The U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to swiftly reverse their increasingly harsh bans on women and girls, which range from very severely restricting education to banning women from most jobs, public spaces and gyms.
The council condemned the Taliban’s ban on women working for the U.N., a decision the resolution calls “unprecedented in the history of the United Nations.”
Under Taliban rule, girls have been barred from school beyond the sixth grade and women are now virtually confined to their homes, unable to go out and travel without a male guardian.
In late December, the Taliban banned national and international aid groups from employing Afghan women and on April 4 they extended that ban to Afghan women working for the United Nations.
When the Taliban seized power in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan after two decades of war, they initially promised a more moderate rule than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
However, there has been a growing international outcry as Taliban leaders have gradually re-imposed their severe interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, on women and girls.
The unanimous 15-0 vote, with the United States, Russia and China all in favor, was a sign of the widespread global concerns over the Taliban’s actions.
It was a rare moment of unity on a high-profile issue at a time of steep international divisions over the Ukraine war, although both Russia and China criticized the United States after the vote for its past role in Afghanistan and for refusing to return all $7 billion in frozen Afghan government funds.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador, Robert Wood told the council after the vote, “Today, the Security Council has sent a clear unanimous message to the Taliban and to the world: We will not stand for the Taliban’s repression of women and girls.”
The resolution, co-sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and Japan, expresses “deep concern at the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban” and reaffirms their “indispensable role” in Afghan society.
It calls on the Taliban to swiftly restore their access to education, employment, freedom of movement and equal participation in public life. It also urges all other U.N. member nations to use their influence to promote “an urgent reversal” of the Taliban’s policies and practices toward women and girls.
UAE Ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh divulged that over 90 countries from around the world co-sponsored the resolution including many Muslim nations and some from Afghanistan’s neighborhood “which makes our fundamental message today even more significant: the world will not sit by silently as women in Afghanistan are erased from society.”
UN Secretary-General To Host International Meeting On Afghanistan
Roza Otunbayeva, a former President and Foreign Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic who heads the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan known as UNAMA, responded to the Taliban’s ban on Afghan women working for the UN by ordering an operational review of the international body’s presence in the country, which will last until May 5, 2023.
Before the review is completed, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host an international meeting on Afghanistan in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on May 1-2, 2023. U.N. Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric disclosed last week that the closed meeting will be attended by envoys on Afghanistan from various countries with the aim of seeking a “durable way forward” for the country.
The UAE’s Nusseibeh said the resolution sends a clear signal to the Doha meeting from the international community and the Security Council: Women and girls play an essential role in every society, including Afghanistan, humanitarian access must not be gender-based, and political engagement and dialogue are the only way forward.
The Taliban have ignored numerous appeals from the U.N. and many countries, including the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to restore the rights of girls and women. However, Japan’s U.N. Ambassador Kimihiro Ishikane said, “we need to keep reaching out to them” so the message can start resonating.
