Rosa Othambaeva, the Secretary-General’s special representative and head of Afghanistan’s UN support mission, said the ongoing missile attacks between Iran and Israel had already had concrete effects.
“The conflict has already affected Afghanistan, disrupting trade, raising prices for basic goods and fuel, and spurring the return of additional Afghans from Iran,” she said.
I look forward to more returnees
More than 600,000 Afghans have returned from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran this year, and she said the UN agency is preparing for potential cross-border moves from Iran, taking into account “development concerns” in the region.
“The returns from Iran alone in the last few days have exceeded 10,000 per day,” she said.
The community and de facto Taliban authorities stated, “We have put in great effort to absorb returnees, but without international support there are limits to safe, orderly, and peaceful interests.”
Concerns regarding involvement
Otampaeva has updated the Council on the Continuous UN involvement with Taliban leaders who returned to power nearly four years ago.
This “comprehensive approach” aims to achieve Afghanistan in full reintegration into the international community, fulfilling its international obligations and without experiencing another cycle of violence.
She emphasized that “not attempting to normalize the status quo, but rather ensuring that multiple important issues of concern, particularly supporting the country’s international obligations, remain at the core of the efforts of involvement.”
The Afghan teenage girl is at home as she is no longer allowed to attend school.
The erasure of rights of women and girls continues
She is very concerned that the international community has not improved the unacceptable situation for women and girls in Afghanistan, promoted inclusive governance, or prevented significant deterioration of human rights. ”
Meanwhile, the de facto authorities have communicated complaints about frozen assets, sanctions, recognition, the need to improve development assistance, and the end to support reliance.
She said the UN will hold a meeting of two anti-drug and private sector working groups in Doha, Qatar in a matter of days, calling it “an important development that gives momentum to multilateral engagement and builds confidence in the value of mutual cooperation.”
Relative stability, limiting policy
Otampaeva said the Taliban regulations provided relative stability and security to Afghanistan, promoted modest economic growth and foreign investment, launched dormant infrastructure projects, and deepened diplomatic relations overseas, particularly in the region.
However, authorities “continue to implement extremely restrictive and discriminatory policies regarding the Afghan people,” as embodied in the “Virus Propagation and Evil Prevention Act,” which came into effect last August.
The law “strengthened” the Taliban systematic state-sponsored policies that exclude women and girls from participation in public life, including education, employment, freedom of movement and freedom of expression.
Risk reintegration
“Through this law, the de facto authorities continue to pursue paths that will distract Afghanistan from international obligations and prevent it from reintegrating into the ultimate international system,” she said.
“Even if continuous alienation no longer produces headlines under increasing enforcement of more and more laws, we cannot forget the unacceptable situation for women and girls in Afghanistan.”
The ongoing ban on education for girls beyond primary schools is “the most obvious sign of discrimination against Taliban women and continues to make Afghanistan stand out from the world,” she said.
One in five people get hungry
Joyce Musuya, vice-commander of the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs, highlighted how funding cuts are affecting Afghanistan.
The population “faces persistent and keen humanitarian needs that have been exacerbated by decades of conflict, entrenched poverty, constant climate, strict restrictions on the rights of women and girls, and a highly constrained financial environment,” she said.
Today, one in five Afghans are hungry, 3.5 million children are acutely malnourished, and around 3.7 million children are graduating from school. Furthermore, mother mortality rates are more than 2.5 times the global average.
Medical facilities have been closed
She said cuts in aid continue to hinder humanitarian responses, and 420 healthcare facilities have been forced to close their doors, affecting more than 3 million people.
“Nearly 300 nutritional sites have been shut down, taking away 80,000 children with acute malnutrition, pregnant women and new mothers of essential treatment,” she added.
“In spite of the challenges, despite the great risks, our Afghan female colleagues have delivered help, go to places that others can’t, listen to communities that would otherwise not be heard, and stand by people who might otherwise be forgotten,” she said.
The difficulty increases
The UN Women’s Executive Director, Simabhaus, is calling for more diplomacy to deal with the spiral crises in the Middle East and Iran.
“Growing regional and global unrest will only deepen the difficulties faced by women and girls in Afghanistan, exacerbating poverty, displacement, violence and deprivation,” she warned.
Moreover, the ability of the UN and partners to support women in Afghanistan is dramatically undermined by legal and bureaucratic barriers that make it more difficult to hire women than ever, let alone hire women when deep cuts to support the budget are “more devastating than ever.”
“Unshakable resolution”
“Even so, we’ll stay and we’ll serve as usual,” Bahaus said.
“And Afghan women continue to lead,” she added. “They opened an underground school. They organized in silence. They built lives in the sliver of the space they left. They showed unwavering resolve, even when the world was shaking.”
