Nearly a dozen UN Security Council members on Friday urged the Taliban to end repressive treatment of women in Afghanistan as the hardline Islamists push ahead with tightening restrictions.
The Taliban seized power in August 2021, promising a softer version of their brutal rule from 1996 to 2001, which became infamous for human rights abuses.
Since returning to power, they have shut women out of almost all areas of public life, recently banning them from secondary and higher education, public sector work, and from visiting parks and baths.
Photo: AP
“We urge the Taliban to immediately reverse all oppressive measures against women and girls,” Japanese Ambassador to the UN Ishikane Kimihiro said, speaking on behalf of 11 member countries of the Security Council.
These were Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US.
The nations in a statement called on the Taliban to “respect the rights of women and girls, and their full, equal and meaningful participation and inclusion across all aspects of society in Afghanistan, from political and economic, to education and public space.”
The statement made explicit mention of Afghan women’s exclusion from secondary schools and universities, and a ban on non-governmental organizations employing Afghan women.
Several international aid groups have suspended their work in Afghanistan because of the ban, which was announced by the Taliban government on Dec. 24.
However, the UN said its agencies would keep working in Afghanistan.
“The situation of women and girls in Afghanistan must remain high on the agenda of the Security Council,” Friday’s statement said.
“We aim to stop the slide into humanitarian catastrophe,” British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward wrote on Twitter before a meeting to discuss the issue.
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