Canada Global (Web News) On Thursday, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution urging the Taliban to remove all restrictions on Afghan women, including those preventing them from working for the international organisation. At a meeting to inform participants of Middle East developments, the resolution was adopted without debate.
Vasily Nebenzya, a diplomat for the Russian Federation, announced the resolution’s passage at the start of Thursday’s meeting but did not go into further detail before rapidly moving on to a report on the country’s humanitarian and political initiatives in Syria.
The Associated Press reported that it got a copy of the resolution on Wednesday, and that it urged Taliban leaders to “swiftly restore (women’s and girls’) access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and equal participation in public life.”
In accordance with documents posted on the UN website, “UN national personnel, including women and men, have been instructed not to report to UN offices, with only limited and calibrated exceptions made for critical tasks.”
The copy, which the AP was able to get, stated that all other UN members were urged to work towards “an urgent reversal” of the Taliban’s views on women and girls.
According to the organization’s website, the Taliban’s restrictions forced the UN “to have to make an appalling choice between staying and providing support for the Afghan people, and standing by the norms and principles we are duty-bound to uphold.”
On April 11, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan published the following statement on its website: “The ban is unlawful under international law, including the UN Charter, and for that reason the United Nations cannot comply.”
