In a rare show of unity, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Thursday condemning the Taliban’s discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan and calling for leadership The country quickly reversed policies that banned education, employment and the equal participation of women and girls.
The resolution, co-sponsored by more than 90 countries, received 15 votes in favor and was unanimously adopted in Russia’s final days in a role that lasted for months. rotating chairman of the Council.
Lana Nusseibeh, the United Nations ambassador to the UAE, who led the drafting of the resolution along with the representative of Japan, said: “The world will not stand by and watch Afghan women be erased from society. She said the council was sending a “clear message of condemnation” to the Taliban for the way they treated women and girls.
The resolution calls for the “full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls in Afghanistan,” also referring to the Taliban government’s April 4 decree banning the United Nations. recruiting Afghan women. That stance – “unprecedented in the history of the United Nations,” the resolution said – “undermines human rights and humanitarian principles.”
With Afghanistan’s economy in dire straits, the resolution also acknowledges the need for the international community to help financially.
The 15-member Security Council has been deeply divided since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unable to find a consensus on many of the world’s most pressing issues. According to diplomats involved in the negotiations, although the council was ultimately able to agree on the Taliban’s treatment of women, negotiations over the final wording of the resolution were complicated and lengthen.
The resolution, which is legally binding under international law, does not specify what consequences the Taliban government in Afghanistan will face if they violate its requirements. But in general, the Security Council can impose sanctions on countries or governments that do not comply with Council resolutions.
“Taliban has broken its promise to the international community and to Afghan women and girls by taking oppressive measures against them, including banning them from working with the United Nations and NGOs as well as prevent them from attending universities and high schools,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield. US Ambassador to the United Nations, in a written statement following the vote. “These draconian decrees only prevent Afghanistan from achieving future stability, economic prosperity and growth.”
Even if the council reached a consensus on the vote, tensions were clear.
In a speech to the council, China criticized the hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan and its decision to freeze US$7 billion worth of US assets from the Central Bank of Afghanistan. China, one of the permanent members of the council, urged Washington to “make up for the damage it has inflicted on the Afghan people instead of further aggravating their suffering.”
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily A. Nebenzya, said Western members of the council had blocked a more ambitious resolution that would address the impact of sanctions on the Taliban and how to restore it. assets that he believes the United States has “stolen” from. country when it freezes Central Bank funds.
Persistent discrimination against women and girls is a major obstacle to the Taliban’s efforts to gain recognition as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US troops in 2021 and the collapse of the Western-backed government.
Even though Taliban ban Regarding the recruitment of Afghan women, the United Nations said it still has no plans to withdraw from the country because of the grave humanitarian needs of the Afghan people. Nearly two-thirds of Afghanistan’s 40 million people depend on humanitarian aid for food and medicine.
The United Nations Mission to Afghanistan said in a statement in April that it could not comply with the ban because it contravened international law and the principles of the UN charter. It ordered its Afghan personnel, both women and men, to stay home and issued a full review of its operations in Afghanistan on May 5.
The statement said the Taliban “seeks to force the United Nations to make the appalling choice between staying and supporting the people of Afghanistan and following the norms and principles to which we are obligated to abide.”
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban has gradually restricting the rights of women and girlsreverse progress made over two decades since the US-led military invasion in 2001 ended the first phase of the Taliban as rulers of Afghanistan.
Over the past year, the Taliban’s top leadership has banned girls from attending school after sixth grade, barred women from doing most jobs and limited their presence in public life.
António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, will convene a meeting next month in Doha, Qatar, to find a way forward in Afghanistan regarding humanitarian operations, Taliban management and counter-terrorism. .
The United Nations said the Doha meeting was not about recognizing the Taliban, a matter for member states to decide.
Afghanistan’s seat at the United Nations is still held by the former government. The Taliban has appointed Suhail Shaheen, head of the group’s political office in Doha, but so far he has not been recognized by the United Nations mandate committee.
Christina Goldbaum contribution report.
