Senior UN officials in Kabul on women’s rights

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The visit comes as a former Afghan parliamentarian was murdered in her home in Kabul a few days ago.

Senior UN officials arrived in Kabul today for “high-level talks”, as the head of the international body recently denounced the Taliban’s creation of “gender apartheid”, a UN spokesman said.

The delegation consists of UN Under-Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, UN Women Executive Secretary Seema Bachus, as well as a senior official of the Department of Political Affairs, Khaled Hiari, explained the Deputy Representative of the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq. refusing to give details of their program, mainly for “security reasons”.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced before the Security Council the “unprecedented systemic attacks against (Afghan) women and girls” that create a “gender apartheid”.

Before arriving in Afghanistan, the UN delegation held a series of “high-level consultations” in countries in the region, the Gulf, Asia and Europe to discuss “the protection of the rights of women and girls, peaceful coexistence and sustainable development”.

During these visits, UN officials were asked to “step up their efforts to respond to the urgency of the meeting,” the spokesman noted, underscoring a “clear consensus on the issue of women’s and girls’ rights in work and education “.

The visit comes as a former Afghan parliamentarian was murdered in her home in Kabul a few days ago.

A death that “shocked” Antonio Guterres, according to his representative.

After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban imposed severe restrictions on Afghan women, barring them from public sector jobs, banning them from attending secondary and higher education, and even from going to parks.

In late December, they also announced that they were banning NGOs from working with Afghan women, leading several organizations to suspend their activities. At least three of them partially resumed their activity after receiving assurances from Taliban authorities that women could continue to work in the health sector.

RES-EMP

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