Women Hold Half of Senior Government Jobs in Bahrain
New Age Islam News Bureau
10 September 2022
• ‘Starving’ Girl Dies at Makeshift Shelter in Rohri,
Pakistan
• “Mahwari Justice”: ‘Wonder Women’ Challenge Taboos,
Provide Menstrual Kits to Flood-Hit Females in Pakistan
• Iran's Conservatives Feel Betrayed After Raisi
Allows Women into Football Stadiums
• Fatima bint Mubarak Initiative for Women, Peace and
Security Launches Its 3rd Training Programme
• UAE Advancing Female Peacekeeping Efforts in the
Region through Pioneering Training Initiative, International Conference Hears
• Afghanistan: Taliban Stops Scores of Female Students
From Flying To Qatar
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/senior-government-jobs-bahrain/d/127921
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Women Hold Half of Senior Government Jobs in Bahrain
A Bahraini woman uses her mobile phone to take
pictures during a demonstration in Manama, Bahrain.
(Photo credit: Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)
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AUGUST 26, 2022
Bahraini women have made major strides ever since the
Gulf state’s constitution was amended in 2002 to give them equal rights,
including the right to vote. As a result of a drive by King Hamad bin Isa Al
Khalifa, today 47% of government leadership positions are held by women.
Four cabinet ministers are women, as are 11
undersecretaries, 30 assistant undersecretaries and 12 judges.
Bahraini women comprise 56% of employees in the
government sector and 35% in the private sector. They own 42% of the commercial
operations operating in the country. The unemployment rate among Bahrain’s
nearly 700,000 citizens is 5.7%. There are about 15,000 job seekers, of whom
76% are women.
According to official statistics, published
exclusively by The Media Line, the average age of Bahraini women for a first
marriage is 24. Bahrain is the only Arab country in which the proportion of
births under medical supervision reaches 99.7%, while 100% of women enroll in
primary, preparatory and secondary education, and 63% of postgraduate degrees
are held by women.
The quasi-governmental Supreme Council for Women was
established in 2001. As of 2020, it had contributed to amending and issuing 93
laws in favor of equality between men and women, while women receive many
additional benefits related to vacations and the ban on working at night.
Where does inequality remain?
However, a major area of inequality remains when it
comes to obtaining citizenship for children of Bahrainis married to foreigners.
Children of Bahraini men are granted citizenship directly at birth, while women
married to foreigners must submit an application for their children to obtain
citizenship.
Under Bahraini law, children of a Bahraini woman from
a non-Bahraini father are treated as citizens in every respect, but they cannot
obtain unemployment benefits, and they need to renew their residency permits,
for free.
The Supreme Council for Women has mandated that all
government agencies establish Equal Opportunity Committees to promote equality
between the genders, and large companies must form similar panels as well, to
ensure that their internal regulations are amended so that women have equal
opportunities in employment.
The Supreme Council for Women in a statement told The
Media Line: “Women’s indicators in Bahrain are witnessing remarkable progress,
documented by a number of international institutions such as UN Women, the
World Bank and the World Economic Forum. We have moved from the stage of
women’s empowerment to the stage of women’s advancement, and we have also moved
from the stage of women’s advancement to the fact that women are responsible
for advancing their own reality through orientations to expand areas of fair
and equal opportunities with men.”
“The World Bank’s ‘Women, Business and Law 2022’
report monitored the Kingdom of Bahrain’s record of the highest progress on the
‘Women, Business and Law’ indicator for the year 2022, compared to a number of
Arab countries during the period 2021-2022, where the kingdom reached 65% on
this indicator. By doing so, it advanced 18 places at once within a year.
Bahrain is among the countries that have witnessed a significant improvement in
the final score, due to the legislative changes related to wages, as it
achieved a full score [100%] after it was 25% in 2021. Bahrain achieved the
largest improvement in the wage index among countries, and raised its score in
this area from 0 to 100 during the past two years,” according to the Supreme
Council.
