EU Ambassadors Meet Afghan Women Rights Activists in Brussels

With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, majority of Afghan women became housewives, and the Afghan health system is on the brink of collapse.

Najm Sama Shafajo, the head of Afghan Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Association, said that in 2021, 2,300 health centers had been closed across the country.

Shafajo added that with the closure of these health centers, about 27,000 health workers, including Afghan 7,000 women, have lost their jobs.

Recently, Johns Hopkins University announced in a report that 81% of female health workers in Afghanistan have experienced harassment and violence from the Taliban in their work life.

These women have said that they were beaten by Taliban agents because of going around without a male guardian. According to the report, the strictness of the Taliban and the irregular payment of health workers who provide help to mothers and babies have caused some of them to not be able to work regularly and some of them to leave the service.

According to the report of the International Rescue Committee, in the previous government, about 75% of Afghanistan's public expenses relied on foreign sources. In particular, about 30 million Afghans depended on health services through a programme managed by the World Bank.

The World Bank provided a large part of the needs of nearly three thousand hospitals in Afghanistan, including the salaries of health workers.

The spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that at the end of this meeting, a joint statement will be issued by the representatives of the participating countries.

Representatives of Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will participate in the upcoming meeting.

Moscow's consultative meeting on Afghanistan will be held on Wednesday, November 16.

According to Zakharova, the Wednesday meeting will be the fourth meeting of Moscow consultations on Afghanistan.

Even though Taliban representatives were present in this meeting last year, they will be absent in the upcoming meeting. In 2021, the participants in Moscow meeting urged the Taliban to form an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

Although the Taliban claim that they have formed an inclusive government, the international community, including Russia, which is hosting the meeting on Afghanistan, has criticised the group for ignoring the international demands.

The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution on Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Faiq added that the Taliban continue to violate human rights and suppress the fundamental rights and freedom of all Afghan people, including women and girls, human rights activists, and journalists.

The Afghanistan Permanent Representative to the UN emphasised that there are serious concerns about the increasing security threats caused by the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

The UN General Assembly resolution on Afghanistan was approved with the support of 116 countries. The resolution expressed concerns about the dire economic and humanitarian situation, the continuation of violence, and the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country last year.

China and Russia didn’t support the resolution, but urged the US to release the frozen funds of the Central Bank of Afghanistan.

In the resolution, UN member states urged the Taliban to grant Afghan women and girls all their rights and civil liberties. These countries expressed their concern regarding the current situation of women, especially the closure of girls' schools, the economy, and job opportunities in Afghanistan.

Decker added that Afghan women want their rights guaranteed and that the US wants the same for women in Afghanistan.

She urged Afghan women to "stay strong so that when they return to Afghanistan, they can help contribute to a future that respects the rights of all Afghans".

Earlier, Decker had announced that she would visit Pakistan to support Afghans and meet and speak to them.

The senior US diplomat has met Afghan women in Pakistan as most of them have been forced to leave the country after the Taliban came to power in August 2021.

Since taking over Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed wide-ranging restrictions on women in the fields of education, work, and other social and political spheres.

The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) had previously said that it would take at least 10 years to clear Afghanistan of mines.

UNMAS has also expressed concern about the increase in victims due to the explosion of mines and unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan.

The UN de-mining agency added that at least 50 million dollars are needed for mine clearance in Afghanistan.

The Taliban, who have been a driving factor in planting mines across Afghanistan in the past twenty years, have promised the United Nations that they will cooperate with the process of clearing the country of mines.