Table of Contents • AFGHANISTAN: Herat woman whipped by Taliban for alleged affair • AFGHANISTAN: woman shot, blinded, for getting a job • AFGHANISTAN: Afghan women illegally forced into 'virginity tests' • AFGHANISTAN: In conservative Kandahar, new gym creates safe space for Afghan women • AFGHANISTAN to appoint female deputy governors, starting with President’s home province • AFGHANISTAN: 'There hasn't been rehabilitation': Afghanistan struggles with fate of 'Daesh wives' • AFGHANISTAN: Afghan soldier stabs sister in ‘honour killing’ • AFGHANISTAN: Women with disabilities face systemic abuse • AFGHANISTAN: Ventilator from old car parts? Afghan girls pursue prototype • AFGHANISTAN: Women negotiators seeking to preserve rights in Afghan peace talks • AFGHANISTAN: A crucial moment for women’s rights in Afghanistan • ASIA: Pandemic fallout hampers women's sport in Asia • ASIA: International Women's Day: Meet 11 of Asia's trailblazers • BANGLADESH: Why is it so difficult for Bangladeshi women to get justice? • BANGLADESH: approves death penalty for rape after protests • CHINA’s birth rate push trumps gender equality, with women hit with ‘parenthood penalty’ • CHINA jails citizen journalist Zhang Zhan for four years over Wuhan coronavirus reports • CHINA: Xinjiang government confirms huge birth rate drop but denies forced sterilization of women • CHINA: Gender equality in China, from birth ratio to politics and unpaid care work, still has a long way to go: report • CHINA: Sterilizations, IUDs, and mandatory birth control: The CCP’s campaign to suppress Uyghur birthrates in Xinjiang • CHINA: Chinese social justice activist ‘disappeared’ • INDIA: 'Pay up': Indian trafficking victims left destitute by compensation delays • INDIA: 'It's not a grave we must fit in': the Kashmir women fighting for marital rights • INDIA: Generational change in India: How might raising the legal age of marriage from 18 to 21 change the lives of girls? HRWF Women’s Rights & Gender Equality Newsletter • INDIA: Women at risk of sexual abuse at work • INDIA: Balrampur: Anger grows after new India 'gang rape' death • INDIA: Dalit woman dies weeks after gang rape, triggering protest • INDIA's Covid crisis sees rise in child marriage and trafficking • INDIA’s COVID–19 gender blind spot • INDIA: Indian women protest new citizenship laws, joining a global ‘fourth wave’ feminist movement • INDIA: Landmark ruling grants women equal rights in Indian army • INDIA: Unnao rape case: Indian woman set on fire on way to hearing dies • INDONESIA bans mandatory Islamic 'hijab' scarves for schoolgirls • KAZAKHSTAN: Kazakh women demand financial support • PAKISTAN: Virginity tests for female rape survivors outlawed by Pakistani court • PAKISTAN arrests suspects in highway gang rape case amid protests • PAKISTAN: Pakistani female journalists face 'coordinated' campaign of online threats • PAKISTAN: Teenage girls shot dead by relatives over online footage • PAKISTAN: Several injured as conservatives throw stones at Women's Day March in Pakistan • PAKISTAN: How blackmail, harassment forced Pakistani women from university • SOUTH-KOREA: Seoul court orders Japan to compensate 12 Korean sex slaves • SOUTH-KOREA: Single women in South Korea have rights to a family too • SOUTH-KOREA: Lee Hyo-jae, champion of women’s rights in South Korea, dies at 95 • SOUTH-KOREA: Shocked public wants Telegram trafficker identified AFGHANISTAN: Herat woman whipped by Taliban for alleged affair The Herat Department of Women’s Affairs on Wednesday said that Taliban fighters publicly lashed a woman from Oba district over reports that she had an affair with a man. HRWF Women’s Rights & Gender Equality Newsletter Tolo News (14.04.2021) - https://bit.ly/2Qq7tge - The video footage, which was widely shared on social media, appears to show dozens of Taliban fighters surrounding a woman and lashing her. The video footage, which was widely shared on social media, appears to show dozens of Taliban fighters surrounding a woman and lashing her. “Based on the information that we have, the incident happened in the Greshk area of Oba district in Herat,” said Anisa Sarwari, the head of the Herat Women's Affairs Department. “Is it appropriate that the people see such events by the Taliban during the peace process, how the Taliban claims that they want to make peace and reconcile with the people,” said Monisa Hassanzada, the deputy governor of Herat. Coming at the same time as the announcement of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and the unclear fate of the peace process, this event has worried women in Herat. Women have warned that if the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan is not done in a responsible way, the achievements of Afghan women in the past two decades will be lost and they will once again face severe restrictions. “We are in a situation where targeted