Sanctions, Travel Bans on Taliban Resulting in Afghanistan Being ‘Ruptured from International Community’, Special Representative Warns Security Council

World Must Not Turn ‘a Blind Eye from Afghan Women, Girls Disappearing from Public Life’, Stresses Minister

The Security Council today examined the impacts of the Taliban’s new morality law on women and girls in Afghanistan, with speakers calling on the de facto authorities to reverse course and strengthen their engagement with the international community.

“While much of the law was already in place in prior decrees or edicts of the de facto authorities, this law introduces a new deterioration where we thought there was nowhere lower to go,” said Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).

The law — made public on 21 August by the de facto Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — requires women and girls to cover their entire bodies and faces everywhere outside their homes, she said, adding that it also forbids their speaking in public, using public transportation alone, or even looking at men to whom they are not related by blood or marriage.

Citing surveys that 64 per cent of women felt completely unsafe leaving their house by themselves, she said that 70 per cent of those attributed their insecurity to harassment by the de facto authorities.  The Afghan economy will lose 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) annually by excluding women from the workforce, and the equivalent of two thirds of today’s GDP by 2066 if the suspension of women’s access to higher education remains in place.

Against this backdrop, Ms. Bahous urged greater long-term, flexible funding to support women-led civil society organizations, and commitment to devote at least 30 per cent of all funding for Afghanistan to initiatives that directly target gender equality and women’s rights.  “No more gender-blind interventions,” she said, adding that the international community must also stop sending all-male delegations to meet with the Taliban.

Ms. Mina, a young Afghan woman, speaking via audio link, shared her experience after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, including her journey to escape Afghanistan — leaving behind her family, friends, home and memories.  “Staying was not an option” because it would mean she could not go to school, she said, recalling that she spent more than two weeks “crying, weeping and mourning” as freedom was taken away from her.  “Why do I have to live then, if I am just like a robot controlled by others?”, she asked.

The “chaos” she escaped continues to impact millions of Afghan girls, whose education is now banned, she said.  “No young person should have to choose between those two fears,” she stressed, citing her “fear of going to school under the constant threat of violence” and her “greater fear of not attending school” and recalling a traumatic attack on her school, where 24 students were killed in front of her eyes.

She further warned that, without action, the next generation of girls “will lack any concept of what it means to go to school, to have rights and to live in freedom”, urging States and the United Nations to help enable girls and women to realize their basic right to education.

Also briefing the Council was Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), who cautioned that the country “is ruptured from the international community”, with many of Taliban de facto ministers under sanctions and travel bans.  Afghanistan’s Central Bank assets are frozen, limiting the development potential of the private sector, and the de facto authorities have no representation in multilateral institutions, she added.

The United Nations invited Taliban representatives to the third meeting in the Doha format in July, she said, noting that it allowed Member States and international organizations to engage directly with the de facto authorities on various concerns, including human rights.

“The delegation from Kabul heard loud and clear the international community’s concerns and were given a chance to respond,” she said.  In many ways, the de facto authorities are correct that their achievements have been underappreciated and that ongoing international restrictions on Afghanistan have made governance more difficult, she added.

However, “unnecessarily harsh policies and allocation of resources that appear heavily skewed towards security concerns rather than the needs of the people undermine these achievements and the well-being of the Afghan people”, she said, pledging to implement UNAMA’s mandate, which includes deepening the international consensus on Afghanistan, establishing agreed-upon working groups, maintaining all channels of engagement, advocating that Kabul fulfils its international obligations, and providing all possible support to the Afghan people.

In the ensuing discussion, many delegates urged the Taliban to abandon its new morality law and other discriminatory practices against women, while others explored the best ways to support the peace process and development efforts in Afghanistan.

“We cannot and will not stay silent in the face of this institutionalized system of gender discrimination, segregation and oppression,” said Tanja Fajon, Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs.  “We don’t expect quick solutions,” she said, adding, however, that “the international community, particularly the Security Council, should not turn a blind eye from Afghan women and girls disappearing from public life”.

