Afghan women: 43 countries urge Taliban to lift curbs

Forty-three countries called on Taliban authorities on Wednesday to immediately lift restrictions on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan and end human rights violations.

Jerome Bonnafont, France's representative to the United Nations, spoke for the signatories ahead of a Security Council meeting. He said the Taliban had implemented gender-based segregation since returning to power in August 2021, restricting women and girls' access to education, healthcare and employment and erasing them from much of public life.

UNESCO says about 2.4 million Afghan girls and young women are currently deprived of secondary education. Bonnafont said women who refuse, or are seen as refusing, to comply with restrictions face arrest and arbitrary detention, and that supporters and perceived critics of Taliban rule also face detention and reprisals.

The signatories include European countries as well as Liberia, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Japan. The United Nations says more than 400,000 Afghans have been forcibly returned this year, mainly from Iran and Pakistan, despite Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis.