Speech: Afghan women have not given up, nor can we – We must not look away

We meet at a time when global peace is elusive, and hope is fragile. The recent escalation in the Middle East, including in Iran, home to more than three million Afghan refugees, have intensified regional and global instability. The growing regional and global insecurity will only deepen the hardships faced by Afghan women and girls, compounding poverty, displacement, violence, and deprivation.

They, and all women and girls everywhere, deserve peace. I echo all calls to choose diplomacy, to de-escalate, and to respect international law and the United Nations Charter.

Since I briefed the Council on Afghanistan nine months ago, the reality for Afghan women and girls has only grown more dire. Not a single restriction has been reversed. Repression has become more systematic and has calcified into structure and law.

Amidst this deepening crisis, Afghan women’s call for the world not to forget about them is too often unheard.

With the many geopolitical shifts, the growing global instability, and the multiple humanitarian crises that the world is grappling with, our attention drifts, returning to them only when the next ban is announced—and their lives grow more constrained.

Despite multiple Security Council resolutions demanding safe and unhindered access for female aid workers, the ability of the UN and our partners to deliver for Afghan women has been drastically undermined. Legal and bureaucratic barriers imposed by the de facto authorities make it harder than ever to hire women safely, to even reach them, all while deep funding cuts have ever more devastating consequences.

Yet, we stay, and we deliver, as we always have. With the UN Country Team, UN Women continues to do our utmost to support Afghan women [to] navigate through endless restrictions, we provide for separate facilities, for male chaperones (the mahrams), and we constantly negotiate with the de facto authorities for exceptions.

And Afghan women continue to lead the way. They have opened underground schools, organized in silence, built lives in those slivers of space left to them. They have shown unshakable determination, even when the world faltered.

The story of Sama, a woman in Bamyan who runs a small shop in the women’s entrepreneur market, is one of courage and inspiration. With solar panels installed by UN Women, she and other women entrepreneurs have saved money on electricity, increased product outputs, and expanded their investments.

In just one year, 35 women-led businesses in the market in Bamyan collectively earned over USD 62,500 in revenue, more than twice their previous annual income. This is resilience. And this is hope and resolve, even in the darkest of times.

While Sama’s story is a pocket of light, the reality remains that a third of the population, mostly women and children, face malnutrition, even starvation at times, as the price of basic staples has surged.

• Hundreds of clinics have closed.
• Midwives report a rise in maternal deaths.
• Mental health issues are on the rise.
• Girls are losing access to food, to education, to any vision for their futures.
• Child marriage and teenage pregnancies are on the rise.
• The narrow window of a sixth-grade education for girls is narrowing.
• Some girls now pray to fail their exams, simply to remain in school a little longer.
• Others are never sent to school at all. Why invest in hope when hope is banned?
• Meanwhile, Afghan boys are growing up in a system that teaches them that women are inferior.

This is not just a crisis for girls. This is generational damage. We can only try to grasp what this means for the millions of girls forced to endure this reality.

The latest data from UN Women’s Afghanistan Gender Index, launched last week, confirms a grim trajectory:

• Nearly 78 per cent of Afghan women aged 18 to 29 are neither working, nor studying, nor training, making Afghanistan home to one of the widest and fastest growing gender gaps in the world.
• Men are nearly three times more likely than women to own a bank account or use mobile money services.
• Rates of intimate partner violence are rising.
• And education bans alone are estimated to cost Afghanistan USD 1.5 billion by 2030.

While it has been nearly four years, it is still difficult to comprehend the speed and scale of the rollback: how swiftly women’s rights were erased, how comprehensively their presence was removed from public life.

Allow me to offer you four recommendations:

First, in all our engagements with the Taliban we must put in measures that do not unintentionally support nor normalize the Taliban’s discriminatory policies, norms, and values. These include the discussions on structured engagement with the Taliban, through the Doha process, the Mosaic approach, or other international fora.

Afghan women must not be relegated to the margins. The legitimacy and sustainability of any outcome depend on Afghan women’s meaningful, safe, full, and equal participation.

Member States represented here today can commit to gender parity in all diplomatic engagement with the de facto authorities.

Second, we urge this Council to actively support ongoing accountability efforts.

Earlier this month, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan released a sobering report on the severe barriers Afghan women and girls face in accessing justice and protection. The report reinforces the urgency of establishing an independent accountability mechanism with a comprehensive mandate: to investigate and document violations.

This Council also has the tools and responsibility to act decisively through its own mechanisms. The Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1988 could convene a dedicated session focused on violations of women’s rights in Afghanistan and consider expanding its listing criteria to include such violations.

Third, donors must commit resources.

The significant burdens that funding cuts are bringing to the response in Afghanistan, require us, more than ever, to hold a principled line in ensuring Afghan women and girls are protected and empowered.

At least 30 per cent of all financial assistance to Afghanistan should directly support women and girls. Financial assistance should be channelled to women-led, grassroots organizations: those who are at the frontlines of the response, already doing the impossible, and reaching women and girls where no one else can.

Fourth, investing in digital literacy for Afghan women and girls is crucial. Digital means are often the only way to access education, training, or counselling. And digital literacy and access can support the expansion and growth of Afghan women’s businesses.

To conclude, Afghan women have not given up. Nor can we. We must not look away. We must not grow used to their situation. The systematic oppression of 20 million people simply because they are women is utterly unacceptable.

This Council has repeatedly called for women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation, including in decisions concerning Afghanistan. This call can become action through the ways in which the Taliban is engaged, through the measures for accountability this Council puts in place, and through ensuring our commitments are matched by the financial resources required.

There is no justification for delay. I urge us all to spare no effort in living up to the promises made to the women and girls of Afghanistan.

And I thank you.