UAE delivers joint statement from 80 co-sponsors to UN over restrictions on women

The UAE delivered a joint statement from 80 co-sponsors to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday calling on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to “immediately reverse” restrictions on women and girls.

The statement was delivered by the UAE representative at the third UN General Assembly’s Third Committee on behalf of Australia, Chile, the UAE, Japan, Spain, the EU and 74-member and observer states of the United Nations.

“We are extremely alarmed by the Taliban’s (IEA) edicts, which involve the most acute and systematic form of discrimination, oppression and violence of women and girls in the world. Women and girls have been denied their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including their access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and their full, equal and meaningful participation in public life. Women are being stripped of their livelihoods and girls of their futures,” the statement said.

“We urge the Taliban (IEA) to immediately reverse the policies and practices, decrees and other pronouncements that abuse the human rights and freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan, which are incompatible with the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination,” the statement said.

The UN members reaffirmed commitment to protect human rights and the principles of freedom of religion or belief.

“However, freedom of religion or belief should never be misused to discriminate against women and girls. The Taliban’s edicts against women and girls’ rights contradict Islamic values and universal human rights,” the statement said.

This comes as the IEA has said that it is committed to ensuring women’s rights to education and work according to the Sharia law.