The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Afghanistan cannot achieve stability and prosperity without the full participation of women and girls.
Speaking Thursday at the United Nations Human Rights Council,
Türk said the Taliban must revoke all decrees, laws and policies that
discriminate against women and girls, allowing them equal access to secondary
and higher education, health care and employment opportunities.
He urged the Taliban to reverse policies that, he said,
amount to the “erasure of half the country’s population.”
Türk also called on the Taliban to stop obstructing the work
of the United Nations and humanitarian organizations and to allow women, including
U.N. staff members, unhindered access to U.N. offices and facilities.
The U.N. rights chief stressed that the Taliban must end the
use of the death penalty and corporal punishment, including flogging, and halt
arbitrary arrests and detentions. He added that authorities should ensure fair
trial guarantees in line with international standards for all citizens.
Türk further urged the Taliban to respect freedom of
expression, lift media restrictions and end censorship.
