UN calls for reversal of Taliban policies on women

The UN Security Council has called on Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government to reverse policies restricting the human rights of women and girls.

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The Security Council expressed “deep concern” over the Taliban’s restrictions limiting girls’ access to education and women’s employment, freedom of movement, and “full, equal, and meaningful participation in public life.”

After returning to power in August, the Taliban promised to allow women to continue their education and work outside the home and said there would be no dress code.

But in recent weeks, the Taliban has imposed restrictions reminiscent of when it first held power in Afghanistan from 1996-2001.

Earlier this month, it ordered all women in public to wear head-to-toe clothing that leaves only their eyes visible and said male relatives would face punishment for women’s dress-code violations.

Earlier this year, girls were barred from attending school after the sixth grade. Women also are restricted from venturing more than 72 kilometers from their homes without a male relative.

The council said it called on the Taliban “to swiftly reverse the policies and practices which are currently restricting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Afghan women and girls.”

MTO/Aljazeera