“Now even Bahraini society no longer has a woman
complex. Everyone is equal. There is no societal objection in the event of a
female parliamentarian, director or minister. No one objects to the appointment
of a woman just because she is a woman in Bahrain. This is a fact,” Salman
said. “We have a woman speaker of the House of Representatives, and we also
have association leaders and women ministers. It was not like this before 21
years ago,” she added.
“All we are waiting for here is to ensure that the
children of a Bahraini woman from a non-Bahraini father obtain citizenship
directly, and not after submitting an application,” Salman said.
Zahra Al Hamrani, a tour guide, told The Media Line,
“The field of tourist guidance is modern in Bahrain, and it has opened up the
opportunity for us as women to work in it from the beginning.”
“I am divorced, and I have two children, and because
of the Supreme Council for Women I was able to stand on my own feet. There is
no longer an inferior view of divorced women in Bahraini society,” she said.
“The Supreme Council for Women has a special committee that supports battered
women and those who seek divorce. The council appoints a lawyer, and it also
follows up all procedures, there is a grant given to divorced women, and
divorced or widowed women are given a home and are given priority on housing
waiting lists. It also provides psychological support, social guidance and
everything needed for women to stand up again and be free and independent.”
Member of Parliament Fatima Al Qatari told The Media Line: “The Supreme Council
for Women has provided what no other party in Bahrain has provided, with great
efforts by HRH Princess Sabeeka, wife of the king of Bahrain.”
“There are no legislations in Bahrain that pass
without consulting the Supreme Council for Women, in addition to their
amendments that are in the interest of women,” the lawmaker said.
Aqila Mahdi, a Bahraini aviation engineer working in
the United Arab Emirates, told The Media Line, “I was one of the first women to
graduate in aviation engineering, and as a female, the field was very strange,
but it became a reality, and it was easy.”
“I am working now to gain experience, and I will
return to Bahrain soon. In Bahrain, there is no difference between the salary
of a woman and a man if they work in the same job, to the same degree and with
the same qualifications, and there are many vacancies for women,” she said.
Source: J Post
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-715662
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‘Starving’ Girl Dies At Makeshift Shelter In Rohri, Pakistan
September 10, 2022
SUKKUR: A six-year-old girl reportedly died of
starvation and illness at a makeshift shelter near a filling station on the
National Highway in Patni area on Friday, sparking protest by over 200 rain-hit
families against .Rohri mukhtiarkar, who failed to “provide them food and other
relief goods in time”
The protesters told media persons that they had been
waiting for official aid since they had reached Sukkur from Jacobabad district
after the torrential destroyed everything they had.
The officials came only to collect data but neither of
them sent them any relief items such as food, tents, mosquito nets and other
necessary goods so that they could feed their starving children and protect
their families against diseases, they said.
They said that no medical team had visited them to
check their children and women, who were suffering from various diseases after
the rains. “When our children started starving, we went to the mukhtiarkar’s
office in Rohri for aid but we received neither food, nor tents. In the
meanwhile, the six-year-old Razia daughter of Khalid Khoso died of starvation
and disease,” said the girl’s father.
When the news about the girl’s death spread, local
people and former member of Khoso Ittehad Farman Khoso helped the family in the
burial and provided ration bags to all the rain-stricken families, said the
protesters.
Talking to media persons, Farman Khoso appealed to
district administration to take care of the helpless rain-hit families and
provide them food immediately so that no more children died from starvation.
Locals said that the Sukkur bench of the Sindh High
Court had directed officials of the administration to accommodate the rain-hit
people in camps and provide them relief items. The death of the child was a
gross negligence on the officials’ part and their indifference to the court
directives for the protection of rain-hit people, they said.
Source: Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1709245/starving-girl-dies-at-makeshift-shelter-in-rohri
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“Mahwari Justice”: ‘Wonder Women’ Challenge Taboos,
Provide Menstrual Kits to Flood-Hit Females in Pakistan
8th September 2022
Islamabad: Amid the destructive monsoon rainfall and
unprecedented levels of flooding, the afflicted women in Pakistan continue to
face difficulties in maintaining menstrual health and hygiene.
