Norway knocks Afghan Taliban order demanding women cover
COPENHAGEN (DENMARK): Norway has slammed the newest Afghan Taliban edict requiring females cover head to toe in public and alerted that Afghanistan’s brand-new rulers are “steering the nation towards a humanitarian, financial and human rights disaster”.
The Taliban decree, revealed on Saturday, ordered all Afghan females to wear all-covering clothing in public, the traditional burqa, and threatened to punish their male loved ones in cases of noncompliance. It stimulated comparable constraints on women and other hardline measures enforced by the Taliban throughout their previous, 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, the Taliban decided against resuming schools to women above grade six, breaking an earlier guarantee and opting to appease their hardline base. That decision has actually drawn international condemnation and interfered with efforts by the Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan last August, to win acknowledgment from prospective global donors at a time when the nation is mired in a getting worse humanitarian crisis.
“I am outraged by the statement that cautions that ladies in Afghanistan must cover their faces in public, can not drive a car and only leave home when essential,” a declaration from Henrik Thune, Norway’s deputy foreign minister, stated Sunday.
Thune said the edict is “entirely undesirable” and worried that although the Taliban are in power, “they are still a separated and non-representative government”.
“The Taliban’s policies continue to oppress females and women, instead of attending to the financial crisis and the requirement for an inclusive federal government,” he said.
Norway hosted three days of talks in January amongst the Taliban, Western diplomats and other delegates at closed-door meetings in the snow-capped mountains above the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
The talks – the first in Europe since the Taliban takeover – focused on humanitarian help to Afghanistan and human rights. The Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, said the conversations “went effectively.” The talks also included discussions in between the Taliban and members of Afghan civil society.
Thune said it was essential to pursue dialogue, “even if the Taliban have values that are far from ours” and added that without discussion, “we also have no chance to influence those in power.”
He urged the Taliban to “once again to keep their pledges to Afghan women and girls”.
“Afghanistan’s females and women are waiting on the right to a complete life and can’t be left out from society,” he said.
Published at Mon, 09 May 2022 09:11:29 +0000