The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Ireland’s minister for justice, home affairs and migration condemned the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women and girls during a U.N. Security Council debate on conflict-related sexual violence, saying the group’s actions continue to strip women of their rights and freedoms.
Jim O’Callaghan, Ireland’s minister for justice, home affairs and migration, delivered the country’s national statement during the Security Council’s open debate titled “Honouring the Promise of International Law to Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence.”
In his remarks, O’Callaghan said the Taliban continue to use sexual violence as a tool to restrict the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls.
His comments come as the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls since returning to power in August 2021. Afghan women have been barred from secondary schools and universities, prohibited from working in most sectors, and subjected to increasingly strict limits on their freedom of movement, dress and participation in public life. Rights groups and U.N. experts have said the measures amount to one of the world’s most severe systems of gender-based discrimination, depriving millions of women and girls of education, employment, health care and other basic rights.
O’Callaghan said accountability for conflict-related sexual violence is essential to upholding international law and protecting survivors, stressing that women and girls in Afghanistan continue to face systematic abuses under Taliban rule.
The Security Council debate brought together member states to examine ways to strengthen international efforts to prevent conflict-related sexual violence, support survivors and ensure perpetrators are held accountable.
