Spokesman Report
UNITED NATIONS : The United Nations Special Representative in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, has called for a unified response from the Security Council in opposing Taliban policies to erode the fundamental human rights of women and girls in the country.
Addressing a private meeting of the 15-member Council, she reiterated that Taliban decisions including the ban on girls attending high school, preventing women from going to university, and barring them from doing humanitarian work, are all “grave violations of fundamental rights”, according to UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
He told reporters at the noon briefing in New York on Friday that the Taliban had also “contradicted assurances” given, following their nationwide takeover of Afghanistan, about the role women would play in the country under their fundamentalist rule.
The UN Spokesperson said that the Council was also briefed by the Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, “who focused her briefing on the situation of girls and children in Afghanistan.”
Ahead of the meeting, the Security Council members who are signatories and supporters of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, issued a statement “to express grave concern regarding the critical situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.”
The 11 nations urged the Taliban “to immediately reverse all oppressive measures against women and girls”, adhere to commitments made to the Security Council, respect women and girls’ rights, “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.”