Women's public presence in Afghanistan totally erased by Taliban: UN

The UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Irene Khan, at the 53rd regular session of the Human Rights Council said that in Afghanistan, women's public presence has been totally erased by the 'Taliban', TOLO News reported.

TOLO News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul.

Irene Khan said in a report that women's rights groups play an important role in the struggle for gender equality and in promoting the agency of women.

"Women's rights groups play an important role in the struggle for gender equality and in promoting the agency of women. They have come under pressure as civic space has shrunk in a number of countries, the most egregious example being Afghanistan, where women's public presence has been totally erased by the Taliban," the report reads, as per TOLO News.

Suraya Paikan, a women's rights activist, said: "Women's presence in a ministry or in an institution cannot make up for their equal legal rights."

The permanent Representative of Afghanistan in the United Nations Human Rights Council criticized what he called the increasing violence against women and girls in Afghanistan.

Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to UNOG, Suraya Azizi, said: "Since the unlawful takeover of Afghanistan, women and girls continue to remain at an ever-increasing risk of violence. Mr President, systematic discrimination against women and girls, a core element of the Taliban's form of rule, has normalized gender-based violence. The restrictive environment they face outside the homes has multiplied instances of domestic violence."

"Ignoring women's ability to run the government and removing them from social, political, and civil positions will leave the nation with more economic and social problems and lead to personality stagnation in a generation," said Nazela Hassanzada, a women's rights activist.

Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar, challenged claims that women had been entirely exiled from the political and social sphere and said some women were employed by institutions of the Afghan government and that they would be assigned in other institutions as needed in the future.