The aftermath of the monsoon rains have affected 33
million people during the floods. According to United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA), there are at least 1.6 million women, females and young girls, who
critically require menstrual health aid.
These women also include about 650,000 pregnant
females who are due in September 2022, and are currently in need of immediate
maternal health and reproductive services.
Among all the necessary items being distributed at
flood-hit areas, menstrual hygiene kits have been neglected considering it as
not so essential relief aid product, which threatens health and hygiene
conditions including the risk of water and vector borne diseases.
Therefore, not ignoring this essential necessity of
women and breaking all the society taboos two young girls took this initiative
to ensure provision of menstrual health products to the flood affected females.
Working effectively on the ground and ensuring rapid
access to essential health services to the flood affected females, Anum Khalid,
a university student of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan and her online
friend Bushra Mahnoor, who is also a student of University of Punjab in Lahore,
initiated a social media campaign called “Mahwari Justice”, primarily focused
on collecting menstrual products and funds to be provided to women and children
of the flood affected areas across Pakistan.
“In 2010, I was only 10 years old when the floods hit
Pakistan. As I am originally from Attock city, there were many areas in our
surrounding that were hit by the floods. I went there with my parents to
provide relief aids. There me and my mother saw a girl whose shalwar (pants)
had blood marks. My mother took her into the tent and found out that her
periods had started and she had nothing to handle it,” narrated Bushra Mahnoor
as she talked about how she and her online friend Anum felt the need to start Mahwari
Justice campaign.
“Then this year, when these floods are even worse than
that of 2010, I got a call from a woman from Lasbela in Balochistan. She said
in this dreadful condition in a tent her periods have started and she has
nothing but a plant leaf to use as a pad,” added Bushra.
This call from Lasbela forced both long distance
friends Anum and Bushra, to raise the seriousness of the matter and campaign
through social media.
“Mahwari Justice Campaign has provided MHM kits to at
least 12,000 people. The kit is a package that also has a pictorial description
of how to use the pads for even illiterate females to see and understand,” said
Anum Khalid.
MHM kits are the basic health necessities for those
who menstruate. “We are hoping to increase the outreach to at least 50,000 more
females,” said Bushra Mahnoor.
From being trolled on social media to breaking the
stereotypes, Anum Khalid and Bushra Mahnoor face multiple challenges on a daily
basis for raising voice on female menstrual health, they are criticized by
predominantly females on social media, who lash out at them for talking about
what they take as a very private matter for females in the name of
modernisation, which has for decades, kept within the females herself.
Unfortunately, menstrual health is not part of any
NGO’s policy, it is an uneasy thing to be associated with for other
organisations and when we requested a reputed company (menstrual pads
manufacturing company) to donate us and support us with menstrual pads; we were
donated 150 pads and were asked to buy pads from them, said Anum Khalid.
But despite having such serious challenges of societal
neglect, criticism and outright neglect, Anum and Bushra are adamant to not
lost their focus on what their target is.. which is to provide menstrual relief
aid to females in flood affected areas, who are suffering to menstrual hygiene
related issues.
“Periods do not stop during floods. Women need
assistance and we will make sure that they get it at the earliest,” said Anum
Khalid.
Source: Siasat Daily
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Iran's conservatives feel betrayed after Raisi allows
women into football stadiums
10 September 2022
For many political and religious figures in Iran, the
election of Ebrahim Raisi as president in August 2021 was meant to herald a
return to conservatism in the country after a supposedly ill-fated attempt at
reformism under his predecessor Hassan Rouhani.
That's why the decision last month to allow Iranian
women to enter football stadiums, for the first time since the 1979 revolution,
to watch local games has dismayed and angered a number of conservatives, who
see it as a betrayal of their values.
