Bennett Calls for Stronger Action Over Taliban Restrictions on Women
UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett has called for stronger international action over the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan, saying condemnation without consequences is not enough.
Bennett made the remarks at a side event of the UN General Assembly focused on accountability and the protection of Afghan women’s rights. He said the Taliban have continued to test the limits of the international community’s response and have faced little cost for their actions.
The meeting brought together international officials and human rights advocates who discussed the situation of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule.
Suela Janina, Albania’s permanent representative to the UN, said the international community had failed Afghan women and girls over the past five years. She said the ban on girls’ education is also preventing Afghanistan from developing as an inclusive society.
France’s special ambassador for human rights, Isabelle Lonvis-Rome, said her country would not compromise on the rights of Afghan women and girls. She criticised the Taliban’s restrictions and described their morality law as a systematic attack on women’s rights.
Australia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Beth Delancy, said the exclusion of women from public life has further worsened Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis.
Participants also stressed that Afghan women should have a meaningful role in political processes and decisions about the country’s future.
The meeting comes as reports of further restrictions and arrests involving women continue to emerge from Afghanistan, raising renewed concerns over the treatment of women and girls under Taliban rule.
