News Center- The Afghanistan Women and Children Strengthen Welfare Organization (AWCSWO) has issued a written statement to mark International Women’s Day. In the statement, the organization pointed to violence faced by Afghan women and girls and said, “Do not leave Afghan women alone on International Women’s Day. The situation is critical. The Taliban’s gender apartheid has erased women from public life, denying them education, employment, freedom of movement, and even access to basic healthcare. Afghanistan has become the most dangerous country in the world for women.”

Reminding the four-year Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the statement said, “Afghan women have endured unimaginable suffering and systematic oppression. They have been subjected to imprisonment for seeking their basic rights, sexual violence and rape at the hands of Taliban members, mental and physical torture, including brutal public punishments, stoning and flogging for so-called ‘moral crimes’, forced marriages to Taliban fighters, often against their will and kidnapping of girls under and over the age of 18 by Taliban members, robbing them of their futures.”

In the statement, the AWCSWO urged world leaders to act “now before more lives are lost” and called on the United Nations, international community and human rights organizations to:

* Hold the Taliban accountable for crimes against women under international law.

* Implement targeted sanctions against Taliban leaders responsible for human rights violations.

* Ensure safe asylum pathways for women and girls at risk.

* Support underground education and resistance networks to empower Afghan women.

* Amplify the voices of Afghan women activists who continue to fight for their rights.