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Women and children in Kabul (symbolic picture)
Photo: Petros Giannakouris / AP
The Taliban's takeover in August had a massive impact on Afghan society.
Amnesty International is now emphasizing a growing problem: women victims of violence hardly get any help.
Support networks for survivors of intimate partner violence or places of refuge such as women's shelters have all but disappeared, according to a report published by the human rights organization on Monday.
Accordingly, the Taliban closed women's shelters and at the same time released prisoners from prisons, many of whom had been convicted of gender-based violent crimes.
Former residents of women's shelters as well as employees of protection facilities as well as lawyers, judges or government officials involved in the protection services are now in danger.
The women's shelters had to send women and girls back to their families, other victims were forcibly removed by their family members, the report said.
Others have since ended up on the street.
The Taliban have no procedure how to deal with such cases, said a psychologist at a protection facility, according to the report.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shahin told Amnesty International that there was no place in Islam for violence against girls and women.
Women exposed to domestic violence could turn to the courts.
Nine out of ten women experience violence
In Afghanistan, according to UN figures, nine out of ten women experience at least one form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
Before the Taliban took over military power in mid-August, thousands of women turned to a nationwide network of women's shelters and service providers who supported them with legal advice, lawyers, medical or psychosocial help.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard called on the Taliban to allow and support the reopening of shelters.
The international community should also finance such protection services immediately and in the long term.
jok / dpa
