New York, September 7 (Daily Kiran) : United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed deep concern over the Taliban’s ongoing discriminatory policies against Afghan women and girls. He reiterated his call for the immediate lifting of the ban preventing Afghan women from working for the UN and emphasized the need for their safe and unrestricted access to UN facilities across the country.
Guterres stated that the restrictions on women’s participation in public life, education, and employment violate their fundamental rights. He warned that these measures pose significant obstacles to Afghanistan’s economic development, stability, and reintegration into the international community.
His remarks coincided with the one-year anniversary of the ban on Afghan women’s entry into UN premises, which was enforced on September 7. Guterres urged the Taliban to remove the restrictions and ensure secure access for Afghan women to UN facilities.
“These restrictions contravene international law, including the UN Charter. They undermine the organization’s capacity to deliver life-saving assistance to the Afghan people, especially during this critical time of need,” he said.
He further noted that it is essential for all UN staff to have unhindered access to their workplaces to fulfill their missions and provide aid to those in need, particularly women and girls. Ensuring that women can reach other women and girls with humanitarian aid and essential services is vital for an effective and principled response.
In his statement, Guterres also called on the Taliban to abolish all restrictions on Afghan women and girls, affirming their right to full, equal, and meaningful participation in all aspects of Afghan society.
Last month, UN experts warned that gender-based oppression has intensified under Taliban rule, with increasing restrictions affecting the Afghan population, particularly women and girls. They highlighted that five years may seem short in a country’s timeline, but for a child, it can be a lifetime. A generation of girls has been deprived of secondary education, with those who were in sixth grade at the onset of the ban now becoming adults without ever attending school.
Experts cited the experience of one Afghan girl who lamented, “I have been deprived of education for five years. It is disheartening to feel that you cannot move forward and are stuck in the same place you were five years ago.”
They reiterated that the Taliban’s deliberate and targeted deprivation of fundamental rights amounts to gender-based persecution, equating it to crimes against humanity. As this oppression forms part of an institutional system of gender-based discrimination, experts argue that it should be legally recognized as “gender apartheid.” They urged the global community to actively support the legal acknowledgment of gender apartheid as a distinct crime against humanity.
According to experts, the Taliban continues to impose repressive measures on the Afghan population, including a criminal order related to court proceedings that permits violence against women, provided it does not result in broken bones or visible marks. They also noted another directive that indirectly allows child marriage and makes it extremely difficult for women and girls to escape exploitative or forced marriages, while also discriminating against religious minorities.
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