Most UN Security Council members demand Taliban rescind decrees seriously oppressing women and girls

UNITED NATIONS — More than two-thirds of UN Security Council members on Monday demanded that the Taliban withdraw all policies and decrees that oppress and discriminate against women and girls, including the ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and women’s right to work freely and to move.

A statement by eleven of the fifteen council members condemned the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls since they came to power in August 2021, and reiterated their call for their equal participation in public, political, economic, cultural and social life – especially with every decision. creating levels that seek to promote international engagement with Afghanistan’s de facto rulers.

Guyana’s UN Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett read the statement, surrounded by ambassadors from the ten other countries, before a closed council meeting at UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ conference with more than 25 envoys to Afghanistan on February 18-19 in the capital of Qatar. , Doha.

Afghan civil society representatives, including women, participated in the meeting in Doha, which was welcomed by council members. The Taliban declined to attend and the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that their participation would only be “useful” if they were the country’s sole and official representative at the talks.

Although the Taliban did not attend the meetings, U.N. political leader Rosemary DiCarlo met with Taliban officials in Doha, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. DiCarlo also briefed council members during Monday’s closed meeting.

The Taliban are not recognized by any country, and the UN envoy to Afghanistan last year warned de facto rulers that international recognition as the country’s legitimate government will remain “almost impossible” unless they lift restrictions on women.

The eleven council countries supporting the declaration – Ecuador, France, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States – underlined that lasting peace in Afghanistan can only be achieved if: the political process is inclusive and the human rights of all Afghans are respected, including women and girls.

Four Security Council countries have not signed the declaration: Russia, China, Mozambique and Algeria.

Secretary General Guterres told reporters in Doha that there was “total consensus” among participants – which also included representatives of the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization – on the requirements for Afghanistan’s integration into the international community .

To achieve this “end game,” he said, Afghanistan must not be “the hotbed of terrorist activities affecting other countries,” institutions must include diverse groups, including Uzbeks, Tajiks, Pashtuns and Hazaras, and human rights must be respected, especially human rights. of women and girls.

Guterres said that to some extent there is “a kind of chicken-and-egg situation” at the moment.

“On the one hand, Afghanistan continues to have a government that is not internationally recognized and, in many ways, not integrated into global institutions and the global economy,” he said. “And on the other hand, there is a perception in the international community that inclusivity has not improved; that the situation of women and girls and human rights in general has actually deteriorated in recent times.”

The Secretary-General said one of the objectives of the meeting with the envoys was to “break this impasse” and develop a roadmap that “takes into account the concerns of the international community and those of the Taliban at the same time.”

A Security Council resolution asked Guterres to appoint a UN envoy after consultation with all parties, member states, the Taliban and others.

Guterres said the participants decided that he should initiate consultations “to see if there are conditions to create a UN envoy who could not only play a coordinating role with regard to the fighting that is taking place, but who could also effectively work with the UN.” de facto authorities of Afghanistan.”

“I will start those consultations immediately,” the UN chief said.