G7 Condemns Taliban Actions Against Women’s Rights in Afghanistan
The Group of Seven industrialized nations on Thursday condemned the Taliban’s escalating restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan, accusing the extremist Islamic group of isolating Afghanistan.
Foreign ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States stated in a joint statement: “We call on the Taliban to immediately take necessary measures to lift restrictions on women and girls.”
The statement added: “We condemn the increasingly restrictive measures that severely prevent the full, equal and meaningful participation of half the country’s population in society.”
Foreign ministers from the eight industrialized nations emphasized that the Taliban, by violating the rights of women and girls, are “further isolating their own country in the global community.”
When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last summer, they promised to implement more lenient laws compared to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001. However, since then they have increasingly restricted the rights of Afghans, particularly women and girls, who have been barred from returning to secondary schools and many government positions.
Women across the country have been prohibited from traveling without male family members, and last week Taliban authorities ordered women to cover their faces in public, particularly with the burqa.
On Thursday, representatives of several countries at the United Nations also condemned the escalating restrictions on women in Afghanistan.
Trine Heimerback, Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations, said: “Taliban policies are focused on suppressing women and girls rather than addressing the economic crisis in Afghanistan.”
Barbara Woodward, British Ambassador to the United Nations, also stated that the Taliban’s demand to exclude women from public life is “repressive” and “wrong.”
The UN Security Council held a closed-door meeting on the matter, and it is likely that the council will issue a statement condemning Taliban actions against women in the coming days.
Source: Radio Farda
