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The UN Security Council on Tuesday rejected a ban on women’s rights in Afghanistan, calling on the country’s Taliban rulers to immediately reverse it.
The Security Council “reaffirms its concern over the suspension of schooling beyond the sixth grade, and calls for the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan,” it said in a media statement.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk pointed out the “dire consequences” of the decision to ban women from working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Last week, Taliban authorities halted university education for women, sparking international outrage and demonstrations in Afghan cities. On Saturday, he announced the exclusion of women from NGO work, a move that has prompted four major international aid agencies to suspend operations in Afghanistan.
“No country can develop – indeed survive – socially and economically with half the population excluded,” Turk said in a statement published in Geneva. “Indefinite restrictions on women and girls will not only increase the suffering of all Afghans, but, I fear, pose risks beyond Afghanistan’s borders.”
“This latest decision by the de facto authorities will have dire consequences for women and all Afghans,” Turk said, adding that banning women from working in NGOs would reduce their incomes and their families and their right to “contribute positively” to the country’s development.
The Taliban-controlled Afghan ministry of higher education said female students would not be allowed access to the country’s universities until further notice. Frozan Rahmani, an Afghan-Canadian journalist, has documented the erosion of women’s rights in the country since the Taliban took control of Kabul in the summer of 2021.
“The ban will undermine, if not destroy, the capacity of these NGOs to deliver essential services that vulnerable Afghans depend on,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter on Tuesday that the ban was an “unjustifiable violation of human rights and must be reversed.” He added: “The act of eliminating and silencing women and girls continues to cause great suffering and a huge setback to the potential of the Afghan people.”
The Taliban announced that they were suspending female students from entering university, denying them the prospect of a better life.
Equal access to all levels of education is a right for every woman and every girl. We condemn this outrageous offense.
Although they initially promised more moderate rules on the rights of women and minorities when they took power last year, the Taliban have adopted a strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
Girls in Afghanistan have been banned from middle and high school since March. Women were restricted from most jobs and told to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms.
“Women and girls cannot be denied the rights they have,” said Turk. “Efforts by the de facto authorities to withdraw them into silence and invisibility will not succeed – they will only harm all Afghans, increase their suffering and hinder the development of the country.
Marwa Dashti fled Afghanistan a year ago as the Taliban retook the country and mourns the loss of her friends’ education there. ‘They don’t see the future,’ he said.
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