May 27, 2022

Afghanistan's Taliban urged by UN Security Council to lift restrictions on women, girls

Source: Fox News

Journalist: Ashley J. DiMella

The U.N. Security Council this week urged Taliban leaders to "swiftly reverse" policies and practices toward Afghanistan women and girls restricting their rights and freedoms – but overall, there's little confidence that meaningful change will happen.

Just a week ago, the Taliban announced a rule forcing all women news anchors to cover their faces while on TV.

The Security Council released its statement Tuesday, two weeks after closed-door discussions, expressing its "deep concern regarding the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban."

...

Former Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Kelley Currie didn’t see the Taliban respecting the council’s request. She said the U.N. Security Council needed to show its seriousness by taking more substantive action.

"The best way to [take action] would be to reinstate the travel ban on so that they can’t continue flying around on private jets and, you know, acting like they're a legitimate government, which they definitely are not," Currie said.

She added the Taliban’s treatment of women should come as no surprise, given previous warnings from women who'd lived under Taliban control. "They were trying to warn us before that the Taliban had not changed. We should have listened to the women. And the least we could do is listen to them now."

Read the full story and more from Fox News.

Author

  • Kelley Eckels Currie

    Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Indo-Pacific Security Program

    Ambassador Currie served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues and the U.S. Representative at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Prior to he...