Women’s rights will be raised at the UN meeting being attended by Taliban, UN official says
UNITED NATIONS — The UN political head, who will chair the first meeting between Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and envoys from around 25 countries, responded sharp criticism that Afghan women have been excluded, and said Wednesday that women’s rights would be discussed at every session.
Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo told a small group of reporters that the two-day meeting beginning Sunday is an initial engagement aimed at beginning a step-by-step process aimed at seeing the Taliban “live at peace with itself and its neighbors and abide by international law,” the UN Charter and human rights.
This is the third UN meeting with Afghan envoys in Qatar’s capital Doha, but the first the Taliban are present. They were not invited to the first and refused to attend the second.
Other attendees include envoys from the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the United States, Russia, China and several of Afghanistan’s neighbors, DiCarlo said.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as the United States and NATO troops withdrew after two decades of war. No country officially recognizes them as an Afghan government and the UN has said recognition is almost impossible, while ban on women’s education and employment remain in place and women cannot go out without a male guardian.
When DiCarlo met with senior Taliban officials in Kabul in May, she said she made it clear that the international community is concerned about four things: the lack of an inclusive government, the denial of human rights especially for women and girlsand the need to combat terrorism and narcotics trafficking.
“The issue of inclusive governance, women’s rights and human rights broadly will be part of every session,” she said. “This is important and we will hear it again and again, I’m sure from a lot of us.”
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized the United Nations for not bringing Afghan women and civil society representatives to the table with the Taliban.
DiCarlo described the meeting as a process. “This is not an inter-Afghan dialogue,” she emphasized. “I hope we can get there someday, but we’re not there yet.”
The Taliban Foreign Ministry on Tuesday reiterated the concerns they want to raise: restrictions on Afghanistan’s financial and banking systems, private sector development and combating drug trafficking. DiCarlo said they also raised Afghanistan’s vulnerability to climate change.
She said discussions on the first day of the meeting in Doha on Sunday would focus on how the world would work with the Taliban to achieve the goals of peace and compliance with international law and human rights. The assessment requires a step-by-step process, with both parties responding to the other’s actions.
On the second day, participants will discuss private sector issues, including getting more women into the workforce through microfinance projects, as well as anti-narcotics efforts such as alternative livelihoods and support for drug addicts, she said.
“Hopefully there will be some progress, but it will be slow,” DiCarlo said.
She stressed that the meeting is not about the Taliban and does not include any recognition of Afghanistan’s rulers as the country’s official government. “That’s not possible,” she said.
“This is about Afghanistan and its people and their need to feel part of the international community and get the kind of support and services and opportunities that others have — and they are quite blocked right now,” DiCarlo said.