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STORY: UNGA79 / AFGHAN WOMEN INCLUSION
TRT: 02:41
SOURCE: UN NEWS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 23 SEPTEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Asila Wardak, lawyer, former Afghan diplomat, and human rights activist:
“What today they are doing - Taliban in Afghanistan - it's against Islam. It's not in the religion, and it's not in our culture. We see countries can play a great role to work with them, to talk with them, especially all of Islamic countries.”
3. Wide shot, UNHQ
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Asila Wardak, Asila Wardak, Former Director General of UN Affairs, Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Founding Member, Afghan Women’s Network:
“If we refer to IQRA, IQRA is in Islam and in Koran it's mentioned so many times, but now all women and girls, they are banned even from talking, from going outside the home, and also, they cannot go to school. And this is really the interpretation that it's coming from Taliban and also the terrorist groups that they have in their heaven. It's very much risky for the entire Islam Muslim Ummah, it's not only for Afghanistan.”
5. Wide shot, UNHQ
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Asila Wardak, Asila Wardak, Former Director General of UN Affairs, Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Founding Member, Afghan Women’s Network:
“To be very honest, Taliban spent so many years in Pakistan where Benazir Bhutto was a prime minister. Taliban spent more of their lives in Qatar, where women can drive, where women are part of the society and political participation. I think more pressure is needed.”
7. Wide shot, UNHQ entrance
8. SOUNDBITE Asila Wardak, Asila Wardak, Former Director General of UN Affairs, Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Founding Member, Afghan Women’s Network:
“And also, in my opinion, it's very much important those delegations, especially Muslim delegates, that they are going to Afghanistan and visiting. They should bring also more women, more women scholars to talk directly with Taliban to show that the real face of Islam: Equality.”
9. Med shot, UNGA sign
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Habiba Sarabi, Former Afghan Minister for Women’s Affairs / former Governor of Bamyan Province:
“Also, the U.N. should protect their resolution and also treaties that they have been already I mean, issued or signed. For example, at this moment, at this time, the gender apartheid is, I mean, practicing in Afghanistan. And also there is not inclusivity, that other ethnic group are avoided from every space of the life. So, this is a human right, I mean, declaration should be applied.”
11. Close up, UN flag
Asila Wardak, former Director General of UN Affairs in the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that countries can play a "great role to work with" Taliban, "to talk with them, especially all of Islamic countries.”
As global leaders gathered in New York during the High-Level week of the UN General Assembly, women and girls in Afghanistan are falling further from view, both inside and outside Afghanistan, while their situation continues to worsen.
They remain banned from education and employment, with numerous restrictions on their movement and participation in public, political and economic life, including the latest on using their voices in public, aimed at completely silencing and erasing them from the public sphere.
In an interview on the sideline of the UN General Assembly, Asila Wardak said, “What today they are doing - Taliban in Afghanistan - it's against Islam. It's not in the religion, and it's not in our culture. We see countries can play a great role to work with them, to talk with them, especially all of Islamic countries.”
She continued, “If we refer to IQRA, IQRA is in Islam and in Koran it's mentioned so many times, but now all women and girls, they are banned even from talking, from going outside the home, and also, they cannot go to school. And this is really the interpretation that it's coming from Taliban and also the terrorist groups that they have in their heaven. It's very much risky for the entire Islam Muslim Ummah, it's not only for Afghanistan.”
She also said, “To be very honest, Taliban spent so many years in Pakistan where Benazir Bhutto was a prime minister. Taliban spent more of their lives in Qatar, where women can drive, where women are part of the society and political participation. I think more pressure is needed.”
She added, “And also, in my opinion, it's very much important those delegations, especially Muslim delegates, that they are going to Afghanistan and visiting. They should bring also more women, more women scholars to talk directly with Taliban to show that the real face of Islam: Equality.”
Habiba Sarabi, former Afghan Minister for Women’s Affairs, former Governor of Bamyan Province, said, “Also, the U.N. should protect their resolution and also treaties that they have been already I mean, issued or signed. For example, at this moment, at this time, the gender apartheid is, I mean, practicing in Afghanistan. And also there is not inclusivity, that other ethnic group are avoided from every space of the life. So, this is a human right, I mean, declaration should be applied.”
