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Indonesia urges concrete support for Afghan women
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Afghan women stage a protest for their rights at a beauty salon in the Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul on July 19, 2023. Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities had ordered beauty parlors across the country to shut within a month, the vice ministry confirmed the latest curb to squeeze women out of public life. (AFP/-)
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ndonesia has continued to advocate for the rights of Afghan women on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), calling on world leaders on Tuesday not to allow politics to get in the way of helping those marginalized under Taliban rule.
Together with Canada and Ireland, Indonesia co-sponsored a high-level side event to inspire global solidarity with Afghan women and girls, putting an emphasis on access to education, the right to work and humanitarian aid.
“We all know the worrying situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. I don’t need to repeat it because it has been well recorded in many reports. The question is, what are we going to do about it?” Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in a speech at the high-level dialogue at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States.
“Solidarity means empathy and providing concrete support,” she said.
The dialogue, held only a day after Afghanistan marked the second anniversary of education being banned for women and girls, was also attended by numerous other countries including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
According to data from the UN, over 1 million Afghan girls have been affected by the Taliban’s education ban, while its restrictions on women’s employment are estimated to have caused losses of US$1 billion.
Since taking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has issued at least 94 edicts and decrees to obstruct women’s daily activities, said former Afghan diplomat Asila Wardak during the dialogue on Tuesday.
