UNSC members condemn ‘exclusion of women, girls in Afghanistan’

KABUL (TOLOnews): Some members of the UN Security Council condemned the what they called the “flagrant human rights abuses and discrimination against and segregation and exclusion of women and girls in Afghanistan.”

In a statement, the UNSC members said that “when we ensure conditions for women to fully participate in all decision-making processes we help advance international peace and security.”

“We condemn in the strongest terms the flagrant human rights abuses and systemic discrimination against, and segregation and exclusion of women and girls in Afghanistan, which may amount to gender persecution. We recall Afghanistan’s obligation to implement the provisions of instruments to which Afghanistan is a state party and by which it is bound,” the statement reads.

The Security Council signatories of the Statement of Shared Commitments for the principles of Women, Peace and Security, Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in all conflict prevention, resolution and peacebuilding efforts and to ensuring that a gender perspective is consistently applied to country situation and thematic issues – true to the spirit of Resolution 1325.

The Islamic Emirate rejected claims of human rights violations in Afghanistan and said that the rights of all citizens of the country are protected within the framework of Islamic Sharia.

“This misconception that there is discrimination against women; what we see in Afghanistan, is Sharia laws and it is free of discrimination, and we don’t believe in discrimination at all, whatever problems that our women and sisters have, we are trying to find solutions for them,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate Spokesman. “The Islamic Emirate should open universities and schools for our sisters as soon as possible, and facilitate work opportunities for our sisters in the framework of Islam and Sharia,” said Zakiullah Mohammadi, a university lecturer.

Earlier, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, at the UNGA78 session, criticized what he considers to be the deterioration of the human rights situation in Afghanistan. Speaking at the session, Bennett said that in addition to the demands of the world to reopen schools and universities, female students are still deprived of education in Afghanistan.