Malala Fund stands in solidarity with Afghan girls and women and urges immediate, decisive action to safeguard their freedoms and rights.
On Friday, June 21, just days after Afghan girls marked 1000 days without secondary education, the United Nations confirmed the upcoming UN-convened Doha talks will proceed without Afghan women activists and civil society. It will also not address the rights of girls and women. This exclusion is unacceptable and sets a dangerous precedent. The meeting in Doha has a defining opportunity to shape Afghanistan's future, but by engaging with the Taliban and sidelining women it will fail to achieve meaningful progress.
Sahar Halaimzai, Malala Fund’s Afghanistan Initiative Director explains: "It is fundamentally dishonest to suggest that Afghanistan’s major challenges—be they economic, environmental, or social—can be addressed without the full involvement of girls and women. Dealing with these issues is inextricably linked to how we treat girls and women, and finding solutions is only possible with their active participation."
The Taliban's system of gender apartheid severely impacts every aspect of life for Afghan girls and women. Their systematic denial of basic freedoms, including education, is a calculated effort to maintain control and must not be ignored. Such blatant human rights violations against girls and women threaten the core principles of justice and equality.
The Doha process follows the Doha Peace Talks which started in 2019, a series that notably excluded Afghan women, minority, and civil society groups. The agreement that emerged from those talks was instrumental to the Taliban military takeover of the country in August 2021. This recent history highlights the indispensable need for broad-based, meaningful inclusivity in the current negotiations to avoid repeating past mistakes.
“The basic freedoms of Afghan girls and women are non-negotiable. Malala Fund calls on the UN Secretary-General, senior UN officials, and all special envoys to demand an immediate reversal on their decision to exclude Afghan women human rights defenders and Afghan civil society from the upcoming UN-convened Doha talks,” says Lena Alfi, Chief Executive Officer at Malala Fund. “The Taliban must be held accountable for their restrictions on girls and women. Any discussions about Afghanistan's future must include robust representation from Afghan girls, women and civil society."
Malala Fund stands in solidarity with Afghan girls and women and urges immediate, decisive action to safeguard their freedoms and rights. The credibility of the international community's efforts in Afghanistan hinges on our consistent application of and commitment to these principles.
