• Terms of Use
  • Article Submission
  • Premium Content
  • Editorial Board
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
Cart / ₹0

No products in the cart.

Subscribe
Mahabahu.com
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
  • Literature
  • Mahabahu Magazine
    • December 2023 – Vol-I
    • December 2023 – Vol-II
    • November 2023 – Vol-I
    • November 2023 – Vol-II
    • October 2023 – Vol-I
    • October 2023 – Vol-II
    • September 2023 – Vol-I
    • September 2023 – Vol-II
  • Lifestyle
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
  • Literature
  • Mahabahu Magazine
    • December 2023 – Vol-I
    • December 2023 – Vol-II
    • November 2023 – Vol-I
    • November 2023 – Vol-II
    • October 2023 – Vol-I
    • October 2023 – Vol-II
    • September 2023 – Vol-I
    • September 2023 – Vol-II
  • Lifestyle
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store
No Result
View All Result
Mahabahu.com
Home Afghanistan

AFGHAN WOMEN: Engagement key to reform of Taliban decrees restricting women’s rights

AFGHAN WOMEN

by Anjan Sarma
September 28, 2023
in Afghanistan, Women
Reading Time: 6 mins read
0
afghan 1
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

AFGHAN WOMEN: Engagement key to reform of Taliban decrees restricting women’s rights

UN

united nations

The international community must continue to engage with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan despite deep disagreement with their approach to women’s rights and inclusive governance, the UN Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Tuesday, 26-09-2023. 

Roza Otunbayeva, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), called for a “reframed engagement strategy”, expressing concern over the “lack of positive direction” in current efforts.

“The lack of trust on all sides is a serious impediment to building confidence but the doors to dialogue are still open,” she said.

“This moment, despite its problems, is an opportunity. We must ensure that the doors to dialogue are not shut.”

RelatedPosts

My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal

My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal

May 19, 2025
Afghan Women’s Silent Suffering!

Afghanistan: The Living Hell Where Girls Are Erased and Women Left to Die

May 18, 2025
Blue Origin’s All-Female Spaceflight: A Historic Win for Women or a Luxury Trip for the Rich?

Blue Origin’s All-Female Spaceflight: A Historic Win for Women or a Luxury Trip for the Rich?

April 28, 2025

Taliban policies ‘unacceptable’

Ms. Otunbayeva said engagement has been significantly undermined by the more than 50 Taliban decrees aimed at eliminating women from public life and education.  

“The policies that drive the exclusion of women are unacceptable to the international community,” she said.

She also cited a new UN report based on more than 500 interviews with Afghan women, 46 per cent of whom said the Taliban should not be recognized under any circumstances.

“The question, however, is whether to continue engaging with the de facto authorities despite these policies, or to cease engaging because of them,” she said.  

“UNAMA’s view is that we must continue to engage and to maintain a dialogue.  

“Dialogue is not recognition. Engagement is not acceptance of these policies. On the contrary: dialogue and engagement are how we are attempting to change these policies.”

Reframed strategy

Ms. Otunbayeza told the Council that this engagement could be more structured and purposeful while remaining principled.

“A reframed engagement strategy must first acknowledge that the de facto authority bears responsibility for the well-being of the Afghan people, in all dimensions but especially concerning women,” she stressed.

Other components would include mechanisms to address the de facto authorities’ long-term concerns, as well as “a sincere intra-Afghan dialogue of the sort that was interrupted when the Taliban took power in August 2021.”  

Additionally, “a more coherent position of the international community” would also be required.

AFGHAN WOMEN: Engagement key to reform of Taliban decrees restricting women’s rights
© UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani Women wait at a maternal health hospital, the only one of its type in Afghanistan.

The cost of discrimination

Sima Bahous, head of the UN’s gender equality agency, UN Women, also briefed the Council. She told ambassadors that Taliban decrees are costing Afghanistan roughly one billion dollars a year, which will only increase.

The edicts are also exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in a country where more than two-thirds of the population depend on assistance to survive and some 20 million, mainly women and girls, are facing acute hunger.  

She insisted that the way forward must be guided by women’s voices and the principles of the UN Charter.

“The past is full of examples of neglecting or ignoring women; the present is filled with the consequences. So, the future must be focused on listening to, investing in, and supporting women, as well as including them,” she said.

AFGHAN WOMEN: Engagement key to reform of Taliban decrees restricting women’s rights

Call for action

Ms. Bahous recommended that the Security Council Committee that oversees sanctions against Afghanistan convene a session to examine the role it can play in responding to violations of women’s rights in the country.

“We must consider the messages we send when we frame the situation in Afghanistan purely or exclusively as a humanitarian crisis,” she further advised.

“It is an economic crisis, a mental health crisis, a development crisis, and more. And the thread that connects these different facets is the underlying women’s rights crisis. This must be the primary lens through which we understand what is going on and what we must do.”

Against ‘gender apartheid’

She also urged ambassadors to fully support efforts to explicitly codify “gender apartheid” in international law.

“This systematic and planned assault on women’s rights is foundational to the Taliban’s vision of state and society and it must be named, defined and proscribed in our global norms so that we can respond appropriately,” she said.

AFGHAN WOMEN: Engagement key to reform of Taliban decrees restricting women’s rights
The Special Representative later took questions from correspondents outside the Security Council chamber.

Legal expert Karima Bennoune, who also briefed ambassadors, recalled that some Afghan women activists recently went on a hunger strike to demand that the international community recognize that gender apartheid is being practiced in their country.

“This Council has repeatedly called on the Taliban to end its grave abuses, but there is more you must do to hold them accountable for their decimation of women’s rights. I am here today to ask the Council to make clear through action that the international community will not tolerate the system of gender apartheid the Taliban have imposed,” she said.

