‘Afghanistan Will Never Take Its Rightful Place on the Global Stage’ without Recognizing Rights of Its Women, Secretary-General Tells High-Level Event
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the High-Level Side Event: Ways to Include Women in the Future of Afghanistan, in New York today:
The women and girls of Afghanistan face a deep crisis of gender-based discrimination and oppression. The new law enacted last month formalized the systematic erasure of women and girls from public life.
Afghan women and girls are largely confined to their homes, with no freedom of movement and almost no access to education or work. They are even banned from singing or raising their voices in public.
The law is the latest in a series of edicts and decrees that strip Afghan women and girls of their rights and freedoms across the board. At the same time, Afghan women suffer high rates of gender-based violence, so-called honour killings, and rising maternal mortality.
They have told the United Nations that they feel unsafe, isolated and powerless as they lose the ability to provide for their families or contribute to their communities. Many Afghan women speak of losing hope and living like shadows, moving around silently in the darkness, and always fearing punishment.
Extreme gender-based discrimination is not only a systematic abuse of women and girls and a violation of human rights conventions and laws. It is self-harm on a national scale. It completely undermines the de facto authorities’ stated objective of economic self-reliance.
Educating girls is one of the fastest ways to kick-start economic development and improve the health, well-being and prosperity of communities and entire societies. Women’s participation and leadership has proven benefits for peace and security, social protection, environmental stability and more.
Afghanistan faces serious challenges in all these areas. Without educated women, without women in employment, including in leadership roles, and without recognizing the rights and freedoms of one half of its population, Afghanistan will never take its rightful place on the global stage.
Countries and organizations around the world, including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, have called strongly for respect for the fundamental rights of Afghan girls and women. I join them in demanding that the de facto authorities remove all discriminatory restrictions against women and girls immediately, and reopen schools and universities to girls beyond grade six.
The United Nations continues to engage with Afghan women and women’s groups, to preserve the space for them to operate, and to serve as a conduit for dialogue with the de facto authorities. Afghan women show remarkable courage in demanding and pursuing their rights, running businesses in difficult conditions, delivering humanitarian aid, and in online campaigns. The international community stands in solidarity with them.
We will continue to amplify the voices of Afghan women and call for them to play a full role in the country’s life, both inside its borders and on the global stage. We will never allow gender-based discrimination to become normalized anywhere in the world.
What is happening in Afghanistan can be compared with some of the most egregious systems of oppression in recent history. I thank the Permanent Missions of Ireland, Qatar, Indonesia and Switzerland and the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan for convening these important discussions on how women and girls can play a full role in Afghanistan’s future. Thank you.