recorded incidents of suicide attempts, two completed suicides, and one case of femicide at this hospital. According to these sources, the Herat government hospital also documented 73 cases of violence against women during the month of October.
The sources indicate that the rates of suicide have risen sharply in recent months, with many individuals resorting to this desperate act for various reasons. A significant portion of these cases involves women, although men have also attempted suicide. Women and girls in Afghanistan are enduring increasingly difficult days under the stringent restrictions imposed by the Taliban. A local informant from the Herat government hospital described the statistics on women who have been victims of violence as alarming and concerning. He noted that during the month of October, the hospital recorded 38 suicide attempts, two completed suicides, and one case of femicide. Additionally, 73 incidents of violence against women were reported.
These figures from a single province in just one month illustrate the complex hardships faced by women in Afghanistan challenges that potentially affect hundreds of women. This situation arises amidst a joint consultative study conducted by UN Women and the International Organization for Migration, which revealed that since the Taliban’s return to power, some women in Afghanistan have been condemned to “house arrest,” and the mentality of treating women as “second-class citizens” is becoming entrenched.
Sima Noori, a human rights activist, stated: “Initially, the international coalition should establish a mechanism to monitor human rights violations by the Taliban, and subsequently refer Taliban leaders to international courts for crimes against human rights.” On one hand, the Taliban claims that the rights of women and girls in the country are being upheld; however, many human rights activists stress that, given the Taliban’s enforcement of the moral policing law, the human rights crisis and the violations against women and girls in the country are “clear to all.”
