The United Nations secretary-general Monday renewed his demand for Afghanistan’s Taliban to allow teenage girls to attend high school.
“This is an unjustifiable violation of human rights that inflicts long-lasting damage on the entire country,” Antonio Guterres said on X (formerly Twitter). “Girls belong in school. Let them back in,” he added. His statement marks two years since the de facto rulers imposed an education ban.
The Taliban seized power from an internationally backed government in August 2021 and have since imposed sweeping restrictions on Afghan women’s access to education and work. They have banned girls from school beyond sixth grade, making Afghanistan the only country in the world with restrictions on education for females.
Guterres told reporters last week that the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan “is absolutely central to all concerns” and would be on the agenda of the U.N. General Assembly session starting Monday in New York.
Education Cannot Wait, the U.N. global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, denounced the ban as a violation of universal human rights.
“In all, 80% of school-aged Afghan girls are currently out of school – that’s 2.5 million girls denied their right to the safety, protection, opportunity of education – their inherent human right,” the agency said.