attacks are carried out against the women, most of the attacks are claimed by the Taliban, there is still acts of violence by the Taliban against women in Herat and other remote areas of Afghanistan,” said civil society activist Zahra Karamat. “If the US forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan is done in an irresponsible way, the women will face an insecure peace and their humanitarian rights and liberties will be sacrificed and the women will face a dark future,” said Halima Salimi, the head of the Afghan's Women Network in Herat. “If someone commits a crime, first there is a need for an investigation and evidence to prove that a crime was committed, then there should be an authorized court to issue a verdict but not in the kangaroo court,” said religious scholar Abdul Khaliq Haqqani. The Taliban has said that they will investigate the footage. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told TOLOnews that the group had not held such a trial in recent months in Herat. AFGHANISTAN: woman shot, blinded, for getting a job By Abdul Qadir Sediqi Reuters (10.11.2020) - https://reut.rs/2UzFwRq - The last thing 33-year-old Khatera saw were the three men on a motorcycle who attacked her just after she left her job at a police station in Afghanistan’s central Ghazni province, shooting at her and stabbing her with a knife in the eyes. Waking up in hospital, everything was dark. HRWF Women’s Rights & Gender Equality Newsletter “I asked the doctors, why I can’t see anything? They told me that my eyes are still bandaged because of the wounds. But at that moment, I knew my eyes had been taken from me,” she said. She and local authorities blame the attack on Taliban militants - who deny involvement – and say the assailants acted on a tip-off from her father who vehemently opposed her working outside the home. For Khatera, the attack caused not just the loss of her sight but the loss of a dream she had battled to achieve - to have an independent career. She joined the Ghazni police as an officer in its crime branch a few months ago. “I wish I had served in police at least a year. If this had happened to me after that, it would have been less painful. It happened too soon ... I only got to work and live my dream for three months,” she told Reuters. The attack on Khatera, who only uses one name, is indicative of a growing trend, human rights activists say, of an intense and often violent backlash against women taking jobs, especially in public roles. In Khatera’s case, being a police officer could have also angered the Taliban. The rights activists believe a mix of Afghanistan’s conservative social norms and an emboldened Taliban gaining influence while the United States withdraws its troops from the country is driving the escalation. The Taliban are currently negotiating in Doha, Qatar, with the Afghan government to broker a peace deal in which many expect them to formally return to power, but progress is slow and there has been an uptick in fighting and attacks on officials and prominent women around the country. In recent months, the Taliban have said they will respect women’s rights under Sharia law but many educated women say they have doubts. The insurgent group has opposed a reform to add mother’s names to identity cards, one of the first concrete stances they have revealed on women’s rights as they engage in the peace process. “Though the situation for Afghan women in public roles has always been perilous, the recent spike in violence across the country has made matters even worse,” said Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s Afghanistan campaigner. “The great strides made on women’s rights in Afghanistan over more than a decade must not become a casualty of any peace deal with the Taliban.” Childhood dream dashed Khatera’s dream as a child was to work outside the home and after years of trying to convince her father, to no avail, she was able to find support from her husband. But her father, she said, did not give up on his opposition. “Many times, as I went to duty, I saw my father following me ... he started contacting the Taliban in the nearby area and asked them to prevent me from going to my job,” she said. She said that he provided the Taliban with a copy of her ID card to prove she worked for police and that he had called her throughout the day she was attacked, asking for her location. HRWF Women’s Rights & Gender Equality Newsletter Ghazni’s police spokesman confirmed they believed the Taliban were behind the attack and that Khatera’s father had been taken into custody. Reuters was unable to reach him directly for comment. A Taliban spokesman said the group was aware of the case, but that it was a family matter and they were not involved. Khatera and her family, including five children, are now hiding out in Kabul, where she is recovering and mourning the career she lost.