Will continue to stand by Afghans, says UNAMA
Nov 04, 2021
Kabul [Afghanistan], November 4 : Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Mette Knudsen on Thursday held a meeting with the women activists and applauded their courage and affirmed that the UN will continue to stand by the people of Afghanistan.
Knudsen stressed upon respecting the human rights of all Afghans and added that the girls must be able to return to school and women back to their workplaces.
"In a meeting today with women activists, UNAMA Dep-Head @Metknu applauded their courage stressing that the human rights of all Afghans must be respected. All girls must be able to return to school & all women back to workplaces. UN will continue to stand by the people of Afghanistan," UNAMA official Twitter handle said in a tweet.
Hollie McKay, an author, writer on wars and foreign policy, writing in Deadline, a US-based entertainment daily, said that the state of girls' education is in oblivion. Ministry of Education is filled with the Taliban government's most devout - as evidenced by their long beards and constant twisting of prayer beads, without a single woman inside the bustling halls or walls.
It's a searing reminder of the state of girls' education inside an Afghanistan in limbo, with next to no input from the gender suffering most amid the Taliban takeover, said McKay.
Earlier, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Afghanistan Salam Al-Janabi said that the agency is waiting to see whether the Taliban will allow girls to access education in the country as high schools for girls in most provinces in Afghanistan remain closed.
"When it comes to girls' education, UNICEF is waiting to see if the rhetoric will match the reality on the ground," the UNICEF representative said. "In most provinces, with the exception of five in the northern region, high schools for girls remain closed," Al-Janabi told Sputnik.
UNICEF calls for opening schools, community-based education classes and universities to all girls and young women, he added.
