UN / SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN
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STORY: UN / SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN
TRT: 05:46
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 SEPTEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
26 SEPTEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General / Head, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“It is time to support strengthened engagement with the relevant components of the de facto authorities through appropriate means to increase their knowledge and further compliance of law enforcement actions with international norms.”
4. Wide shot, Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General / Head, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“On the ground, the de facto authorities with whom we are in constant contact demonstrate an openness to continue this engagement, even as we continue to disagree profoundly—and express these disagreements in our meetings—on issues such as the rights of women and girls and the need for more inclusive governance.”
6. Wide shot, Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General / Head, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“Dialogue is not recognition. Engagement is not acceptance of these policies. On the contrary, dialogue and engagement are how we are attempting to change these policies.”
8. Med shot, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General / Head, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“A reframed engagement strategy must first acknowledge that the de facto authority bears responsibility for the well-being of the Afghan people, in all dimensions but especially concerning women.”
10. Wide shot, Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women:
“The past is full of examples of neglecting or ignoring women; the present is filled with the consequences.”
12. Wide shot, Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women:
“We must consider the messages we send when we frame the situation in Afghanistan purely or exclusively as a humanitarian crisis. It is not. It is an economic crisis, a mental health crisis, a development crisis, and more. And the thread that connects these different facets is the underlying women’s rights crisis. This must be the primary lens through which we understand what is going on and what we must do.”
14. Wide shot, Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women:
“We ask you to lend your full support to an intergovernmental process to explicitly codify gender apartheid in international law. The tools the international community has at its disposal were not created to respond to mass, state-sponsored gender oppression. This systematic and planned assault on women’s rights is foundational to the Taliban’s vision of state and society, and it must be named, defined, and proscribed in our global norms so that we can respond appropriately.”
15. Med shot, delegates
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women:
“The world watches. In some places, it watches to condemn, but in others, it watches to emulate, as other countries and parties to conflict seek to mimic the crimes of the Taliban inflicted on women. The multilateral system, excellencies, is being tested. We must not be found wanting.”
17. Med shot, delegates
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Naseer Ahmad Faiq, Chargé d'Affaires to the United Nations, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan:
“While dissent within the Taliban centers on power and resource distribution, the Afghan people continue to suffer under their despotic rule.”
19. Wide shot, Council
20. Pan left, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan walking to stakeout
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General / Head, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“They said that schools, this is the Western concept and would teach mostly children in Madrassas. I would say that we must not be afraid from the world of Madrassas, but we want to follow this process, turn it to Madrassas, and observe the curricula of the Madrassas what kind of subjects would be there. We hope that modern subjects like chemistry, math, IT, foreign languages will be included because they promised that girls would study in Madrassas.
22. Med shot, journalists
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General / Head, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA):
“Emir Haibatullah is the producer of decisions because I heard from one of the members of the cabinet that over the discussion, would girls’ studies be possible or not, more than 90 percent of cabinet’s members they voted for the studies of girls.”
24. Pan right, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan leaving stakeout
25. Pan left, delegates walking to stakeout
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Ferit Hoxha, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Albania:
“We condemn in the strongest terms the Taliban’s systematic discrimination, segregation, and exclusion of women and girls in Afghanistan. The drastic restrictions on the exercise of their human rights and the impact it is having on their lives are unparalleled worldwide and may amount to gender persecution.”
27. Pan right, delegates leaving stakeout
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said, “It is time to support strengthened engagement with the relevant components of the de facto authorities through appropriate means to increase their knowledge and further compliance of law enforcement actions with international norms.”
Addressing the Security Council today (26 Sept), the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said, “On the ground, the de facto authorities with whom we are in constant contact demonstrate an openness to continue this engagement, even as we continue to disagree profoundly—and express these disagreements in our meetings—on issues such as the rights of women and girls and the need for more inclusive governance.”
She also stated, “Dialogue is not recognition. Engagement is not acceptance of these policies. On the contrary, dialogue and engagement are how we are attempting to change these policies.”
Otunbayeza told the Council that this engagement could be more structured and purposeful while remaining principled.
She said, “A reframed engagement strategy must first acknowledge that the de facto authority bears responsibility for the well-being of the Afghan people, in all dimensions but especially concerning women.”
Sima Bahous, head of the UN’s gender equality agency, UN Women, also briefed the Council.
She told ambassadors that Taliban decrees cost Afghanistan roughly one billion dollars annually, which will only increase.
The edicts are also exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in a country where more than two-thirds of the population depend on assistance to survive, and some 20 million, mainly women and girls, are facing acute hunger.
She insisted that the way forward must be guided by women’s voices and the principles of the UN Charter.
Bahous stated, “The past is full of examples of neglecting or ignoring women; the present is filled with the consequences.”
She recommended that the Security Council Committee that oversees sanctions against Afghanistan convene a session to examine its role in responding to violations of women’s rights in the country.
She advised, “We must consider the messages we send when we frame the situation in Afghanistan purely or exclusively as a humanitarian crisis. It is not. It is an economic crisis, a mental health crisis, a development crisis, and more. And the thread that connects these different facets is the underlying women’s rights crisis. This must be the primary lens through which we understand what is going on and what we must do.”
Bahous also asked the Security Council to fully support an intergovernmental process to codify gender apartheid in international law explicitly.
She explained, “The tools the international community has at its disposal were not created to respond to mass, state-sponsored gender oppression. This systematic and planned assault on women’s rights is foundational to the Taliban’s vision of state and society, and it must be named, defined, and proscribed in our global norms so that we can respond appropriately.”
She concluded, “The world watches. In some places, it watches to condemn, but in others, it watches to emulate, as other countries and parties to conflict seek to mimic the crimes of the Taliban inflicted on women. The multilateral system, excellencies, is being tested. We must not be found wanting.”
Representing his country, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, Chargé d'Affaires of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United Nations, said, “While dissent within the Taliban centers on power and resource distribution, the Afghan people continue to suffer under their despotic rule.”
After the Security Council meeting, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan addressed the media.
Answering a question about the establishment of Madrasas and religious schools, she said, “They said that schools, this is the Western concept and would teach mostly children in Madrassas. I would say that we must not be afraid from the world of Madrassas, but we want to follow this process, turn it to Madrassas, and observe the curricula of the Madrassas what kind of subjects would be there. We hope that modern subjects like chemistry, math, IT, foreign languages will be included because they promised that girls would study in Madrassas.
Answering another question, she said, “Emir Haibatullah is the producer of decisions because I heard from one of the members of the cabinet that over the discussion, would girls’ studies be possible or not, more than 90 percent of cabinet’s members they voted for the studies of girls.”
Earlier this morning, the Security Council signatories of the Statement of Shared Commitments for the principles of Women, Peace, and Security (Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom), addressed the press.
They condemned “in the strongest terms the Taliban’s systematic discrimination, segregation, and exclusion of women and girls in Afghanistan. The drastic restrictions on the exercise of their human rights and the impact it is having on their lives are unparalleled worldwide and may amount to gender persecution.”