OHCHR / AFGHANISTAN HUMAN RIGHTS

A UN Human Rights spokesperson said, In the latest step taken to disempower women in Afghanistan, the de facto authorities have told women civil servants barred from going to work that their salaries would now be cut to the lowest level regardless of their experience or qualifications." OHCHR

• Video Length: 00:01:28
• Production Date: 13 June 2024
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - OHCHR
• Subject Topical: HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: AFGHANISTAN
• MAMS Id: 3220339
• Parent Id: 3220339
• Alternate Title: unifeed240613j

Description

STORY: OHCHR / AFGHANISTAN HUMAN RIGHTS
TRT: 01:28
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 13 JUNE 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shotlist

1. Exterior shots: Palais Wilson
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“In the latest step taken to disempower women in Afghanistan, the de facto authorities have told women civil servants barred from going to work that their salaries would now be cut to the lowest level regardless of their experience or qualifications.
Following their takeover in August 2021, the Taliban said that women could return to work when “the necessary conditions” were in place. Almost three years on, they have failed to clarify any timeline towards that resumption or take any meaningful steps towards allowing all women civil servants to return to work.
This latest discriminatory and profoundly arbitrary decision further deepens the erosion of human rights in Afghanistan, following decisions to restrict women and girls’ access to education and employment, limit their freedom of movement, and curtail their presence in public spaces, effectively entrenching the exclusion of women from public life.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, calls on the de facto authorities to rescind all laws, instructions, edicts and other measures that discriminate against women and girls, in clear violation of Afghanistan’s human rights obligations.”

Storyline

UN Human Rights spokesperson Liz Throssell made the following comment on the latest measures taken by the de facto government in Afghanistan against women.

“In the latest step taken to disempower women in Afghanistan, the de facto authorities have told women civil servants barred from going to work that their salaries would now be cut to the lowest level regardless of their experience or qualifications.

Following their takeover in August 2021, the Taliban said that women could return to work when “the necessary conditions” were in place. Almost three years on, they have failed to clarify any timeline towards that resumption or take any meaningful steps towards allowing all women civil servants to return to work.

This latest discriminatory and profoundly arbitrary decision further deepens the erosion of human rights in Afghanistan, following decisions to restrict women and girls’ access to education and employment, limit their freedom of movement, and curtail their presence in public spaces, effectively entrenching the exclusion of women from public life.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, calls on the de facto authorities to rescind all laws, instructions, edicts and other measures that discriminate against women and girls, in clear violation of Afghanistan’s human rights obligations,” Throssell said.