“I was shocked when I heard Raisi has allowed women
into stadiums. If this was done by Rouhani, I wouldn’t have been surprised as
this was his electoral promise and an issue that secular reformists had always
sought," a member of the hardline Basij paramilitary told Middle East Eye
on condition of anonymity.
The decision was not an easy one, with Iranian
officials aware that the move would risk disappointing many of their
supporters.
However, they also faced increasing pressure, not just
from female football fans, but also from Fifa, who were themselves under
pressure to suspend Iran from the 2022 World Cup over the country's policy on
women spectators.
The issue has been long debated in the country and
though the government claims its decision was unrelated to Fifa, to have been
suspended from the organisation just months ahead of the World Cup would have
been embarrassing.
“I have no doubt that if it wasn’t for Fifa threats,
women wouldn’t have been allowed to enter stadiums," said a sports
journalist in Iran, on condition of anonymity.
"But if this had happened during the presidency
of the moderate Hassan Rouhani, hardliners would have burned the country to the
ground. But now that all the power branches are under their control, they have
silenced the clerics and influential institutions.“
A victory for women
For Iranian women, the right to be able to go inside
stadiums and clap for and support their teams has long been a dream.
But the issue has long been contentious in a country
where women face many legal and social restrictions on their personal lives.
The first attempt to change the law happened during
the presidency of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in power from 2005 to
2012.
Although Ahmadinejad was seen as a conservative
hardliner by most, the president ordered the gates of stadiums to be opened to
women.
Only the intervention of the clergy prevented the
plans from being instituted, with an announcement by Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei opposing the move putting the matter to rest for the time.
Then Rouhani, who was in power from 2013 to 2021, also
sought to open the gates to women, but in the end, women were only allowed into
certain matches, and then only to watch Iran’s national team and not local
matches.
Challenging his opponents in 2018, Rouhani said: “they
state that vulgar things are said in the football stadiums and it is not right
for the women to be there.
"[I say that] if our men are saying things that
are not appropriate, why must women pay the price?”
Like Ahmadinejad, Rouhani, who is also a cleric, again
faced sharp criticism and attacks from senior clerics, with hardline media
launching an onslaught against the president in a bid to stop his plans.
So with both his predecessors thwarted, it came as a
shock to many conservatives for Raisi to be the one who finally implemented it.
In a tweet, Mohammad Hossein Rajabi, a hardline cleric
who voted for Raisi in the 2021 race, said on 1 Sep 2022 that Muslim women's
presence in stadiums was not an appropriate move.
Minou Aslani, the head of the women's branch of the
Basij domestic security force, said that letting women into stadiums to “watch
men’s [football] is not among the priorities of people of Iran”.
Aslani also pointed out that the influential religious
leader Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi was among the grand ayatollahs who had
declared the plan forbidden.
On the other side of the debate, a reformist news site, accused the government
of hypocrisy, writing that “the former critics of women’s presence in stadiums
have now gone silent".
It added that if Rouhani or former reformist president
Mohammad Khatami had done this, the hardliners would have come out in the
streets to protest their decision.
Conservative anger
Raisi’s statements during the presidential election
had led most to assume that he would continue the ban on women entering
stadiums.
"Some people said that women should go to the
stadium to watch men's matches; But does this solve the problem of women
themselves?”, said Raisi during his presidential campaign.
However, months later, when the Raisi government
allowed women once again to enter the stadium to watch a national match,
hardline and influential groups and clerics asked him not to do so.
In January 2022, the powerful Society of Seminary
Teachers of Qom, previously fervent supporters of Raisi, penned a letter,
asking the president to stop his government to stop their plan from letting
women into stadiums.
“Addressing such issues by [your government] has
surprised the religious and revolutionary part of the society which are and has
been your supporter," wrote the group’s secretary.
Their calls went unheeded, apparently.
