UNAMA: 1,225 Days of Banning Education for Millions of Girls is an Unacceptable and Tragic Matter
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has stated that it has been 1,225 days since millions of girls in Afghanistan above the 6th grade have been deprived of their right to education, calling it an unacceptable and tragic situation.
In a statement released today, Friday, January 24 , on the occasion of International Education Day, the UN agency emphasized: “UNAMA marks this important occasion with deep regret and concern for the millions of Afghan girls who have been deprived of their fundamental right to education.”
The statement, quoting Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, said that it is unacceptable and tragic that millions of Afghan girls are deprived of their right to education. Otunbayeva added: “No country has ever progressed by taking power and sidelining half of its population. The authorities must immediately end this ban and allow all Afghan girls to return to school.”
According to UNAMA, it has been 1,225 days since the Taliban imposed a ban preventing girls above the age of 12 from attending school. This ban has imposed extensive restrictions on the most basic rights and freedoms of women and girls, and Afghanistan is the only country in the world that explicitly denies women and girls access to all levels of education.
International Education Day is celebrated every year on January 24 by the United Nations. This year, the organization has set the theme as “Artificial Intelligence and Education: Protecting Human Skills in an Increasingly Smart World.”
After the Taliban took power on August 15, 2021 , women were banned from working and studying beyond the 6th grade. This ban has attracted widespread international criticism as well as some opposition from certain Taliban figures.
Yesterday, Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, called for the arrest of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the group’s chief justice, for crimes against humanity in relation to the ban and the abuse and mistreatment of women.
Recently, Abbas Stanikzai, the deputy political head of the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, strongly criticized the restrictions on women, the ban on their education and employment, calling it a violation of the rights of half of the country’s population. He also stated that giving religious justification to these bans was incorrect and implicitly attributed them to the nature of the Taliban leadership.
