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Alia Azizi.
© Private

(New York) – The women’s prison director in Herat, Afghanistan has been missing since October 2021 and is feared to have been forcibly disappeared, Human Rights Watch said today. Alia Azizi had worked under the former government but returned to her job after the Taliban took over Herat in August.

Taliban authorities should promptly and credibly investigate Azizi’s enforced disappearance and release her from custody or make her whereabouts known.

“It’s been over six months since Alia Azizi went missing, and the Taliban authorities have yet to carry out a credible investigation,” said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “International law obligates the authorities to investigate apparent forced disappearances, prosecute those responsible for violations, and inform the person’s family of their whereabouts.”

Azizi had been working as a police officer with the former Afghan government for 17 years, and as the head of the women’s prison in Herat since 2019. She stopped working when the Taliban took control of Herat on August 12 and stayed home for two weeks. But then the new Taliban head of Herat’s central prison called her and asked her to resume working. A contact said the official told her, “As there are women prisoners, we need you to come back to work.”

Azizi’s family has sought the assistance of the Herat governor’s office, the head of the police station, and the head of Herat prison to locate her, and has asked the Taliban authorities to investigate. However, Taliban officials have told them that they consider it a family matter and will not intervene.

International law defines enforced disappearance as the detention of a person by state officials or their agents and a refusal to acknowledge the detention or to reveal the person’s fate or whereabouts. People held in secret are especially vulnerable to extrajudicial execution, torture, and other abuses, and their families suffer from the lack of information.

Azizi’s case illustrates the failure of Taliban authorities to investigate serious allegations of human rights violations, including retaliation against former government officials. Rather than deny that such abuses occur, they should adopt concrete measures to deter serious abuses by their security forces and respond promptly to allegations with impartial investigations and appropriate prosecutions.

“Enforced disappearances are an egregious crime that will persist in Afghanistan unless the Taliban authorities get serious about ending this cruel practice and bringing those responsible to justice,” Abbasi said.

Up to 2.6 million people are at risk of gender-based violence this year – a staggering 25% increase on 2021 estimates. Nearly 40% of women and girls reported having to avoid essential public places.

About two in three children in Afghanistan are struggling to get enough to eat daily due to the country’s drought and forecasts of below-average rains this wet season, Save the Children said.

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Demonstrators protesting so-called “virginity tests” and sexual violence in Indonesian schools and universities during the Women’s March rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 2020.
© 2020 Andreas Harsono/Human Rights Watch

Indonesia’s armed forces have finally ended all so-called “virginity tests” as part of the recruitment process for women.

Last week, Indonesian armed forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Sudirman announced that all three branches of the military – the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force – had “effectively ended virginity tests” for recruitment.

The military’s first actions against this abusive practice began in June 2021 when then-Army Chief General Andika Perkasa issued an order to army commanders that female recruits should only be assessed on their ability to take part in physical training. He also ordered that the fiancées of male officers who applied for permission to get married no longer needed to get a medical check, including a “virginity test.”

But despite the Army’s order, the military said in August 2021 that “virginity tests” were still the rule, implying that the Navy and possibly the Air Force were unwilling to follow the Army’s ban. This only changed after President Joko Widodo promoted Perkasa to commander overseeing all three forces in November.

So-called “virginity testing” is a form of gender-based violence. It includes the invasive practice of an official inserting two fingers into the vagina to supposedly assess whether the woman has previously had sex. In November 2014, the World Health Organization issued guidelines that “there is no place for virginity (or ‘two-finger’) testing; it has no scientific validity.”

Human Rights Watch in 2014 first exposed the use of “virginity tests” by Indonesian security forces, and while the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Police ceased examinations, the government failed to effectively stop the practice by the military.

The Indonesian government should investigate the decades of trauma this policy has wrought on women and provide support for those affected. This is important both for the military and the nation at large to understand the harm caused and prevent similar mistreatment in the future. Women seeking to join the country’s armed forces should not have to overcome discrimination and abuse to do so.