Similarly, Ecuador’s delegate said that it was “impossible to talk about national unity and reconciliation when women and girls, half of the Afghan population, are marginalized and rendered invisible”.  The representative of the United Kingdom voiced her unequivocal condemnation of the so-called “vice and virtue” law issued by the Taliban, calling on the de facto authorities to immediately reverse these abhorrent policies and ensure the fundamental freedoms of all Afghans.

However, the Western approach of pinning all responsibility on the Taliban is “a road to nowhere”, warned the Russian Federation’s delegate, noting that, despite unprecedented unilateral sanctions and predictions from Western countries following the Taliban’s rise to power, Afghanistan has managed to avoid a civil war and “has not turned into a black hole”.  Commending the Taliban’s efforts to “focus on strengthening regional cooperation and rebuilding social economic capacity”, he stressed the need for “patient dialogue without any blackmail or pressure”.

On that, China’s diplomat asked the Council to reactivate “the package of exceptions” to the travel ban on the interim Government members and adjust the 1988 sanctions regime.  With 24 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, he urged relevant States “to immediately end illegal unilateral sanctions and respect Afghanistan’s indigenous right to development”.

However, the representative of the United States cautioned that the worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan is “increasingly raising questions about the merits of engaging the Taliban”, adding that “meaningful steps towards normalization” with the Taliban “will be based on their own actions, including respecting the rights of all Afghans” and fulfilling their counter-terrorism commitments.

Yet, the third Doha meeting was “a crucial and potentially transformative first-time opportunity” for the Taliban to engage directly with the international community and key stakeholders, said the representative of Guyana, speaking also for Algeria, Mozambique and Sierra Leone.  She therefore urged the Taliban to build on this momentum.  The speaker for France also joined others in supporting the international efforts to foster stability through the Doha process, stating:  “All dialogue with the Taliban must be rooted in a unified strategy which benefits all of the Afghan population, regardless of gender or ethnicity.”

For its part, Japan will continue its engagement with Afghanistan and its support for the people on the ground.  In July, Tokyo announced new assistance worth $10 million to “build on the significant reduction of poppy production achieved by the Taliban, and hopefully improve the environment for women as an important element of empowering local communities”.

Also participating in today’s debate was a diplomat representing the previous Government in Kabul overthrown by the Taliban.  “Afghanistan was not perfect before the Taliban’s takeover,” he observed, pointing out, however, that now it is “the only country where girls are not allowed to study beyond sixth grade”.

With over 70 decrees aimed at excluding women from public life, “a systematic erasure has led to a gender apartheid regime”, he said.  Further, the crisis has fuelled a migration emergency induced by violence and economic collapse.  The Taliban has “distorted Islamic laws to enforce a harsh ideology, effectively holding the Afghan people hostage”, he said, urging the appointment of a Special Envoy to spearhead efforts towards a genuine national dialogue to establish a legitimate governance system that reflects the people’s will, upholds the rule of law and ensures women’s full and meaningful participation.

Some of Afghanistan’s neighbours, meanwhile, took the floor to detail their engagement with Kabul.  India’s representative said that his country has been committed to rebuilding Afghanistan, having delivered 27 tons of relief material and has granted fresh admission to 2,260 Afghan students — “including 300 girls” since August 2021.  The representative of Turkmenistan underscored that “key solutions should be found by regional players”, stressing that the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects in Afghanistan is necessary for political stabilization and socioeconomic revival — “and its successful engagement in regional and global relations”.

Others, however, detailed the challenges they are facing. Iran’s representative pointed to an influx of illegal migrants that places “a heavy burden on our country, already strained by unlawful unilateral sanctions”.  Over 6 million Afghans currently live in Iran, with an annual cost exceeding $10 billion.  “But, the international community has shown little concern for this pressing issue,” he stressed, urging sustained support to countries, like his own and Pakistan — whose delegate said that there will be no normalization “until the fundamental issues that trouble Afghanistan are addressed — terrorism, human rights, political inclusion, illegal Afghan migration and the problem of Afghan refugees”. Adding that the Taliban has “doubled down on misogyny”, he said:  “Engagement cannot be pursued for its own sake — if we don’t know where we are going, we will never get there.”