The United Nations’ (UN) top official in Afghanistan defended the failure to include Afghan women in the upcoming first meeting between the Taliban and envoys from 22 countries, insisting that demands for women’s rights are certain to be raised.
UN special envoy Roza Otunbayeva was pummelled with questions on June 21 from journalists about criticism from human rights organisations at the omission of Afghan women from the meeting in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on June 30 and July 1.
Human Rights Watch Executive Director Tirana Hassan said that, in the face of the Taliban’s tightening repression of women and girls, the UN plans to hold a meeting “without women’s rights on the agenda or Afghan women in the room are shocking.”
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said, “The credibility of this meeting will be in tatters if it doesn’t adequately address the human rights crisis in Afghanistan and fails to involve women human rights defenders and other relevant stakeholders from Afghan civil society.”