The Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said the country’s de facto rulers, who have imposed their own interpretation of strict Islamic law, have “delivered a period of stability not seen in decades” in Afghanistan, but the population is at risk of a worsening humanitarian and development crisis as international funding dwindles.
The actual authorities are worsening this crisis through policies that do not sufficiently address the real needs of the population and undermining its economic potential“, said Mrs. Otunbayeva.
Humanitarian response
She noted that the current humanitarian response plan, which requires $3 billion, is only 30 percent funded.
“There are no indications that significant additional resources will be made available “As we approach the last quarter of the year,” said Ms Otunbayeva.
The lack of funding has led to the closure of over 200 mobile and static care services this year, with another 171 healthcare facilities set to close in the coming months.
In addition, food rations in communities already suffering from hunger have been reduced from 75 to 50 percent of the required amount, and millions of vulnerable citizens live in areas where they do not have access to safe water.
“The humanitarian crisis will soon become a development crisis, given Afghanistan’s rapidly growing youth population and an economy unable to absorb them. and international donors reluctant to provide development assistance, largely due to restrictions on the movement and activities of half the population,” the Special Representative said.
Restrictions for women
Ms Otunbayeva told Council members that Afghanistan is currently being marginalised by the international community, noting that the Taliban would not need foreign intervention if they were only “unlocked the ingenuity of their entire population“.
In July, UN member states and international organizations met at a meeting on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, to discuss next steps to assist the country’s civilian population.
© UNICEF/Amin Meerzad
A teenage girl in Afghanistan stays home because she is no longer allowed to go to school.
But Ms Otunbayeva told the Council that progress was quickly undermined shortly after the meetings were convened when authorities passed a “moral supervision law” that imposed further restrictions on women.
Increasingly strict laws
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous gave more details about this law. She noted that women and girls must cover their bodies completely when they leave the house. They are also not allowed to speak in public and are not allowed to look at men they are not related to.
“Afghan women not only fear these oppressive laws, they also fear their capricious enforcement,” Ms. Bahous said. “A life lived in such conditions is truly incomprehensible.”
The director also mentioned the continuing restrictions on female education, saying that only Afghan boys continue to attend school and are taught according to a curriculum that only the Taliban know the details of.
‘We must listen to the girls in Afghanistan’
Also briefing the Council was a 21-year-old Afghan girl named Mina, who no longer lives in the country. She explained that action must be taken now to address the restrictions imposed on women by the de facto authorities.
She worried that the next generation of Afghan girls would think they had no right to an education.
“We must listen to the girls in Afghanistan and do everything we can to stop this oppression“, she said.
Briefers call on the Council to take action now
Bahous, head of UN Women, and other spokespeople called on the 15-member council to take action to defend women and other civilians in Afghanistan.
“We can now decide to use our political will and resources to show solidarity with Afghan women,” she said.
“I implore you once again not only to remain on this course but to dedicate yourselves to it with renewed determination.”
