The representatives of several countries at the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva expressed concerns over the existing restrictions on Afghan women and girls.
Hala Mazyad Al-Tuwaijri, the president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, at the UN Human Rights Council, said Saudi Arabia calls on Kabul to rescind its decisions so women can “fully enjoy their rights without discrimination.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Germany will make sure to continue to help all Afghans who “need water, who need food, who need medicine.”
“We know that our efforts will not change the brutal violation of Afghan’s women’s rights … But it matters. It matters to every single woman who is not allowed to go outside,” she said. “It matters to every single child who wants to go to school.”
UN special rapporteur for Afghan human rights, Richard Bennett, in a report expressed concerns over the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Bennett said that the recent edicts of the Afghan caretaker government affected the humanitarian delivery and economy of the country.
He said that the economy experienced a further dramatic decline of around 30–35 percent in 2021–2022.
The deputy foreign minister of Turky, Mehmet Kemal Bozay, said that the international community must not allow the situation in Afghanistan to deteriorate “even further.”
“We remind the interim government that recent limitations on women such as those on the right to education are not human,” he said.
However, the deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi said that the rights of women are ensured in an Islamic structure.
“Regarding the internal issues of our country, the Islamic Emirate adjusts itself based on the Islamic laws and based on the notions of the people of Afghanistan and no country should be worried about it,” he said.
This comes as the permanent mission of Afghanistan in Geneva said on Twitter that the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, Hissein Brahim Taha, spoke in Geneva and, reiterated the OIC’s condemnation of Kabul’s edicts banning women from education and work, saying: “It is against our religion.”
