MONITORING (SW) – The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has been urged at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to end restrictions imposed on women and girls in the country.
The conference was held in the city of Munich, Germany, with the presence of 40 heads of states and the ministers of 90 countries in the region and the world. Examining the political situation and women’s rights in Afghanistan was one of the most important topics of this meeting.
The Foreign Ministers of Albania, Olta Xhaçka, Andorra, Maria Ubach Font, Belgium, Hadja Lahbib, Canada, Mélanie Joly, France, Catherine Colonna, Germany, Annalena Baerbock, Iceland, Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir, Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, Liechtenstein, Dominique Hasler, Mongolia, Batmunkh Battsetseg, Slovenia, Tanja Fajon, issued a joint statement in this regard.
Together, we, female Foreign Ministers at the Munich Security Conference 2023, strongly condemn the Talibans’ push to exclude women from all public life: women are kept from strolling in parks, are not seen on TV screens anymore, are deprived from their right to attend schools and universities, and are now also kept from working in humanitarian assistance, said the statement.
By excluding half of Afghanistan’s population from society, the Taliban are committing gravest violations of human rights. And the Taliban are jeopardizing the future of the whole country.
“We are united in our call to lift these restrictions on women, particularly when it comes to their essential role in the delivery of humanitarian assistance. This will restore the basis to deliver the help that the women, children and men of Afghanistan so urgently need”.
“We stand by the side of the brave women and men of Iran in their daily fight for their rights and their freedom. Their struggle shows that only where women are safe everybody is safe. Not only in Iran, not only in Afghanistan, but all over the world”, said the statement.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba Siraj, who spoke on behalf of Afghan women in Munich, said that the world has taken a hard look at women in Afghanistan. “They spoke a lot about Afghan women, which was very true and they took this issue seriously. What I wanted to pay attention to was that the United Nations should study all the regions of Afghanistan properly and see what international aid and other issues are going on”, she told Watandar.
On the other hand, Maryam Maarouf Arvin, a women’s rights activist, said that the conference in Munich shows that the world has not forgotten Afghan women. “With the dire situation of women and girls in Afghanistan due to their gender, without a doubt, these meetings can be the smallest window of hope and show that the world never forgets the women of Afghanistan. It is in the line of defending the rights of Afghan women.”
However, Seyed Zakrullah Hashemi, a political activist close to the Islamic Emirate, said hat due to the lack of presence of a representative of the Islamic Emirate in the Munich meeting, this meeting will not have any effect on Afghanistan.
“Every assembly that is held about one government in another country and its representative is not present, does not have an orderly result. If they were worried about the situation of Afghan women, where were they be when the women of Afghanistan suffered the hardships they have gone through in these twenty years?”
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