Taliban must ‘swiftly reverse’ crackdown on women’s rights: UN

Safety Council votes unanimously to sentence a ban on Afghan ladies working for the UN, the newest transfer to limit the lives of girls and women.

The UN Safety Council (UNSC) has unanimously condemned a ban by the Taliban on Afghan ladies working for the United Nations in Afghanistan, calling on Taliban leaders to “swiftly reverse” a crackdown on the rights of girls and women.

The decision – drafted by the United Arab Emirates and Japan – describes the ban as “unprecedented within the historical past of the United Nations” and says it “undermines human rights and humanitarian ideas”. The decision additionally asserts “the indispensable function of girls in Afghan society”.

UAE’s ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, stated greater than 90 international locations co-sponsored the decision – “from Afghanistan’s fast neighbourhood, from the Muslim world and from all corners of the earth”.

“This … assist makes our basic message at the moment much more important – the world won’t sit by silently as ladies in Afghanistan are erased from society,” she informed the UNSC.

The UNSC vote got here days earlier than a deliberate worldwide assembly, concerning Afghanistan, in Doha on Might 1-2. UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres will convene behind closed doorways particular envoys on Afghanistan from numerous international locations to work on a unified strategy to coping with the Taliban.

“We won’t stand for the Taliban’s repression of girls and women,” America deputy ambassador to the UN, Robert Wooden, informed the UNSC. “These choices are indefensible. They don’t seem to be seen wherever else on the earth.”

“The Taliban edicts are inflicting irreparable harm to Afghanistan.”

Earlier this month, the Taliban started implementing the ban on Afghan ladies working for the UN after stopping most girls working for humanitarian help teams in December. Since toppling the Western-backed authorities in 2021, the group has additionally tightened controls on ladies’s entry to public life, together with barring ladies from college and shutting women’ excessive faculties.

The Taliban says it respects ladies’s rights in accordance with its strict interpretation of Islamic legislation and that choices on feminine help employees had been an “inside difficulty.”

The Safety Council decision additionally recognises the necessity to handle substantial challenges dealing with Afghanistan’s financial system, together with by utilizing belongings belonging to Afghanistan’s Central Financial institution for the advantage of the Afghan individuals.

Washington froze billions of the financial institution’s reserves held within the US and later transferred half of the cash to a belief fund in Switzerland overseen by US, Swiss and Afghan trustees.

“As of at the moment, what we now have seen is simply that belongings have been transferred from one account to a different, however not a single penny returned to the Afghan individuals,” China’s deputy UN ambassador, Geng Shuang, informed the UNSC.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, additionally referred to as for the return of the Afghan Central Financial institution belongings.