タリバン政権下で消える女性シェルター 虐待受けても行き場なし

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】フェテマさん（２２）は７歳の時、曽祖父ほどの年齢の男性と結婚させられた。レイプされ、殴る蹴るの暴行を受け、飢えにも耐え忍んだ末、ついに自らの命を絶とうとした。（写真は首都カブールにある虐待被害を受けた女性向けのシェルターで祈る女性）
　１０歳の時には壁にたたき付けられたと言う。「頭がくぎにぶつかって（中略）もう少しで死ぬところでした」
　フェテマさんが身を寄せているのは、虐待された女性のためのシェルターだ。イスラム主義組織タリバンが昨年８月に実権を掌握したアフガニスタンで今もなお、女性たちを受け入れている数少ないシェルターの一つだ。だがフェテマさんは、いつここを追われるかもしれないとおびえている。
　シェルターが閉鎖されれば、フェテマさんには行き場がない。実家との連絡は途絶えているし、嫁ぎ先の家族は名誉を汚したと言って、フェテマさんを殺すと明言している。
　アフガニスタンでは、フェテマさんのような経験をしている女性が何百万人もいる。家父長制を伝統とするこの国では、貧困と教育の欠如により、女性たちが何十年にもわたって権利を奪われてきた。
　国連（ＵＮ）によるとアフガン女性の８７％が、何らかの形で肉体的・性的・精神的な暴力を体験したことがある。
　にもかかわらず、人口３８００万人のこの国で、タリバン復権以前に運営されていた女性保護専門のシェルターは、わずか２４か所だった。そのほぼすべてが国際組織の資金によるもので、国内では多くの人から冷ややかな目で見られていた。
　タリバンはイスラム教の聖典コーランの厳格な解釈に基づき、女性の権利を認め保護していると主張するが、現実には公的な場から徐々に女性が締め出されている。

■タリバンの視察
　だが、ほのかな希望の光もある。
　タリバンの最高指導者ハイバトゥラ・アクンザダ師は今月初め、強制結婚を非難する立場を表明した。
　またタリバン暫定政権が国連大使に指名したスハイル・シャヒーン氏は、国際人権団体アムネスティ・インターナショナルに対し、暴力の被害を受けた女性は裁判所に訴えることができると語った。
　タリバン政権はシェルターの今後について何ら公式に発表していない。だがその存在が見過ごされているわけではない。
　フェテマさん他約２０人が身を寄せるシェルターの職員によると、タリバンの戦闘員や幹部が数回にわたりシェルターを訪れた。
　「彼らは入って来て各部屋を見て、男性がいないことを確かめていました」とある職員は言う。「そして、女性にとってここは安全な場所ではない、女性の居場所は家庭だと言いました」
　それでも、希望を感じた女性もいた。職員は「（タリバンの訪問は）思っていたよりもずっと良かったのです」と語った。

■頼る先がない
　タリバンが政権を掌握する前でさえ、家庭で虐待されている多数の女性が頼れる先はほとんどなかった。
　殺してやると義父に脅されたザキアさんは女性問題省（現在はタリバンによって閉鎖）に問い合わせ、家を逃れる方法について助言を求めた。だが、ザキアさんの状況はそれほど悪くないと言われ、「話も聞いてもらえませんでした」。
　ミーナさん（１７）も７年前、虐待する叔父の元から妹と一緒に逃げ出し、女性問題省に駆け込んだが、同じような扱いを受けた。そして「私が話す内容にうそがあると非難されたのです」。
　アフガン女性の権利を訴えて長年活動し、シェルターを運営しているマブバ・サラジャさんにとって心配なのは、家庭で虐待を受けていながら、他に行き場のない女性たちだと言う。
　ザキアさんには、少なくとも今のところシェルターがある。だが、いつまでここにいられるだろう。「実の父にも、おまえのことなんかどうでもいいと言われたのですから」 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/24-12:58）

Married off at seven to a man old enough to be her great-grandfather, Fatema endured rapes, beatings and starvation until she could take no more and tried to kill herself.
Through tears she recalls the beatings she received -- like the time, aged 10, she was flung against a wall and my head crashed against a nail... I almost died.
Today the 22-year-old is living in one of the few shelters for battered women still open in Afghanistan since the Taliban's August return to power, but is fearful she could lose her place at any time.
If the refuge closes, Fatema will have nowhere to go. She has lost touch with her own family, while in-laws have vowed to kill her for dishonouring their name.
Fatema's plight is shared by millions in Afghanistan, where patriarchal tradition, poverty and a lack of education have held back women's rights for decades.
According to the United Nations, 87 percent of Afghan women have experienced some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence.
Despite this, the country of 38 million had only 24 shelters dedicated to their care before the Taliban's return -- almost all financed by the international community and frowned upon by many locals.
- 'Start from scratch' -
Some NGOs running shelters stepped up their work long before the Taliban takeover.
The director of one organisation told AFP she began moving women away from shelters in unstable provinces in advance of the US troop withdrawal.
Some were sent back to their blood relatives in the hope they would be offered protection from vengeful in-laws. Others were sent to shelters in bigger provincial capitals.
As the Taliban onslaught continued the situation became desperate, and around 100 women were transferred to Kabul -- only for the capital to fall.
We have to start from scratch, says the director, who asked not to be named or the organisation identified while they navigated how to operate under the new regime.
The Taliban insist their strict interpretation of the Koran provides women with rights and protection, but the reality is very different and they are slowly being squeezed out of public life.
Most secondary schools for girls are shut, women are barred from government employment apart from select specialised areas, and this week new guidelines stated they cannot undertake long journeys unless accompanied by a male relative.
There has been some glimmer of light.
Earlier this month supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada denounced forced marriage, while Suhail Shaheen -- the Taliban's would-be ambassador to the UN -- told Amnesty International that women could go to court if they were victims of violence.
The regime has not made any formal pronouncement on the future of shelters, although the refuges have not escaped their notice.
Taliban fighters and officials have paid several visits to the one housing Fatema and around 20 other women, according to employees.
They came in, looked at the rooms, checked there were no men, said one worker.
They said this is not a safe place for women, that their place is at home, said another.
Still, it gave one woman hope.
It was much better than we expected, the first worker told AFP.
- 'Accused of lying' -
Even before the Taliban takeover many women in abusive households had little recourse.
Zakia approached the Ministry of Women's Affairs -- since shut down by the Taliban -- for advice on how to escape a father-in-law who had threatened to kill her.
They didn't even listen to me, she said, and told her that her situation was not that bad.
Mina, 17, who ran away from an abusive uncle seven years ago with her younger sister, had a similar reception.
The ministry accused me of lying, she told AFP.
And it is not just the women seeking shelter who are vulnerable, with Amnesty International saying shelter workers also risk violence and death.
Several staffers said they had been threatened over the phone by people claiming to be Taliban seeking the whereabouts of women who had fled their households.
Cases of abuse are likely to rise with the virtual collapse of the economy bringing soaring unemployment, a cash-flow crisis and mounting hunger.
When the economic situation worsens, men are out of work, and cases of violence increase, one shelter worker said.
The situation has probably worsened... services have generally decreased, said Alison Davidian, interim representative for UN Women in Afghanistan.
One of the few shelters open -- albeit discretely -- is run by Mahbouba Seraj, a pioneer in the struggle for women's rights in the country.
After being inspected by the Taliban it was kind of left alone, she says, but her concern is now for the women trapped in abusive households who have nowhere to go.
Zakia, at least, has shelter for now -- but for how long?
My own father said he didn't care about me, she says.