UN Special Envoy Rosa Otunbayeva informed the Security Council about the dire situation the country is in and international relief efforts, with UN workers now barred from work by Taliban decrees.
“We will not put our national staff at risk and so we ask them not to report to the office,” she said, adding that the UN relief mission, which she also heads, UNAMAHe has no intention of replacing them with male staff.
No Assurances
She said the Taliban gave her no explanation for the ban, “and no assurances that it would be lifted.”
She said she has been “blunt” about the all-male leadership about the obstacles her decrees and restrictions imposed on women in public life, including denial of schooling beyond kindergarten, banning them from visiting parks and gyms and to play a role in public life in general.
She has expressed that while they continue to crack down on women and girls when it comes to human rights, “that’s the way it is.” It is almost impossible for their government to be recognised“.
Half the population suffers
Based on UNAMA’s engagement with civil society across the country, she said, “It is also clear that these decrees are highly unpopular with the Afghan people.” They cost the Taliban both national and international legitimacy, harming half of their population and hurt the economy.”
The UNAMA chief appealed to the ambassadors and the international community do more to ensure the future stability of the Afghan economyespecially given an expected fall in humanitarian funding this year.
The spotlight on women’s rights has also obscured some “more positive achievements” of Taliban rule, she said, citing the Increasing evidence of an effective ban for opium poppy cultivation.
stable economy
The economy also “remains stable”, inflation has come down and exchange rates are stable – partly due to a drop in high-level corruption.
“However, this macroeconomic stability is is associated with severe household povertyAccording to the World Bank, 58 percent struggle to meet their basic needs.
On other problem areas, the UNAMA chief said that despite concerted counter-terrorism efforts, the terrorist group ISIL-KP continues to target both Taliban officials and civilians.
Although the Taliban takeover has led to a sharp drop in civilian casualties, she said the UN Demining Service reports that there are still around 100 casualties per month from unexploded ordnance.
She concluded by telling the Council that UNAMA and the UN system in Afghanistan would continue to work with the Taliban, building on “established reliable channels of work”.
“However, we could do much more if the Taliban lifted their strict restrictions on their female population.”
Fan the flames
Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder of Afghan girls’ education nonprofit SOLA, told ambassadors she lived through the darkness of Taliban rule in the 1990s and the secret schools she attended were back.
“I am also the heir to the courage of Afghan women and men, who kindled fires in the darkness of our nation when the world’s attention waned. Those fires are still burning now. Secret schools have been reopened in Kabul and the provinces. My school SOLA, which was forced into exile, is thriving in Rwanda.”
She said a record 2,000 applications had been received from Afghan communities around the world. “2,000 fires in the dark, and each one represents that insatiable and invincible desire to have access to the fundamental human right to education.”
“It is Our job – the job of the world – to see that these flames are never extinguished“, She said.
“What we want is summed up in a single world. That word is stability. And what this word makes possible is education.”
