Afghan envoy to UN emphasises importance of women's education, work, participation in society
Dec 13, 2023
Kabul [Afghanistan], December 13 : Afghanistan's permanent representative to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Nasir Ahmad Andisha emphasised the importance of women's education, work and participation in the society, on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), TOLO News reported.
TOLO News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul.
In the statement of the UDHR conference, the international community was asked to take necessary measures in the area of human rights violations, especially women's rights in Afghanistan.
The statement said: "The Taliban must reverse their oppressive policies, allowing women in Afghanistan to study, work and engage in society. Their draconian rules, which include denying girls' education beyond the primary level and restricting women's freedom and employment, have led to a surge in suicides and suicide attempts among women since the Taliban takeover. The gender apartheid is erasing women from society, undermining Afghanistan's prospects for a peaceful and prosperous future," as per TOLO News.
The Taliban, however, emphasised the provision of human rights in the country and said that the presence of a representative from Afghanistan at such conferences is a necessity.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said: "In the case of Afghanistan, if a meeting is held, Afghanistan's presence there is necessary so that Afghanistan's position can be interpreted more accurately."
But some women activists do not consider such meetings to be fruitful.
"If the meetings were in Afghanistan or outside of Afghanistan, especially with the world and the United Nations, they were only limited to slogans and speeches and were based on a single text; They never wanted to act; they never wanted to be with the people of Afghanistan, especially women. We hope that the world will still hear the voices of the Afghan people, especially the women, and that the Taliban will also pay attention," said a women rights activist Tafsir Syahposh.
Earlier, on World Human Rights Day, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan asked the current officials in Afghanistan to accept and support human rights obligations as the cornerstone of a stable, peaceful and prosperous future for Afghanistan.
