Doha: Europe and the Arabs
Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo chairs the third United Nations meeting of special envoys for Afghanistan scheduled for Sunday and Monday in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
According to the United Nations news bulletin on its website, in his daily press conference, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated that DiCarlo and special envoys, from various countries, will meet representatives of Afghan civil society on Tuesday, including women’s organizations and others concerned with human rights.
He added that during discussions in Doha with the Afghan de facto authorities, DiCarlo will address the issue of women's and girls' rights, human rights in general, and political inclusion. Quoting the UN official, Dujarric said: “The Doha discussions are part of a process and not a single event. The ultimate goal of the process is an Afghanistan living in peace with itself and its neighbors, fully integrated into the international community, and fulfilling its international obligations, including those related to human rights in particular.” Concerning women and girls.
Participation of Afghan women
Earlier before the press conference, the UN Committee to End Discrimination against Women expressed grave concern about what it described as the “exclusion of women and girls” from the meeting. She called for the effective and direct inclusion of women and girls in those discussions related to “the most serious women’s rights crisis in the world.”
The committee said, in a press statement, that failure to ensure this participation will only lead to further silencing Afghan women who face escalating violations of their rights. She added that the recent decision of the de facto authorities (Taliban) to reduce the salaries of female government employees who are prohibited from working to the lowest levels, regardless of experience or qualifications, reflects an additional deliberate and harmful measure to weaken women in Afghanistan.
The UN committee said that failure to include Afghan civil society, including women human rights defenders, in serious participation in the Doha discussions will mean that the issue of women's and girls' rights will not be adequately addressed.
She added, "Excluding women and girls from those discussions will only undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the Doha meeting and create room for de facto authorities to exclude them from public life."
The Committee urged the international community to ensure that women's rights are central to any talks with de facto authorities and to take all possible measures to strengthen, rather than marginalize, the voices of Afghan women and girls.,