By Nizamuddin Rezahi in The Khaama Press Online, June 18, 2023
Heather Barr, the associate director of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch described the ‘Doha Agreement between the US and Taliban’ as less transparent and incomprehensive, adding the deal excluded Afghan women from political engagement to a great extent.
Heather Barr on Saturday in a tweet accused Zalmy Khalilzad, the former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation of undermining women’s rights in the Doha Agreement.
Considering women’s dire situation in Afghanistan, Heather Barr has said that sidling women from key discussions about Afghanistan was contrary to the principles of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
Barr considered the 2020 Doha Agreement as an example of ignoring women’s rights for a political settlement.
She further added that Doha Agreement paved the way for the Islamic Emirates’ return to Afghanistan, which eventually caused the systematic violation of women’s rights after 2021.
This comes as human rights organizations had previously criticized the violation of basic rights of women, including accessing education, work, political and social engagements by the Taliban regime.
Meanwhile, the European Union Special Representative for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson recently in a meeting with a number of Afghan women’s rights activists stressed that national dialogue is of paramount importance for providing space, participation and protecting women’s rights.
https://www.khaama.com/doha-agreement-excluded-afghan-women-from-political-engagement-hrw/
