UN’s concerns over women’s rights unfounded: IEA

KABUL (Tolo News): Replying to the UN Security Council declaration on women’s situation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said Friday that the Islamic Emirate is committed to ensuring the rights of women and minorities within an accepted religious and cultural framework.
In a statement, the ministry pointed to the Hijab decree, saying nothing has been imposed on the Afghan people that runs against the cultural and religious beliefs of the Islamic society. “The Islamic Emirate expects world countries to discern objective realities of Afghan society, show respect towards the religious and cultural values of Afghans and not pass verdicts based on malicious and antagonist reporting of some media outlets, or propaganda by the opposition of the Islamic Emirate,” the statement reads.
The statement welcomed the decision by the UNSC to revive Afghanistan’s banking and financial system, and it again called for frozen Afghan assets to be released and for sanctions to be lifted. The United Nations Security Council in a statement called on the Islamic Emirate to “swiftly reverse” policies and practices that are “restricting the human rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan.”
The members of UNSC expressed “deep concern regarding the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban.” Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said that Afghanistan is facing a “plethora of critical human rights challenges that are having a severe impact on the population.”
Bennett spoke at a press conference in Kabul, where he shared the findings of his 11-day visit in the country. Bennett called on the current Afghan officials to acknowledge the “human rights challenges” and to close the gap “between their words and their deeds.”