Critical Comments from 12 European Countries on the Islamic Emirate’s Policies against Women

Bayan News – Simultaneously with the two-year anniversary of the ban on girls’ education, foreign ministers of several European countries have criticized gender discrimination by the Kabul caretaker government and called for the lifting of these restrictions.

On Thursday (September 20th), foreign ministers of 12 European countries issued a joint statement expressing concern over the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan and demanding the swift removal of limitations on women’s and girls’ access to work, education, and freedoms.

The joint statement was issued by the foreign ministers of Albania, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, and Spain.

The statement declares that following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, women and girls have gradually been excluded from public life by edicts.

The foreign ministers of these countries emphasized that in order to achieve sustainable peace and establish stability in Afghanistan, the country needs an inclusive government that involves all Afghan citizens, including women and minorities.

Meanwhile, Melanie Joly, the Foreign Minister of Canada, on the sidelines of the seventy-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly, described the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan as “devastating.”

The Canadian Foreign Minister stressed that women’s rights are human rights and non-negotiable. She stated that actions taken against women and girls lead to child marriages and undermine their future.

These criticisms come at a time when over the past year, officials of the Kabul caretaker government have considered issues related to women and girls as internal matters and have requested that other countries refrain from interfering in this regard.