Malaka Gharib. Earlier this year, she helped free more than Afghan women and girls imprisoned for failing the virginity test after reproductive rights activist Farhad Javid brought it to her attention in October. He was trying to free girls and women who had been jailed for failing a virginity test , even though such tests are banned by the U. Was he successful? He had a big request: Would they release some women and girls who were jailed in the country's Balkh province for failing a virginity test?
In Afghanistan, premarital sex is considered a moral crime. About This Series. Goats are curious animals and "Goats and Soda" is a curious blog. Over the next week, we'll be looking back at some of our favorite stories to see "whatever happened to Javid is the Islamic policy adviser for Marie Stopes U. He told the Ghanis that virginity tests are unscientific and medically unnecessary.
The U. He also told the couple that he had visited the women in jail several times and that they were suffering. There, she met with some of the prisoners and with the director of women's affairs in Balkh province. The first lady made a commitment to find a way to help, Javid says. Between January and April, the prisoners were freed. But his work is not over. Shortly after the prisoners were released from Mazar-i-Sharif, one girl was jailed.
Around Afghanistan, families are still bringing in unmarried daughters to clinics and hospitals for virginity tests. The test is administered for a variety of reasons: to determine whether she can go to school, get married, get a job β or whether she is a victim of rape. If the girls fail the test, some families alert the police.
(mh\u003dSSO5Q-AFK8lLKC16)6.jpg "Woman in Balkh")
And law enforcement still imprisons those girls. We talk to Javid, who has worked for Marie Stopes for nearly two decades, about his next steps β and how he plans to change attitudes about the practice of virginity tests. How are you going to get law enforcement to quit bringing girls in for failing the virginity test? We are going to train police and members of the legal and judiciary system, including members of the attorney general's office, judges and members of the court, to stop arresting girls.
