The right of women to education, according to Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General H.E. Hissein Brahim Taha, is not just a full-fledged right in and of itself; it is actually an essential element for growth, peace, stability, and the fulfillment of human rights in their broadest sense, an OIC press release states.
The OIC Secretary General called for more constructive engagement with the de facto government in Afghanistan to support girls’ education in a speech given in his name at the International Conference on Afghan Women’s Education, held in Bali, Indonesia, on December 8, 2022. Ambassador Tarig Ali Bakheet is the Special Envoy of the OIC Secretary General to Afghanistan and Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian, Social, and Cultural Affairs.
As it has consistently been, Secretary General Taha stressed that the OIC is still eager and prepared to collaborate positively with its allies in an endeavor to help Afghanistan rebuild and regain its long-lost status as an effective state within the international community.
In recent months, Afghanistan has seen a sharp increase in the most serious and unacceptable violations of women’s and girls’ fundamental rights and freedoms. Girls are still not permitted to enroll in secondary schools, but restrictions on women’s access to public places like gyms and parks are growing. Most recently, young ladies in at least one province were denied entry to their institution. Additionally, when women are forbidden from attending parks, the children’s right to play and partake in leisure activities, as well as their chance for rest and exercise, are all denied. To confine women in their homes is tantamount to imprisoning them, which is likely to lead to increased rates of domestic violence and mental health problems.
Investigations of the aforementioned crimes of gender persecution, as well as earlier discriminatory actions against women and girls that the Taliban de facto power implemented, should be done in order to take legal action under international law.
