At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva meeting, representatives of several countries expressed concerns over the existing restrictions on Afghan women and girls, Afghanistan-based TOLO News reported on Wednesday.
President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, Hala Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri, at the UN Human Rights Council, said Saudi Arabia calls on Kabul to rescind its decisions so women can “fully enjoy their rights without discrimination”.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Germany will make sure to continue to help all Afghans who “need water, who need food, who need medicine”.
“We know that our efforts will not change the brutal violation of Afghan women’s rights … But it matters. It matters to every single woman who is not allowed to go outside. It matters to every single child who wants to go to school,” she said, TOLO News reported.
The UN special rapporteur for Afghan human rights, Richard Bennett, in a report expressed concerns over the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Bennett said that the recent decrees of the Taliban have affected the country’s economy and humanitarian delivery. He said that the economy experienced a further dramatic decline of around 30-35 per cent in 2021-2022.
The deputy foreign minister of Turkey, Mehmet Kemal Bozay, said that the international community must not allow the situation in Afghanistan to deteriorate “even further”, according to TOLO News.
“We remind the interim government that recent limitations on women such as those on the right to education are not human,” he said.
Recently, ten women foreign ministers, who attended the 59th Munich Security Conference, in a statement condemned the restrictions imposed on women and girls in Afghanistan, Tolo News reported.
According to Tolo News, the statement was issued by the foreign ministers of Slovenia, Germany, Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Andorra, Albania, Mongolia and Libya.
“We strongly condemn the Taliban’s push to exclude women from all public life: women are kept from strolling in parks, are not seen on TV screens anymore, are deprived of their right to attend schools and universities, and are now also kept from working in humanitarian assistance,” the statement read.
However, according to Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, Afghan women have all the rights within an Islamic framework.
“The rights of women have not been violated in the Islamic community. Their rights have been addressed. The life of women is secured and protected. Their problems are solved by the court. Regarding their activities, there is a need for an environment within Sharia laws and work on it is underway,” Tolo News quoted Mujahid as saying.
The statement added that the restrictions on women will “restore the basis to deliver the help that the women, children and men of Afghanistan so urgently need.”