KABUL, Afghanistan – The determination to ban Afghan girls from working for the United Nations was an “internal social matter”, the nation’s Taliban authorities stated Friday, a day after the UN Security Council demanded they overturn the ruling.
The Security Council decision handed unanimously by all 15 Council members on Thursday stated a ban on girls working for the world physique and NGOs in Afghanistan “undermines human rights and humanitarian principles”.
It urged “all States and organizations to use their influence” to “promote an urgent reversal of these policies and practices”.
On Friday, nonetheless, the Afghan Foreign Ministry issued an announcement saying the decision did not respect the nation’s “sovereign choices”.
“We remain committed to ensuring all rights of Afghan women while emphasizing that diversity must be respected and not politicized,” it stated.
“This is an internal social matter of Afghanistan that does not impact outside states.”
Since ousting the foreign-backed authorities and returning to energy in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed an austere model of sharia that the United Nations has labelled “gender-based apartheid”.
Women have been barred from most secondary training and universities, prevented from working in most authorities jobs in addition to NGOs and blocked from public areas akin to gyms and parks.
Earlier Friday, a senior Taliban chief warned the UN Security Council to surrender its “failed policy of pressure”.
“Any position adopted, that is not based upon a deep understanding won’t give the desired results and will always be ineffective,” stated Anas Haqqani, a senior chief within the Taliban motion however with no official authorities function.
‘Collective punishment’
The international ministry assertion stated the federal government welcomed elements of the decision — together with “the principle of Afghan-led and Afghan-owned right to self-determination”.
But it insisted that the humanitarian disaster was man-made and pushed by financial restrictions.
“The reality is that this ongoing crisis can only be resolved by the removal of restrictions on the country,” the assertion stated.
At the UN on Thursday, Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzia criticised the textual content of the decision regardless of signing it.
“We seriously regret and are disappointed that steps and a more ambitious approach and texts were blocked by Western colleagues,” he stated.
“If you’re so sincere, why not return the assets you’ve stolen from the country and without any preconditions,” he stated, referring to the $7 billion in Afghan central financial institution property frozen by the United States after the Taliban authorities seized energy.
The United States introduced in September the creation of a fund primarily based in Switzerland to handle half the cash.
Amnesty International welcomed the Security Council decision however stated on Friday it “fell short of setting out concrete steps” that member states ought to take to assist restore the rights of ladies and ladies — and to carry Afghanistan’s rulers accountable.
The United Nations introduced on April 4 that the Taliban authorities had banned Afghan girls from working in its places of work countrywide, a number of months after an edict was issued in opposition to Afghan girls working for NGOs.
The transfer sparked extensive opprobrium in addition to a UN evaluation of its Afghanistan operations, which is to final till May 5.
The world physique has careworn “the dire economic and humanitarian situation” in Afghanistan, in addition to the “critical importance of a continued presence” of the UN mission in Afghanistan and different UN companies.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has organized a gathering in Doha subsequent week with envoys from numerous international locations to “reinvigorate the international engagement around the common objectives for a durable way forward on the situation in Afghanistan”. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
