iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Tesla founder has 133,084,560 followers, a nose ahead of Obama, who has 133,041,813
KT APPDOWNLOAD
UN calls on Taliban to end worsening repression of women
11 Security Council members, including the UAE, call on Afghanistan rulers to respect the rights of women and girls
Afghan women students stand outside the Kabul University in Kabul. - AP file
Nearly a dozen UN Security Council members on Friday urged the Taliban to end repressive treatment of women in Afghanistan as they push ahead with tightening restrictions.
The Taliban seized power in August 2021, promising a softer version of their brutal 1996-2001 rule that was infamous for human rights abuses.
But they have squeezed women out of almost all areas of public life, recently banning them from secondary and higher education, public sector work and from visiting parks and baths.
"We urge the Taliban to immediately reverse all oppressive measures against women and girls," said Japanese ambassador Ishikane Kimihiro, speaking on behalf of 11 members of the Security Council.
These were Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, the UAE, Britain and the United States.
The nations called on the Taliban to "respect the rights of women and girls, and their full, equal and meaningful participation and inclusion across all aspects of society in Afghanistan, from political and economic, to education and public space."
The statement made explicit mention of Afghan women's exclusion from secondary schools and universities, and a ban on NGOs employing Afghan women.
"NGOs will be unable to reach those most in need, in particular women and girls, to provide lifesaving materials and services," it said.
Several international aid groups have suspended their work in Afghanistan because of the ban, which was announced by the Taliban government on December 24. But the UN said its agencies would keep working in Afghanistan.
"The situation of women and girls in Afghanistan must remain high on the agenda of the Security Council," said Friday's statement, which came during a closed-door council meeting.
"We'll discuss today a unified international response to the Taliban's actions," British ambassador Barbara Woodward tweeted. "We aim to stop the slide into humanitarian catastrophe and reverse the bans on women and girls."
More news from World
Professional impersonators of Britain’s new monarch gain popularity after years of struggling
The government's move comes amid reports that several Indian families have had to raise money through online fundraising campaigns
The polling will take place in a single phase on May 10 and votes will be counted on May 13
India's external affairs minister says the group's main focus is on economic and developmental matters concerning 200 countries in the world — not the war in Ukraine that had hijacked its agenda
In bid for energy security amid Russia-Ukraine war, country's second plant to also use American supplier after first made the switch years earlier
Claims, some dating back 30 years, outside a time limit for legal action, says lawyer
The sisters were taken into a neonatal intensive care unit after being delivered, where they remained for a total of 216 days