U.N. CALLS ON TALIBAN TO REVERSE LIMITS PUT ON FEMALES

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to swiftly reverse their increasingly harsh restrictions on women and girls, which range from very severely restricting education to banning women from most jobs, public spaces and gyms.

The council condemned the Taliban’s ban on women working for the U.N., a decision the resolution calls “unprecedented in the history of the United Nations.”

The unanimous vote, with the United States, Russia and China all in favor, was a sign of the widespread global concerns over the Taliban’s actions.

It was a rare moment of unity on a high-profile issue at a time of steep international divisions over the Ukraine war.

When the Taliban seized power in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan after two decades of war, they initially promised a more moderate rule than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001. But there has been a growing international outcry as Taliban leaders have gradually reimposed their severe interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, on women and girls.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council after the vote: “Today, the Security Council has sent a clear, unanimous message to the Taliban and to the world: We will not stand for the Taliban’s repression of women and girls.”

The resolution expresses “deep concern at the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban” and reaffirms their “indispensable role” in Afghan society.

It calls on the Taliban to swiftly restore their access to education, employment, freedom of movement and equal participation in public life. And it urges all other U.N. member nations to use their influence to promote “an urgent reversal” of the Taliban’s policies and practices toward women and girls.

Under Taliban rule, girls have been barred from school beyond the sixth grade and women are now virtually confined to their homes, unable to go out and travel without a male guardian.

In late December, the Taliban banned national and international aid groups from employing Afghan women and on April 4 they extended that ban to Afghan women working for the United Nations.