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Statement by The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown , UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of ECW's High-Level Steering Group, Marking the 1,000 Day Ban on Girls' Secondary Education in Afghanistan LONDON , June 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- For 1,000 days girls in Afghanistan have been banned from secondary school education.
We must now stand up and speak out together for the girls and women of Afghanistan with a clarion call to the de facto authorities and world leaders to end the ban on girls' secondary education in Afghanistan . The cost of inaction is unimaginable. As we speak, 8 out of 10 school-aged girls and young women are out of school in Afghanistan , and 1.
5 million girls are impacted by the ban on secondary education. Every day, more and more out-of-school girls are being forced into marriage for lack of any other future prospects. In fact, the ban on Afghan girls' education after grade six is correlated with a 25% increase in the rate of child marriage, according to a new UN Women report .
The ban is also associated with an increase of the risk of maternal mortality by at least 50%. Mental health distress and depression is also soaring, and so are suicide attempts . In all, 4.
2 million children are out of school. The ban on female teachers, severe restrictions to aid groups, a return to religious teaching and other factors aren't just hurting the girls of Afghanistan . Human Rights Watch found a significant decline in the quality of boys' .