Islamic Emirate Reacts to UN Report on Women in Afghanistan

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, in response to the joint report of UN institutions addressing the situation of women in Afghanistan, said that UNAMA is preventing the political progress of the current Afghan government by publishing such reports.

The spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the current realities of the country are not reflected in these reports and these institutions are seeking to create conspiracies and make excuses regarding Afghanistan’s diplomatic relations with other countries, which are not yielding results.

Mujahid said that women’s rights are ensured in the country and such reports are baseless.

“Recognition of a country is based on the laws of the UN, not on the basis of some women or some people in a country. Second, the institutions are seeking to create conspiracies and make excuses regarding the diplomatic relations of institutions and countries with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the spokesman said.

“UN Women, IOM and UNAMA convened online and in-person (where safe to do so) group consultations and conducted individual telesurveys, together reaching 745 Afghan women across all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces,” the report said.

According to the UN institutions’ survey, women said international recognition of the current Afghan government should happen only when restrictions on female are reversed.

“Women stated that international recognition should happen only after reversing all restrictions (32 percent) or after some specific bans are reversed (25 percent) on women and girls; 28 percent said that recognition should not happen at all, under any circumstances. In July 2023, a similar question found that 96 per cent of women maintained that recognition should only occur after improvements in women’s rights or that it should not occur at all,” the report reads.

“Women expressed deep disappointment with those Member States that, in their efforts to engage the DFA, overlook the severity of an unprecedented women’s rights crisis and the associated violations of international law, based on the treaties to which Afghanistan was a signatory. Women did not accept the current plight,” the report further stated.

Meanwhile, some political experts think that the Islamic Emirate’s recognition depends on its ability to comply with the world’s demands for the protection of women’s and girls’ rights.

“Apart from the fact that whether or not the international community recognizes the current government, the issue of girls schools and universities, the employment of women and the meaningful presence of women in society are demands of national interests and are an important step for the stability of Afghanistan,” said Najibullah Jami, a political analyst.

This comes as many in the international community has made the recognition of the Islamic Emirate conditional on the ensuring of women’s rights in the country.