“Raisi keeps disappointing his true supporters, first
he advocated the JCPOA and resumed the talks with the US for its revival, and
now he has allowed women to sit in stadiums and close to men who mostly
curse," said the Basij member, referring to Raisi's negotiations to
re-enter the 2015 nuclear deal.
"Then what happens to our adherence to our
beliefs?”
'A remarkable event'
Meanwhile, Fifa has urged Iran to allow female
referees to officiate at men’s football matches.
In reaction, a hardline user on Twitter, identified as
Abdolreza Akbari, called the Iranian government officials “naïve” for accepting
the previous request of Fifa, implying it was just the beginning of a raft of
liberalising reforms the body would demand.
For female football fans and reformist politicians,
however, Raisi's decision is momentous, despite his conservative credentials.
“This is a remarkable event and a turning point as the
religious supporters of Raisi and the Islamic Republic establishment witnessed
how they ignored their so-called values just to fulfill their interests,"
said a reformist politician, who asked his name not to be disclosed, speaking
to MEE.
"For sure, this paradox has disappointed,
shocked, and even damaged the loyalty of a remarkable percentage of their
supporters in the religious class.
"This means supporters are losing faith which is
a great danger for Raisi and the hardline camp.”
Source: Middle East Eye
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-conservatives-betrayed-women-allowed-into-football-stadiums
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Fatima bint Mubarak Initiative for Women, Peace and
Security launches its 3rd training programme
07-09-2022
ABU DHABI, 7th September, 2022 (WAM) -- The Fatima
bint Mubarak Initiative for Women, Peace and Security, launched its 3rd Women,
Peace and Security training programme with 140 participating cadets from Arab,
Asian and African countries.
The trainees came from the Middle East and Africa, the
UAE, Yemen (Socotra), Jordan, Bahrain, Liberia, Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Chad,
Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Mauritania, and Pakistan. The training will take
place at the Khawla bint Al Azwar Military School in Abu Dhabi.
The trainees were received at the Fatima bint Mubarak
Centre for Women, Peace and Security, which was inaugurated by H.H. Sheikha
Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union (GWU), President
of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of
the Family Development Foundation (FDF), "Mother of the Nation", as
part of the Fatima bint Mubarak Initiative for Women, Peace and Security.
The nine-week programme, organised by the General
Women’s Union, in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, and in coordination
with UN Women, seeks to achieve the strategic objectives of Security Council
Resolution 1325 by increasing the number of qualified women working in the
military, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. It comprises seven weeks of intensive
military training and two weeks of peacebuilding and peacekeeping training.
During her visit to the UAE, and ahead of her
participation as a keynote speaker at the International Women, Peace and
Security Conference in Abu Dhabi set to be held from 8th to 10th September, Dr.
Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, praised the efforts of the UAE in
empowering women in the military sector at a meeting with the General Women’s
Union. The parties also discussed how the Women, Peace and Security Agenda can
play a vital role in advancing women’s leadership.
Also during her visit to the General Women’s Union,
Dr. Bahous met the third cohort participating in the Women, Peace and Security
training programme and encouraged them to make the most of their experiences in
the programme and use their skills to help achieve security, stability and
development for societies around the world.
"The UAE has been a strong champion and a
prominent partner in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals,
especially Goal 5, Gender Equality. In this regard, I commend the efforts of
H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak to empower Women in Peace and Security, by
providing training and capacity building opportunities for women from the
Middle East, Africa and Asia in military and peacekeeping. UN Women is proud to
be a partner in these efforts that advance the Women, Peace and Security
Agenda," Dr. Bahous stated.
On this occasion, Noura Al Suwaidi, Secretary-General
of the General Women's Union, said, "Welcoming the third cohort of
trainees under the Fatima bint Mubarak Initiative for Women, Peace and Security
confirms the continued success of the training programme, thanks to the support
of our wise leadership and the vision of H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak and
her continuous efforts to achieve a breakthrough in supporting the
participation of women in all sectors, especially in peace and security. We
hope that this training contributes to these women’s meaningful career
development in military, security and peacebuilding and gives real
opportunities for personal and professional growth."
