UN draft urges Afghan rulers to reverse bans on women, girls

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. decision that calls on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to swiftly reverse their more and more harsh restrictions on girls and women and condemns their ban on Afghan girls working for the United Nations is ready to be voted on Thursday by the Safety Council.

The draft decision, obtained late Wednesday by The Related Press, expresses “deep concern on the rising erosion of respect for the human rights and basic freedoms of ladies and women in Afghanistan by the Taliban” and reaffirms their “indispensable position” in Afghan society.

It calls on the Taliban to swiftly restore their entry to schooling, employment, freedom of motion and equal participation in public life.

The decision, drafted by the United Arab Emirates and Japan, is scheduled to be voted on by the 15-member council on Thursday afternoon. Diplomats stated it’s nearly sure to be accepted, although Russia and China would possibly abstain.

The Taliban seized energy in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces had been pulling out of Afghanistan after 20 years of conflict and initially promised a extra average rule than throughout their first stint in energy from 1996 to 2001. However there was rising worldwide consternation as Taliban leaders have steadily re-imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic regulation, or Sharia, on girls and women.

Ladies have been barred from college past the sixth grade and ladies are banned from most jobs, public areas and gymnasiums. In late December, the Taliban banned support teams from using Afghan girls, and on April 4 they prolonged the ban to Afghan girls working for the U.N. — a choice the draft decision calls “unprecedented within the historical past of the United Nations.”

The U.N. has warned that the ban may cripple desperately wanted support deliveries, and result in a U.N. pullout from Afghanistan.

Since April 5, the three,300 Afghans employed by the U.N. — 2,700 males and 600 girls — have stayed dwelling, however U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric has stated they proceed to work and might be paid. The U.N.’s 600-strong worldwide employees, together with 200 girls, isn’t affected by the Taliban ban.

Roza Otunbayeva, a former president and overseas minister of the Kyrgyz Republic who heads the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan often called UNAMA, responded to the Taliban’s ban on Afghan girls working for the 193-nation world physique by ordering an operational assessment of the U.N.’s presence within the nation, which can final till Might 5.

Earlier than the assessment is accomplished, U.N. Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres will host a global assembly on Afghanistan in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Might 1-2. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated final week that the closed assembly might be attended by envoys on Afghanistan from numerous international locations with the intention of looking for a “sturdy manner ahead” for the nation.

His announcement adopted an April 17 speech at Princeton College by Deputy Secretary-Common Amina Mohammed, who led a high-ranking U.N. delegation to conferences with Taliban ministers in January, previewing the Doha assembly.

“Out of that, we hope that we’ll discover these child steps to place us again on the pathway to recognition (of the Taliban), a principled recognition,” Mohammed stated. “Is it potential? I don’t know. (However) that dialogue has to occur. The Taliban clearly need recognition, and that’s the leverage we now have.”

The draft decision being put to a vote would reaffirm the U.N.’s help for “a peaceable, steady, affluent and inclusive Afghanistan” and for an “inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned dedication of the nation’s political future and growth path.”

It might additionally acknowledge the various challenges Afghanistan faces, stress the pressing want to handle “the dire financial and humanitarian state of affairs” within the nation, and reiterate that ladies are important to the supply of humanitarian support.

The draft urges all different U.N. member nations to make use of their affect to advertise “an pressing reversal” of the Taliban’s insurance policies and practices towards girls and women.

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