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Foreign ministers of 12 countries call for lifting restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan
Foreign ministers of 12 countries in a meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York called for lifting restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan.
The meeting titled “Addressing systematic gender-based discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan” was co-hosted by Albania, Belgium, Cabo Verde, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Guatemala, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta and Spain.
In a joint declaration, the ministers said that the ban on Afghan women working for UN and NGOs “severely impacts the effective delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and basic services, putting at risk the lives of millions of Afghans, especially women-led households.”
“The Taliban’s (IEA) measures to exclude women from the Afghan society are unparalleled worldwide and may amount to gender persecution and a crime against humanity. We therefore urge the Taliban (IEA) to lift these restrictions immediately and to safeguard humanitarian principles,” the statement said.
“We urge the Taliban (IEA) to safeguard the rights of all Afghans, to allow women and girls free and equal access to public life and fundamental rights and freedoms, including education and work, and restore civic space, allowing NGOs, civil society organisations, human rights defenders, journalists, and media workers to operate freely,” the statement said.
The ministers also called for an “inclusive and representative political process with the full participation of all Afghans, including women and girls, and persons belonging to ethnic and religious groups and minorities, is required to ensure sustainable peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.”
This comes as the Islamic Emirate has said it is committed to ensuring women and girls’ rights to education and work according to the Sharia law.
Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq announced Friday that his country will provide 4,500 scholarships to Afghans.
These fully funded scholarships are in the fields of medical, engineering, agriculture, and others for graduation, post-graduation, and PhD studies, Sadiq said on X.
This month, over 22,000 applicants will take an online test, followed by interviews for final selection. The entire process will conclude within 45 days.
The envoy said that 33 percent of the scholarship seats are reserved for female students.
The White House has responded to US President-elect Donald Trump's claim that billions of dollars have been sent to the Islamic Emirate-controlled Afghanistan, saying that aid is being sent to the people of the country, not the Islamic Emirate.
“It’s not even believable. Billions of dollars, not millions—billions,” Trump said earlier this week, adding, “We pay billions of dollars to essentially the Taliban in Afghanistan. And that’s given by Biden.”
But White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the Voice of America that the humanitarian aid sent to Afghanistan is going to the Afghan people, not the IEA.
Earlier, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) strongly rejected claims by Donald Trump that the ruling government is receiving “billions of dollars” from the United States.
Hamdullah Fitrat, the IEA’s deputy spokesman said: “The claims of billions and millions of dollars of aid to the Islamic Emirate from the US side are completely false and we strongly reject them.”
Pakistan's Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Thursday said a formal invitation had already been sent to Afghanistan to participate in a conference on girls' education.
The international conference on girls' education in Muslim countries would be held from January 11 to 12 in Islamabad with aims to address challenges and opportunities of women.
Siddiqui expressed the hope that representative from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) would attend the conference.
Addressing a news conference, the minister said that the conference, jointly organised by the MoFEPT and the Muslim World League (MWL), will be presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He said the ministry had already sent invitations to 57 counties which was confirmed by 48 countries and added the conference would be attended by leaders, policy makers, diplomats, religious scholars, educationists, and experts from Muslim countries.
The conference's keynote address would be delivered by Nobel Laureate and globally-acclaimed advocate for girls' education Malala Yousafzai, he added.
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