The launch of the third training programme coincides
with Abu Dhabi's hosting of the International Conference on Women, Peace and
Security, which will see the participation of international decision-makers,
senior officials, diplomats, and advocates of women in peace and security from
the Arab region and the world.
A total of 497 women were trained under the Sheikha
Fatima Women, Peace and Security Initiative. The first cohort of 134 Arab women
was trained in Abu Dhabi in January 2019, and the second comprising 223 women
from 11 African, Asian and Arab countries, was trained in January 2020.
The Fatima bint Mubarak Women, Peace and Security
Initiative activates a memorandum of understanding signed in 2018 between the
UAE’s Ministry of Defence, the General Women's Union and the United Nations, at
the headquarters of the UAE Mission to the United Nations in New York with the
presence of H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign
Affairs and International Cooperation.
Source: WAM
https://www.wam.ae/en/details/1395303081398
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UAE advancing female peacekeeping efforts in the
region through pioneering training initiative, international conference hears
September 08, 2022
Samihah Zaman
Abu Dhabi: A UAE-based training programme that has
already qualified nearly 500 female peacekeepers over the last three years has
been lauded by delegates at the International Conference for Women Peace and
Security (ICWPS) in Abu Dhabi.
The Sheikha Fatima Women, Peace and Security
Initiative, which welcomed its third batch of 140 trainees on Wednesday
(September 7), was deemed a “valued” and “impressive” women empowerment and
advancement programme for the region.
Mother of the Nation
Mother of the Nation Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint
Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, President of the Supreme
Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family
Development Foundation, reasserted in a speech the UAE’s commitment to
developing female peacekeepers and military personnel. The ICWPS is being held
under the patronage of Sheikha Fatima, and her speech was delivered in a video
address by Sheikh Shamma bint Sultan, great-granddaughter of Sheikh Zayed, the
UAE’s Founding Father.
“I would like to express my full confidence that women
can take their rightful place in leading the action plan to build peace
throughout the world, regardless of how intense or accessible it is in reality,
and join the ranks of the future makers, the protectors of the present and the
writers of history, so they are able to formulate their role for the
renaissance and advancement of their homeland,” Sheikha Fatima said. She also
recognised the UAE leadership’s role in promoting women to the forefront in all
fields.
“The UAE has been a strong champion and a prominent
partner in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, especially its
fifth goal. In this regard, I value the Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint
Mubarak Initiative to Empower Women in Peace and Security, which provides
training and capacity building opportunities for women from the Middle East,
Africa and Asia in the military and peacekeeping. UN Women is proud to be a
partner in these efforts,” said Dr Sima Bahous, UN Women executive director in
her address to the conference.
Dignitary visits
The peacekeeping programme is delivered at the Khawla
Al Azwar Military Training School, and has trained 497 women from the Middle
East, Asia and Africa so far.
Dr Bahous is one of several dignitaries who met the
cadets who make up the Initiative’s latest batch ahead of the ICWPS. Dr
Jacqueline O’Neill, Canadian Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, also
visited the facility.
Future of peacekeeping
“The future of training for peacekeeping is gathering
people at regional levels, in particular, to train in ways and networks that make
sense with them. The strength of peacekeeping is its ability to engage with,
and work with, local communities, and we need people who can connect with
communities and perform all the functions of peacekeeping. [During my visit to
the Khawla Al Azwar school], I was extremely impressed to see the pride in the
region. Peacekeepers are grown from around the world, [and I saw that] women
from this region, in particular, now have a forum to highlight their
contributions,” O’Neill said.
The nine-week peacekeeping training is organised by
the General Women’s Union, in cooperation with the UAE Ministry of Defence, and
in coordination with UN Women. It seeks to achieve the strategic objectives of
UN Security Council Resolution 1325 by increasing the number of qualified women
working in military, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Seven weeks of intensive
military training are accompanied by two weeks of peacebuilding and
peacekeeping training.
