UN: Afghan girls’ exclusion from high school is ‘shameful’

The United Nations said it was increasingly concerned that the policy, along with other restrictions on fundamental freedoms, would exacerbate the country’s economic crisis in the form of greater insecurity, poverty and isolation.

“This is a tragic, shameful and completely avoidable anniversary,” said Marcus Potzel, acting head of the UN mission in Afghanistan.

A year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, hardliners appear to dominate the Taliban-led government. Teenage girls are still barred from school, and women must cover themselves from head to toe in public, with only their eyes exposed. The religious group has failed to deliver on various promises to bring girls back into the classroom. The ban targets grades 7-12 and mainly affects girls between the ages of 12 and 18.

The Taliban reopened high schools to boys while instructing girls to stay home. The United Nations estimates that more than a million girls have been barred from high school in the past year.

“There is no credible justification for the continued exclusion of girls from high school, and there is nothing like it anywhere in the world. This is causing profound damage to the future of a generation of girls and Afghanistan itself,” said UN Secretary General for Afghanistan. Deputy Special Representative Potzel said.

To mark Sunday’s anniversary, 50 girls sent a letter titled “Dark Year: A Letter from Afghan Girls to Muslim Heads of State and Other World Leaders.” The girls are from the capital Kabul, eastern Nangarhar province and northern Parwan province.

“Over the past year, we have been denied human rights, such as the right to education, the privilege of working, living with dignity, freedom, freedom of movement and expression, and the right to decide and decide for ourselves,” said 18-year-old 11 from Kabul. Grader Azadi said in the letter. The girls mentioned in the letter were given only their first names.

The United Nations says denial of education violates the most basic rights of girls and women. The world body said this increased the risk of marginalisation, violence, exploitation and abuse of girls and was part of a wider range of discriminatory policies and practices against women and girls since de facto authorities took power in the summer of 2021.

The United Nations has again called on the Taliban to reverse a series of measures they have taken to limit the enjoyment of basic rights and freedoms by Afghan women and girls.

Since taking power, the Taliban have struggled to govern and remain isolated internationally. The economic downturn has pushed millions of Afghans into poverty and starvation as the inflow of foreign aid has slowed to a trickle.