UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that Afghanistan’s new laws "strip Afghan women and girls of their rights and freedoms across the board," and are causing harm to the nation.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Guterres said there was "a deep crisis of gender-based discrimination and oppression" against women in Afghanistan. 

"Afghan women and girls are largely confined to their homes, with no freedom of movement and almost no access to education or work," said the UN chief.

Stating that Afghan women also suffer high rates of violence, honor killings, and rising maternal mortality, he said many feel "unsafe, isolated and powerless."

The UN chief stressed that the oppression of women undermines Afghanistan's development and said: "Extreme gender-based discrimination is not only a systematic abuse of women and girls and a violation of human rights conventions and laws. It is self-harm on a national scale."

He called on Afghan authorities to remove all restrictions against women and girls, reopen schools, and allow women to fully participate in society.

"Without recognizing the rights of one-half of its population, Afghanistan will never take its rightful place on the global stage," Guterres said.

The ruling Islamic Emirate has however repeatedly said that women’s rights are ensured in Afghanistan in accordance with Sharia law.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry has lashed out at the United Nations for not inviting an Islamic Emirate representative to attend the 79th UN General Assembly which gets underway in New York on Tuesday.

Zia Ahmad Takal, Deputy Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the absence of an IEA representative at the summit was a violation of the rights of the people of Afghanistan.

He said given the situation in the country, positive decisions should be made by the international community with regards to the country.

The Islamic Emirate appointed Suhail Shaheen as the permanent representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations, but the UN has not yet handed over the seat to the IEA.

The 79th UN General Assembly, deemed one of the largest global diplomatic events, will get underway on Tuesday in New York.

The General Assembly is held annually at UN headquarters in New York, bringing together the heads of state and government of member states. It is to take place from Sept. 24 to 30.

The 79th session will be opened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and will be chaired by Cameroonian President Philemon Yong.

At least 133 heads of state and government, three vice presidents, 80 deputy prime ministers and 45 ministers are expected to attend.

UN leaders are meeting as numerous crises, conflicts and wars play out around the world.

Many of these, including Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Haiti crises are expected to be on the agenda.

On Gaza, along with emphasizing a cease-fire, member states are expected to highlight Israel’s violations of international law and UN resolutions, as well as the difficulties in delivering humanitarian aid to the region, Anadolu reported.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to speak the morning of Sept. 26, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled for the afternoon.

This year, the main theme of the UN General Assembly discussions is "Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations."

"Today's global order simply does not work for everyone. In fact, I would go further and say: it's not working for anyone," said Guterres.

Therefore, it is expected that leaders will address the reform of the Security Council and the international financial architecture.

Iran’s military has built a wall along more than 10 kilometers of its eastern border with Afghanistan, the main entry point for immigrants, Iranian media reported Monday.

“More than 10 kilometers of walls have been built on the border and another 50 kilometers is ready to be walled off,” ISNA news agency said, citing General Nozar Nemati, deputy commander of army ground forces, AFP reported.

Iran shares a more than 900 km border with Afghanistan, and hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world.

The flow of Afghan immigrants has increased since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan took over in August 2021 after US forces withdrew.

Tehran has not given official figures for the number of Afghan immigrants, but member of parliament Abolfazl Torabi has estimated their number at “between six and seven million”.

The authorities have recently increased pressure on “illegal” refugees, regularly announcing expulsions through the eastern border.

“By blocking the border, we want to control the country’s entries and exits” and “better increase the security of border areas”, Nemati said.

In September, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said Iran would employ other methods including barbed wire and water-filled ditches in addition to the wall to block the border.

On September 13, the spokesman for the parliamentary National Security Committee, Ebrahim Rezaei, said police plan to “expel more than two million illegal citizens in the near future”.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Afghans represent “more than 90 percent of foreign nationals” in Iran, and “most of them enter the country without identity papers”.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his government plans to “repatriate illegal nationals to their country in a respectful manner”.

In the year starting in March 2023 Iran hosted more than 2.7 million documented Afghan refugees, according to the Statistics Centre.

That figure represents 97 per cent of legal migrants in the country.