Brussels-New York: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, has expressed her deep concern about the discriminatory and restrictive environment and climate of fear that women and girls live in in Afghanistan. According to the United Nations news bulletin, a copy of which we received on Wednesday morning

In her speech at the opening of the interactive dialogue session on the human rights situation of women and girls in Afghanistan - within the framework of the activities of the fifty-third session of the United Nations Human Rights Council - Al-Nashif said that "discrimination and extreme violence against women and girls cannot be accepted, let alone normalized, anywhere." .

The Deputy High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights stated that despite the Taliban's repeated assurances over the past 22 months, to preserve women's rights within the framework of Sharia, all aspects of the lives of women and girls there are under restrictions, and they are discriminated against in every way.

Al-Nashif added, "Decree after decree was issued, with the cumulative effect obliterating women and girls from public life and preventing them from obtaining or enjoying their basic rights and freedoms."

deprivation of education
Noting that Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are denied post-primary education, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights said, "The Taliban have erased girls' development opportunities and their ability to live independent lives now and in the future, which affects their The next generations".

Al-Nashif also said that depriving women of public office affects the ability of women and girls to be heard and seen, or to participate in decision-making processes that directly affect their lives.

Al-Nashif commended the joint report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the working group on discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan, noting that the report identified features of the systematic nature of discrimination suffered by women and girls in Afghanistan.

normalization of violence
Two UN experts visited Afghanistan between April 27 and May 4 and met a number of Afghan women and men in various fields, representatives of United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organizations and representatives of the de facto authorities.

In their report, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, and the Chair of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, Dorothy Estrada Tank, expressed in their report their "grave concern" about the absence of a system of legal protection for women and girls and the normalization of acts of violence and discrimination against them.

The two experts said that the decrees issued by the Taliban movement since it assumed power in Afghanistan in August 2021 severely restricted the rights of women and girls and "stifled" all dimensions of their lives.

"Women and girls in Afghanistan suffer from discrimination that may amount to persecution on the basis of gender, which is a crime against humanity," the experts' report added.

The report called on the de facto authorities to respect and restore the human rights of women and girls, and to increase the attention of the international community and the United Nations to what is happening in Afghanistan of widespread discrimination against women and girls.