The United States and fifteen allies have warned the Taliban administration of Afghanistan of consequences it will face over its decision to ban women from universities.
The Foreign Ministers of the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and the High Representative of the European Union strongly condemned the Taliban’s recent decisions to ban women from universities, to continue to bar girls from secondary schools, and to impose other harsh restrictions on the ability of women and girls in Afghanistan to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Over the last 16 months since the Islamic militant outfit seized political power in Afghanistan, the Taliban regime has been imposing relentless and systemic oppressive measures against Afghan girls and women.
The Taliban have issued several decrees and edicts that constrain women’s mobility, remove women from places of work, require head-to-toe coverings for women, ban women from using public spaces such as parks and gyms and leave widows and women-headed households in dire circumstances by the requirement of male guardianship.
These policies make clear the Taliban’s disregard for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Afghanistan, the foreign ministers said in a joint statement.
With these moves, the Taliban are further isolating themselves from the Afghan population and the international community, according to the ministers.
They urged the Taliban government to immediately abandon the new oppressive measures with respect to university education for women and girls and to reverse the existing decision to prohibit girls’ access to secondary school.
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