Summary
Foreign ministers from 16 countries around the world ask Afghanistan’s hardliner regime to reverse decision to stop girls from going to school after sixth grade
Diplomats from 10 countries send similar message to UN
Female foreign ministers from 16 countries around the world have expressed their deep disappointment at Afghan girls being denied access to secondary schools, calling upon the Taliban regime to reverse its decision on March 25. Diplomats from 10 countries have sounded a similar message at the United Nations.
On March 23, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unexpectedly decided against reopening schools to girls above the sixth grade, going back on a promise and opting to appease their hard-line base at the expense of further alienating the international community. So far, they have refused to explain the sudden decision.
“As women and as foreign ministers, we are deeply disappointed and concerned that girls in Afghanistan are being denied access to secondary schools this spring,” the foreign ministers of Albania, Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Kosovo, Malawi, Mongolia, New Zealand, Sweden, Tonga and Britain said in a joint statement.
They said the decision is particularly disturbing as “we repeatedly heard their commitments to open all schools for all children”.
“We call upon the Taliban to reverse their recent decision and to grant equal access to all levels of education, in all provinces of the country,” they added.
At UN headquarters in New York, the Security Council had a closed-door discussion on the issue. Before it started, ambassadors from Albania, Britain, Brazil, France, Gabon, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, the United States and the United Arab Emirates stood together to decry the Taliban’s decision.
It is a profoundly disturbing setback, Emirati Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, the current council president, said, reading a joint statement.
The world has been reluctant to officially recognize Afghanistan’s new rulers, concerned that the Taliban would impose similar harsh measures and restrictions — particularly limiting women’s rights to education and work as when they previously ruled the country in the late 1990s.
The foreign ministers said they will watch closely whether the Taliban deliver on their assurances. “We will measure them by their actions, not by their words,” they said.
The scope and extent of our countries’ engagement in Afghanistan beyond humanitarian assistance will be tied to their achievements in this regard.
They said access to education is a human right to which every girl and woman is entitled, and no country can afford to not take advantage of the potential and talent of its entire people.
Last updated on 26 Mar 2022
