Speaking at a High-Level Side Event on the Inclusion of Women in the Future of Afghanistan on the margins of the Summit of the Future, Secretary-General today (23 Sep) said, “extreme gender-based discrimination is not only a systematic abuse of women and girls and a violation of human rights conventions and laws, it is a self-harm on a national scale.”

The Secretary-General highlighted the deep crisis of gender-based discrimination and oppression faced by the women and girls of Afghanistan.

He said, “the new law, enacted last month, formalised the systematic erasure of women and girls from public life. Afghan women and girls are largely confined to their homes with no freedom of movement and almost no access to education or work.”

Guterres said, “it completely undermines the de facto authority's stated objective of economic self-reliance. Educating girls is one of the fastest ways to kickstart economic development and improve the health, well-being and prosperity of communities and the entire societies.”

He stressed that without educated women, without women in employment, including in leadership roles, and without recognizing the rights and freedoms of half of its population, Afghanistan will never take its rightful place on the global stage.

The event featured a short version of a new documentary film – The Sharp Edge of Peace – on the participation of four Afghan women leaders in the Doha talks prior to the Taliban takeover. Introducing the film, actress and activist Meryl Streep said, “the way that this culture, this society has been upended is a cautionary tale for the rest of the world. In the 70s. Most of the civil servants were women. Over half the teachers, doctors, there were women, jurists, lawyers. In every profession. And then the world upended. And today in Kabul, a female cat has more freedoms than a woman. A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban. A bird may sing in Kabul. But a girl may not. And a woman may not in public. This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law.”

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, former Deputy Speaker of the Afghan parliament Fawziya Koofi said, “it's a government of Taliban, by Taliban, for Taliban in Afghanistan. Nobody else is part of that. So, it's not only women who are affected, it's the men who are affected. We are a bit disappointed for the fact that men do not stand to the extent that they should in our support. But it's a very difficult situation. And, you know, there are unrest, extrajudicial killing, arbitrary detention of people. People are enforced, disappeared. So, we understand the situation. But I think those fathers, those brothers, and those husbands who are coming to us as their representative in the last 20 years, we want to see them now in solidarity, in action. We want them to help us reclaim our country.”

For her part, former Director General of Human Rights and Women’s International Affairs at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Asila Wardak said, “this fight is not only Afghan woman's fight. This is this should be a global fight against terrorism, against extremism. Because nowadays, you know, in Afghanistan, the level of extremism that's growing up, it's not only women. It will not remain only for Afghanistan but will soon go to the neighbouring countries and also to the world. So, this is a joint effort in joint responsibility, and it should be a giant fight know.”

The Aghan women, including the former Afghanistan’s Minister for Women's Affairs Habiba Sarabi, were joined by the head of the Political and Peacebuilding Department, Rosemary Di Carlo, former Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallström and Streep.

The high-level event was hosted by the Permanent Missions of Ireland, Indonesia, Switzerland and Qatar, in partnership with the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan.