Edit in The Nation, Jan 23, 2023
A high-level UN delegation visited Afghanistan last week and sent a clear message to the Afghan government that isolating women will also isolate Afghanistan and as the country faces a terrible humanitarian crisis, it cannot afford to do so. While these statements have been issued in the past as well, the tone implies that the international community is losing its patience with the de-facto Afghan leadership.
The UN delegation has described the collapse of the rule of law and judicial independence in Afghanistan as a human rights catastrophe and emphasised that it is gravely concerned by the extreme exclusion of women from the legal system. The discrimination against women has extended to all spheres as the Taliban have attempted to effectively ban all women from participating in the legal system. Over 250 women judges, and hundreds of female lawyers and prosecutors, have already been removed, while many women judges have fled the country or gone into hiding. This follows the ban on women’s education—which has been a core concern for residents and the international community—and restrictions on their mobility, making the environment extremely suffocating for women in the country.
Preempting the Taliban’s routine obfuscations and objections, the UN delegation’s composition sought to convey a message to the de-facto rulers as it included two of the senior most Muslim women in the UN system. One of them, Amina Mohammed, is also the senior most UN official after the secretary general. The third member, Mr Khiari, is also a Muslim. This will make it more difficult for the Taliban to portray the recommendations of an all-Muslim delegation as “anti-Muslim propaganda”, as they often do.
Observers suggest that the findings of the delegation may influence global policies towards Afghanistan. The delegation has made it very clear that what is happening in Afghanistan is a grave women’s rights crisis and a wakeup call for the international community. The Taliban government has been afforded a lot of time to sort its governance issues and fulfill the promises it had made to guarantee human rights to all citizens, and it appears that there is no more room for stalling and diversion tactics. All the Kabul government is doing is isolating itself in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis at the expense of the Afghan people and their future.
https://www.nation.com.pk/23-Jan-2023/afghanistan-un-delegation
