By Fatema Adeeb in ToloNews, May 25, 2023 at 7:33 PM
Following the reactions to the restrictions imposed on women in the country, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that “repressive policies against women and girls’ should immediately be overturned” in Afghanistan.
Speaking in a press conference at the UN in Geneva Türk said that that restrictions on women are leading Afghanistan to poverty and despair.
“I will never understand how anyone can trample so cruelly upon the spirit of girls and women, chipping away at their potential and driving one’s country deeper and deeper into abject poverty and despair. It is crucial – for the sake of the people of Afghanistan, the future of the country and the wider region – that repressive policies against women and girls are immediately overturned,” Türk noted.
“Women have not been welcomed and have faced many problems in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over,” said Sorya Paikan, a women’s rights activist.
However, the Islamic Emirate considers restrictions on women an internal issue of the country.
“Efforts are being made to give women in Afghanistan the freedoms that are required by Sharia law, and the government of the Islamic Emirate allows women to work,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate.
Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, mentioned the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
“In Afghanistan, in the wake of the Taliban takeover, sanctions contributed to bring humanitarian operations almost to a standstill in the midst of rapidly unfolding crisis on the ground,” he said.
Previously, the US State Department said that if the current Afghan government wants to be recognized by the world, it should remove restrictions on women.
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-183512
