IN AFGHANISTAN, THE EU MUST PRIORITISE WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND PRESSURE THE TALIBAN TO COMPLY, URGE AFGHAN WOMEN
The European Parliament organised Afghan Women Days at the end of January to address an extremely worrying situation for women in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover last year. During two days of meetings, workshops and more, Afghan women journalists, artists, activists, and politicians urged the international and European communities to take action to delegitimise the de facto rulers.
Despite the Taliban claiming they have changed their policies on women’s participation in society, extensive reporting and testimony from the country indicate otherwise. Women have been excluded from public life with no opportunity for education, unable to join the workforce, and no access to healthcare unless accompanied by a man. The e£ect, according to Afghan women attendees, is an Afghanistan under “gender apartheid”.
European Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola opened the event with an address to MEPs.
“They teach us that although there is a time for weeping, there is also a time for standing up to injustice,” she said, adding that “we will listen, we will learn, and we will act”.
Some of the Afghan guests criticised the international community’s approach to the Taliban. For instance, filmmaker Sahraa Karimi, said:
“The international community finds a way to give a platform to a terrorist group, so why can the international community not find a way to not recognise them so easily, and [instead] give more platform and opportunities to the people of Afghanistan?”
The Afghan guests also urged the Parliament not to legitimise the Taliban, as well as to pressure the Taliban to end human rights violations in Afghanistan.
During a workshop on human rights protection, Shaharazad Akbar, a Sakharov Prize finalist and former chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said she sees no choice but to engage with the Taliban, while highlighting that “engagement should not mean recognition”, and “should not mean compliance with Taliban’s gender apartheid”.
“They are brutal, repressive, took force by power, they support suicide attacks and terrorist tactics, but they have power over the lives of 35 million Afghans”, said Akbar. “It is a moral dilemma, but we have to put human rights at the heart of our engagement.”
Akbar also urged the international community use symbolic tactics.
“If a foreign delegation is going to meet with Taliban and it is an all-male delegation, that’s not acceptable”, she said.