UNSC Votes Unanimously To Condemn A Ban On Afghan Women Working For The U.N

(CTN News) – The Taliban’s restriction on Afghan women working for the UN in Afghanistan has been universally denounced by the UN Security Council (UNSC), which has urged Taliban leaders to “swiftly reverse” an assault on the rights of women and girls.

The restriction is described as “unprecedented in the history of the United Nations” and as “undermining human rights and humanitarian principles” in the resolution, which was written by the United Arab Emirates and Japan.

Additionally, “the indispensable role of women in Afghan society” is affirmed in the resolution

More than 90 nations, including those “from Afghanistan’s immediate neighborhood, from the Muslim world, and from all corners of the earth,” co-sponsored the resolution, according to Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s ambassador to the UN.

The world won’t watch helplessly while women in Afghanistan are marginalized from society, she said the UNSC. “This… support makes our fundamental message today even more significant,” she said.

UNSC vote in Doha on May 1-2

UNSC vote took place just days before an international conference on Afghanistan was set to take place in Doha on May 1-2

Special representatives on Afghanistan from several nations will meet behind closed doors with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss a cohesive strategy for dealing with the Taliban.

Robert Wood, the deputy ambassador of the United States to the UN, addressed the UNSC, “We will not stand for the Taliban’s mistreatment of women and girls.

These choices are unacceptable. They are unique to this region of the world.

Afghanistan is suffering irreversible harm as a result of Taliban decrees.

After prohibiting the majority of Afghan women from working for humanitarian relief organisations in December, the Taliban started implementing the ban on women working for the UN earlier this month.

Taliban began enforcing the ban on Afghan women working for the UN in December

The gang has also reinforced restrictions on women’s access to public life since ousting the Western-backed government in 2021, including prohibiting women from attending universities and closing girls’ high schools.

The Taliban claims that its rigorous interpretation of Islamic law respects women’s rights and that choices regarding female aid workers were a “internal issue.”

The Security Council decision acknowledges the necessity of addressing significant economic issues facing Afghanistan, including by utilising Central Bank assets for the benefit of the Afghan people.

Millions of dollars in US-held bank reserves were frozen by Washington, which eventually transferred half of the funds to a trust fund in Switzerland that was managed by US, Swiss, and Afghan trustees.

“As of today, what we have seen is only that assets have been transferred from one account to another, but not a single penny has been returned to the Afghan people,” said Geng Shuang, China’s deputy UN ambassador, to the UNSC.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, also demanded that the assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank be returned.