Delivered by
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TÜRK
At
Conference on Accountability and Gender Justice in Afghanistan
Excellencies, colleagues, friends,
I send my warm greetings to the Women’s Forum for Afghanistan, the Permanent Mission of Chile, the Permanent Mission of Spain, and all those attending this important event.
Over the past three years, the women and girls of Afghanistan have seen an egregious erosion of their human rights.
National edicts and local initiatives have curtailed their rights to education and decent work and ended their rights to freedom of movement, peaceful assembly, and freedom of expression. The cumulative impact has almost erased women and girls from public life and left them virtual prisoners in their own homes.
This oppression of half the population, based on gender, is unparalleled in today’s world, and amounts to State-sponsored, systematic gender persecution. This is self-harm on a national scale, which will have a catastrophic and inter-generational impact on the country’s prospects for peace and sustainable development.
In this extremely difficult context, it is really important to amplify the voices of Afghan women and girls by every means possible – including events like this one.
I fully support today’s initiative to strategize on new ideas and approaches to address the issue of gender justice and accountability.
We must strengthen existing accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court investigation into gender persecution, and the initiative at the International Court of Justice.
I also welcome the discussion around the concept of Gender Apartheid, and how this can enhance accountability for systemic gender-based persecution.
Let me be clear: Afghanistan cannot continue on this path. The de facto authorities must take decisive steps to comply with their non-negotiable human rights obligations. The issue is how to get there.
From our side, the United Nations will continue to engage with the de facto authorities, calling for the immediate reversal of their discriminatory policies against women and girls, and for meaningful steps to restore the human rights of all the country’s people.
The international community must stay the course. I welcome today’s Conference and all efforts towards justice and accountability for the women and girls of Afghanistan.