The “All Together in Support of Afghan Women” program, initiated by the Women and Children’s Legal Research Foundation and in collaboration with the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the United Nations, the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), the Atlantic Council and Malala Fund, was held on June 27, 2024, at the headquarters of the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the United Nations in New York City.
This program was conducted both in-person and virtually, with the presence of the US Special Representative for Women, Girls, and Human Rights in Afghanistan, permanent representatives of UN member states, representatives of international organizations, and Afghan women’s rights activists.
The aim of the “All Together in Support of Afghan Women” program is to advocate for the inclusion of women’s rights as a primary agenda item at the Third Doha Meeting and to establish a global coalition in support of Afghan women. The focus is on engaging in discussions and exchanging ideas regarding strategies to support Afghan women and ensure their meaningful participation in the Doha process.
Zarqa Yaftali, the founder and president of the Women and Children’s Legal Research Foundation, has called for global unity in supporting Afghan women. She expressed deep concern over the UN’s decision to exclude women and civil society from the Third Doha Meeting, which blatantly violates the UN Charter by the UN itself, emphasizing that negotiations without women’s participation will be meaningless.
Meanwhile, Lema Anwari, a women’s rights activist and program manager, described the lack of access to their fundamental rights for Afghan women under the Taliban government as disheartening. In her remarks, she highlighted the fundamental challenges faced by women.
Participants of this program, in their support for Afghan women, have discussed the constraints imposed on them and the challenging conditions they currently face, expressing the desire for the voices of women to be reflected in the Doha meeting.
Rina Amiri, the Special Representative of the United States for Women, Girls, and Human Rights in Afghanistan, also emphasized the need for increased international coordination and the inclusion of women’s voices in the Doha process.
Zohal Saleem, a former Afghan diplomat, presented an open letter prepared by 47 organizations and 122 women rights and civil society activists to express the concerns of the letter’s authors about the exclusion of women and civil society from the Third Doha Meeting. They have requested that the rights of women be prioritized at the Third Doha Meeting and that women’s participation in all discussions regarding Afghanistan’s future be guaranteed.
Akila Radhakrishna, a strategic legal advisor at the Project on Strategic Litigation of the Atlantic Council, urged international support for the legal recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity. She emphasized that all aspects of women’s rights are equally important and that Afghan women are not separate from women globally.
This program has been held in support of Afghan women at a time when recently, the Human Rights Watch stated that the United Nations has removed the discussion on women from the agenda of the Third Doha Conference. This issue has sparked significant national and international reactions, including Heather Baar, the associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, who labelled this action by the United Nations as a betrayal of the rights of women and girls worldwide.
- نویسنده : Afghanistan Women News Agency
- منبع خبر : Afghanistan Women News Agency