Women in decision-making
Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi, UAE Minister of State for
Defense Affairs, and Reem Al Hashimi, UAE Minister of State for International
Cooperation, also addressed delegates at the ICWPS, reaffirming the UAE’s
commitment to gender equity and women’s empowerment.
“Women are most affected in conflict situations, but
also play a vital role in ensuring recovery. They are also key to ensuring that
violence does not reignite after conflict. This is why we must support women in
peacekeeping and decision-making roles, and the UAE reaffirms its commitment to
peace and security,” Al Hashimi said.
The three-day conference will culminate in a
ministerial meeting to discuss greater participation of women in UN
peacekeeping. The UN has previously announced that it aims to increase the
percentage of women in units with military missions to about 15 per cent, and
in forces with police missions to 20 per cent, by 2028. Officials said there is
still a long way to go towards achieving these targets, and that the UAE’s
efforts are therefore extremely important.
Source: Gulf News
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Afghanistan: Taliban stops scores of female students
from flying to Qatar
By Ali M Latifi in Kabul
26 August 2022
Scores of female Afghan university students have been
prevented from boarding a flight to Qatar by the Taliban, who were reportedly
upset that the young women were not travelling with male guardians.
The news was first reported by local media on Thursday
evening and then confirmed to Middle East Eye by sources in Kabul and the Gulf.
The Taliban’s foreign ministry has not yet responded
to requests for comment.
MEE has reviewed an e-ticket, a Qatari visa issued to
a female student sponsored by the Qatar Foundation, and print and email
correspondences by a vice-president at the American University of Afghanistan,
where the students were studying.
All suggest there were no irregularities with the
documentation the students needed for travel.
Videos shared with MEE also show the young women
waiting at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International airport.
One of the women, speaking on condition of anonymity
for fear of repercussions, said 120 students arrived at the airport early
Thursday morning. The 17-year-old confirmed that the group had passed through
all five security checks at the airport and received exit stamps, but the girls
in the group were ultimately not allowed to board the chartered Ariana Afghan
Airlines flight.
“Then, suddenly we were near the airplane stairs when
the Taliban stopped us from boarding. They locked us in the terminal for more
than four hours. They insulted and humiliated us, they even took our videos and
pictures,” she said.
In total, she said 62 female students were sent home
by Taliban forces on Thursday.
“We took our bags and arrived home. It was a really
disappointing and hard day for me,” said the student who was turned away.
Another source confirmed that a male student she knew
was able to board the flight, which a Gulf source said ultimately landed at
Doha’s Hamad International airport.
Earlier this month, the president of the American
University of Afghanistan (AUAF), Ian Bickford, who is currently in Istanbul,
confirmed to a US-based radio station that the college was looking to open a
campus in Qatar.
“More will leave to join us in Qatar. We anticipate
that once the campus in Qatar is operational, all of the women who were
enrolled at AUAF last spring will have left Afghanistan and, very hopefully,
most or all of the men as well,” Bickford told a public radio station in Texas.
The university declined to comment.
AUAF's Kabul campus has been empty for the last year.
Hundreds of students were reportedly evacuated after the Taliban retook control
of the nation last August, but hundreds more remain in the country.
Some of those students in Afghanistan have been able
to continue their education online while awaiting a way out of the country.
The university was shut for eight months following an
August 2016 attack that left at least 17 people dead and more than 50 others
wounded. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the year since the Taliban returned to power,
teenage girls have not been able to return to high school in 32 of the nation’s
34 provinces.
Also, only three government ministries have allowed
women to return to work in the public sector, meaning tens of thousands of
other female government workers are being told to stay at home.
Sources in the provinces of Kabul and Logar, including
drivers, reported that in recent weeks the Taliban had seemingly loosened its
rules on women travelling without male guardians, both on the roads and at
airports.
Source: Middle East Eye
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/afghanistan-taliban-female-students-scores-stopped-qatar
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