HRW flays IEA policy for girls’ schooling

KABUL (Tolo News): Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a special interview with TOLOnews’ Hamid Bahram said the international community should “never recognize” the current Afghan government as long as it is imposing the “worst discrimination in the world” against women seeking an education.
“In terms of what the international community should do, they should never recognize this government as long as this government is imposing the worst discrimination against girls’ education in the world. You know, you can’t possibly be a legitimate government if you are closing most secondary schools to girls and also pushing most young women out of the university, which is the case now as well,” she said.
However, the Islamic Emirate once again said it is committed to women’s rights based on Islamic values. “The Islamic Emirate has been committed to the rights of all citizens and has been trying to ensure people’s rights,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
Barr also criticized the US for freezing the Afghan assets, saying that the holding of the bank assets affects the whole Afghan nation. “Blocking the financial system in a way that the United States has done doesn’t harm the Taliban, it hurts the Afghan people in general. So that is one part. Then the other part–there are other forms of leverage that are not to do with people’s survival, things like does the Taliban get the UN seat?… Are they recognized by other governments as the legitimate government of Afghanistan,” Barr said.
The HRW in a recent report spotlighted restrictions on women’s right to work and girls’ right to education after the political change. HRW also raised concerns about what it called further restrictions against women. “These included measures severely curtailing access to employment and education and restricting the right to peaceful assembly,” the report reads.