The Special Representative later took questions from correspondents outside the Security Council chamber.

27-09-2023

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking.  You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com (For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary)

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Anjan Sarma

Anjan Sarma

Related Posts

My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal
Afghanistan

My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal

by Rukhsar Balkhi
May 19, 2025
0

My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal RUKHSAR BALKHI RUKHSAR BALKHI As one...

Read moreDetails
Afghan Women’s Silent Suffering!

Afghanistan: The Living Hell Where Girls Are Erased and Women Left to Die

May 18, 2025
Blue Origin’s All-Female Spaceflight: A Historic Win for Women or a Luxury Trip for the Rich?

Blue Origin’s All-Female Spaceflight: A Historic Win for Women or a Luxury Trip for the Rich?

April 28, 2025
The world is entering a new phase!

Ruba Ayyash: A Palestinian Journalist Reclaiming the Narrative

April 28, 2025
ঋতুস্ৰাৱ আৰু এগৰাকী মহিলাৰ জীৱন

ঋতুস্ৰাৱ আৰু এগৰাকী মহিলাৰ জীৱন

April 24, 2025
চুতীয়া ৰাজ্য আৰু সেনানায়ক মানিকচন্দ বৰুৱা

অসম বুৰঞ্জীৰ বীৰাংগনা সতী সাধনী 

April 21, 2025
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
জ্যোতি সঙ্গীত – প্ৰথম খণ্ড

জ্যোতি প্ৰসাদ আগৰৱালাৰ কবিতা

August 7, 2021
অসমীয়া জনজাতীয় সংস্কৃতিঃ সমন্বয় আৰু সমাহৰণ

অসমীয়া জনজাতীয় সংস্কৃতিঃ সমন্বয় আৰু সমাহৰণ

November 19, 2024
আলাবৈ ৰণ: শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধৰ পটভূমিত

 লাচিত : শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধ আৰু ইয়াৰ ঐতিহাসিক তাৎপৰ্য

November 24, 2024
FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF ASSAM

FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF ASSAM

August 15, 2024
man in black shirt standing on top of mountain drinking coffee

মোৰ হিমালয় ভ্ৰমণৰ অভিজ্ঞতা

0
crop businessman giving contract to woman to sign

Loan Waivers : LOOKING BACK@ 2015

0
What is the Burqa and is it mandatory for all Muslim women to wear it?

What is the Burqa and is it mandatory for all Muslim women to wear it?

0
open book pages on surface

অসমীয়া দেখো এজনো নাই

0
My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal

My Enemy’s Enemy: India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal

May 19, 2025
Empowering India: Unleashing the Potential of Multilingual Voice AI in Digital Transformation

Empowering India: Unleashing the Potential of Multilingual Voice AI in Digital Transformation

May 19, 2025
close up photo of a person holding a sphygmomanometer gauge

উচ্চ ৰক্তচাপ : এক নীৰৱ ঘাতক

May 19, 2025
Bhavartha Swarup Memorial Symposium : Book Release, Awards Announcement, Talks on Climate Action

Bhavartha Swarup Memorial Symposium : Book Release, Awards Announcement, Talks on Climate Action

May 19, 2025

Popular Stories

  • জ্যোতি সঙ্গীত – প্ৰথম খণ্ড

    জ্যোতি প্ৰসাদ আগৰৱালাৰ কবিতা

    11265 shares
    Share 4506 Tweet 2816
  • দঁতাল হাতীৰ উঁয়ে খোৱা হাওদা

    718 shares
    Share 287 Tweet 180
  • অসমীয়া জনজাতীয় সংস্কৃতিঃ সমন্বয় আৰু সমাহৰণ

    6978 shares
    Share 2791 Tweet 1745
  • শ্ৰীমন্ত শংকৰদেৱৰ সাহিত্যৰাজি

    963 shares
    Share 385 Tweet 241
  •  লাচিত : শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধ আৰু ইয়াৰ ঐতিহাসিক তাৎপৰ্য

    5324 shares
    Share 2130 Tweet 1331
  • মিচিং সমাজ আৰু সংস্কৃতি

    2830 shares
    Share 1132 Tweet 708
  • চাহ জনগোষ্ঠীয় গীত মাত, উৎসৱ-পাৰ্ৱণ, এটি পৰ্যালোচনা

    2146 shares
    Share 858 Tweet 537
  • বিহুৰ ক্ৰমবিকাশ: জাতিগঠনৰ পৰা জাতীয় উৎসৱলৈ 

    347 shares
    Share 139 Tweet 87
  • আঞ্চলিকতাবাদ- কি, কিয় আৰু কেনেকৈ?

    3019 shares
    Share 1208 Tweet 755
  • তাই আহোম সমাজত  বিহুৰ আৰম্ভনিৰ কিছু আভাস

    455 shares
    Share 182 Tweet 114
Mahabahu.com

Mahabahu: An International Journal Showcasing Premium Articles and Thought-Provoking Opinions on Global Challenges—From Climate Change and Gender Equality to Economic Upliftment.

Category

Site Links

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact

We are Social

Instagram Facebook
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact

© 2021 Mahabhahu.com - All Rights Reserved. Published by Powershift | Maintained by Webx

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Oops!! The Content is Copy Protected.

Please ask permission from the Author.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
    • Politics
    • World
    • Business
    • National
    • Science
    • Tech
  • Mahabahu Magazine
    • December 2023 – Vol-I
    • December 2023 – Vol-II
    • November 2023 – Vol-I
    • November 2023 – Vol-II
    • October 2023 – Vol-I
    • October 2023 – Vol-II
    • September 2023 – Vol-I
    • September 2023 – Vol-II
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Food
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store
  • About Us

© 2021 Mahabhahu.com - All Rights Reserved. Published by Powershift | Maintained by Webx

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
%d