UNICEF calls for "full inclusion" of women and girls in public life in Afghanistan in the face of Taliban restrictions

Alert of the "alarming" figures of female students excluded from school during the last three years

MADRID, 31 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called for the "full inclusion" of Afghan women and girls in public life and has warned of the "alarming" numbers of female students excluded from school due to the restrictions imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The agency's deputy executive director, Omar Abdi, has stressed that in addition to calling for the repeal of the ban on women working for non-governmental organizations, UNICEF has asked the Taliban "for the full inclusion of girls and women in public life, and especially in public secondary education and higher education".

Thus, he pointed out that "more than a million girls who should have gone to secondary school have lost their education for three years, first due to COVID-19 and then, since September 2021, due to the ban on attending the high school".

"With the recent announcement, on December 20, of banning women's access to universities and educational centers, the hopes of Afghan girls and women to learn and work have sunk again. We are very concerned about the development of girls and women, and in particular for their mental health," she explained.

In this sense, he stressed that if secondary education classes remain closed in 2023, "it is estimated that some 215,000 girls who attended sixth grade last year will be denied, once again, their right to learn." "Despite the grim situation, the people of Afghanistan have not given up. So neither should we," she stressed.

Abdi has stressed the existence of "some positive signs", including that "an estimated 200,000 girls continue to attend secondary schools in around 12 provinces, while secondary school teachers continue to receive their salaries from the de facto authorities".

"The authorities we met with in Kabul last week reassured us that they are not against girls learning in secondary schools and have again promised to reopen the centers after their leader approves the guidelines," he said.

On the other hand, it has affected that the number of classes in community centers, which take place in private homes and public places, "has doubled from 10,000 to 20,000." "Some 600,000 children attend these classes, of which 55 percent are girls," she pointed out.

"Thanks to this type of education, it is possible to reach children who have never been to school, thanks to the access we now have to many parts of the country that were previously inaccessible due to the conflict," he said, before stressing that "these Positive signs are the result of both the commitment of the de facto authorities and the pressure of local communities to keep schools and community classes open."

"As long as communities continue to demand education, we must continue to support both public education and other forms of education: community education classes, remedial classes, and vocational training. Without education there is little hope for a better future for the girls and women of Afghanistan." , has riveted.

Abdi's statements come days after the Taliban ordered the country's universities, both public and private, to prohibit students from accessing this year's selectivity test.

This new order amplifies the initial restriction of the Taliban authorities, announced in December, which strictly prohibited women's access to university higher education until further notice, in a decision that earned the fundamentalist movement a wave of international criticism.