Afghanistan’s women languishing in prisons 10 years after fall of Taliban
Figures disclosed to The Daily Telegraph show that half of the country’s jailed women — about 350 — have been sentenced for “moral crimes”. For girls aged 12 to 18 in prison, the figure rises to four-fifths.
The latest United Nations figures estimate that the women’s prison population has risen to 600, up from 380 two years ago.
Before you click through to read the rest of the article, I want you to stop and think about this sentence:
For girls aged 12 to 18 in prison, the figure rises to four-fifths
Meaning that there are girls below the age of 18 who have been “tried” and incarcerated for “moral crimes”. And to make matters worse, to absolutely compound the abject ethical depravity of the situation:
Western countries including Britain have poured tens of millions of pounds into the Afghan justice system and the women are often held in prisons built with international aid money.
This is what happens when, as a society, we think that throwing money at a problem is the same as solving the problem.