washington — Afghan women and their international supporters are calling for the inclusion of women in any negotiations on the future of Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s increasing restrictions on women in the country.
In a side event on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly, co-hosted by Ireland, Indonesia, Switzerland and Qatar together with the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan, women’s activists called on the international community to stand with Afghan women in the face of the Taliban’s repressive measures.
Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, who participated in the meeting, said Afghan women have been stripped of their rights under the Taliban.
“A bird may sing in Kabul but a girl may not, and a woman may not in public,” she said. “This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law. This is odd.”
Streep was referring to the Taliban’s newly imposed morality law that prohibits women from speaking aloud in public.
“Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body,” the new law states.
U.N. human rights experts say the Taliban’s law issued last month would further restrict women’s rights.
“It reinforces and expands existing discriminatory policies, such as mandatory dress codes, the requirement for women to have a male guardian [mahram], and the segregation of men and women in public spaces,” the U.N. human rights experts said in an August 30 news release.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed repressive measures on women in Afghanistan, including banning them from getting secondary and university education, and barring them from working with government and nongovernmental organizations.
Under the Taliban, girls and women are not allowed to travel long distances without a male relative and may not go to parks, public baths and gyms.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a side meeting at UNGA that the Taliban’s treatment of women can be compared to “some of the most egregious systems of oppression in recent history.”
“We will continue to amplify the voices of Afghan women and call for them to play a full role in the country’s life, both inside its borders and on the global stage,” he said.
Yousafzai demands end to discrimination
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said at the UNGA that discrimination against women should stop in Afghanistan.
“A threat to girls rights in Afghanistan is a threat to girls everywhere,” Yousafzai said in a Facebook post. “I want us to push our leaders to hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against humanity. Let’s act for our common future.”
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