UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous, has delivered Wednesday powerful remarks at the UN Security Council during the meeting to present the Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security.
Below are some highlights of Ms. Bahous’ remarks, the full version can be read here.
We have heard and will continue to hear today about the Taliban’s new morality law, made public this August 21st by the de facto Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. While much of the law was already in place in prior decrees or edicts of the de facto authorities, this law introduces a new low where we thought there was nowhere lower to go.
It requires women and girls to cover their entire bodies and faces everywhere outside their homes.
It forbids them speaking in public, using public transportation alone, or even looking at men to whom they are not related by blood or marriage.
As you know, this comes on top of edicts issued over the past three years segregating women and men in daily life, prohibiting women from using gyms, parks, or public baths and more.
The new morality law does not only segregate women from men. It isolates them from other women too. In our surveys, only 22 per cent of Afghan women report meeting with women outside their immediate family on a daily or weekly basis, while 18 per cent never do.
Not surprisingly, 90 per cent of Afghan women and girls report that their mental health is bad or very bad, with a majority of women reporting that their mental health is getting worse every quarter, and 8 per cent knowing at least one woman or girl who has attempted suicide.
In our surveys, 64 per cent of women felt completely unsafe leaving their house by themselves, a percentage that has increased in recent months and will likely increase with the new law. When asked why they felt unsafe, 70 per cent attributed it to harassment by the de facto authorities. Place all this alongside “honour” killings, corporal punishments, domestic violence, and rising maternal mortality.
Currently, 94 per cent of protests are held online, hiding their location and identities. And this new “morality law” has also triggered a new wave of protests online, where Afghan women are seen singing, with their faces uncovered and their hair loose, in a show of defiance against the law.
These bans continue to destroy Afghanistan’s overall economic prospects too. It is projected that the Afghan economy will lose 5 per cent of GDP annually by excluding women from the workforce, and the equivalent of two-thirds of today’s gross domestic product by 2066 if the suspension of women’s access to higher education remains in place.
Our projections estimate that maternal mortality may increase by 50 per cent by 2026 because of this ban. That translates to thousands of additional deaths of Afghan women during birth every year for preventable causes and policy choices.
I do not need to point out to this Council the potential implications beyond Afghanistan’s borders. We are seeing developments in Afghanistan inspiring other oppressive actors elsewhere. We are in the midst of a global backlash against gender equality gains and the weaponization of misogyny.
How the international community rises to the unacceptable extremes of Afghanistan is not just a test of who we are. It is being watched carefully by political actors and armed groups in other countries and regions.
I assure you, if we give up on Afghan women, if we succumb to fatalism, let go of our principles, turn our faces, and remove our resources, the impact on our broader struggle for gender equality may be felt for decades.
So instead of turning away, we all must step forward in three ways.
First, invest in and strengthen women-led civil society organizations, including through long-term, flexible funding. In Afghanistan this requires changes to the usual mechanisms and risk management, but as realities and needs change, so must our ability to support.
Second, commit that at least 30 per cent of all funding for Afghanistan be to initiatives that directly target gender equality and women’s rights. No more gender-blind interventions. No more weak or superficial mainstreaming of gender into other initiatives. This does not work in Afghanistan. Afghan women continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience and leadership by establishing new civil society organizations to serve their needs and the needs of others. They are also creating and running businesses that not only provide for their families but that serve and sometimes uplift their communities. We must support these efforts.
Third, stop normalizing discriminatory practices. Stop sending all-male delegations to meet with the Taliban, or having women present only in administrative functions. Commit to gender parity in international interactions with the de facto authorities.
It is eminently understandable that to many, the situation of Afghanistan’s women and girls may appear intractable and hopeless. I tell you that it is not. It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless. We can decide now to put our political will and resources behind our solidarity with Afghan women. We can decide now to fund women’s organizations, women’s businesses, women’s leadership, services for women. We can decide now to create spaces in every policy forum available for Afghan women to be heard-from directly.
In conclusion, we can act, we can redouble our resolve, we can maintain our relentless progress down a path that is hard and long but is there.
