UNGA 79 Joint Statement on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan

Thank you Chair. I deliver this statement on behalf of Australia, Chile, Japan, Spain, the UAE, my own country Albania, and 77 member states and observers of the United Nations.

Human rights underpin peace and security and are central to realising the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Yet, the world is witnessing a profound regression on gender equality and unprecedented human rights violations and abuses against women, young women and girls in Afghanistan.

We are gravely concerned by the ongoing institutionalised and systematic discrimination perpetrated against women and girls in Afghanistan.

Women and girls are being denied the ability to exercise and enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms. This includes their right to education, freedom of movement, and their full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in public affairs, and for women, their right to work.

We are also concerned by reports that these drastic restrictions may amount to gender persecution. We urge the Taliban to engage with UN agencies, officials and experts on the critical issue of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Since 2021, the Taliban have issued more than 80 edicts specifically targeting and intensifying their attack against women and girls. The situation of women and girls in Afghanistan cannot become a 'new normal.' These abuses are not acceptable to the international community.

We condemn the recent so-called Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice which bans women's voices and bare faces in public. Afghans are now banned from engaging with non-Muslims, and women are confined to the home, unable to access public spaces and move freely without a mahram. This has severely impacted their mental and physical health.

We are concerned that measures to restrict health services have increased women and girls' vulnerabilities, including increased exposure to trafficking, sexual abuse and exploitation, domestic violence, child, early and forced marriage, and forced labour.

We deplore the ongoing restrictions on women's and girls' employment and education. It deepens entrenched gender inequalities and exacerbates the loss of a generation's potential to contribute to their families, Afghan society and the world.

The Afghan economy is contracting and projecting a loss of USD 9.6 billion if the suspension of women's access to higher education remains. These restrictions also disproportionately impact women and girls from marginalised ethnic and religious groups, those living in poverty, in rural areas and female headed households.

We call on the Taliban to remove humanitarian access constraints, including reported incidents that are gender motivated, which continue to pose challenges to aid delivery, particularly impacting the ability to reach women and children beneficiaries.

We reiterate our call to immediately reverse all edicts and underline the critical importance to the international community of seeing justice and accountability for these human rights abuses, with a trauma-informed, victim and survivor-centered approach.

We call on the Taliban to engage fully in an inclusive and representative political process that will enable all Afghans, including women and girls, to equally and meaningfully participate in Afghanistan's future.

We urge the Taliban to respect and promote the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls, including those enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all to which Afghanistan is a party.

We are and shall remain committed to advocating for the courageous women and girls in Afghanistan.

List of 83 co-sponsors

Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, European Union

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