UNITED NATIONS, Sep 24 : Afghan women earned the right to vote more than a century ago, but today, under Taliban rule, they are practically erased from public life, Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, who is also a prominent advocate for women\u2019s rights, said at the United Nations on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday in Kabul a female cat has more freedom than a woman. A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today, because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
Ms. Streep joined several prominent Afghan women activists at the event \u201cThe Inclusion of Women in the Future of Afghanistan\u201d on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cA bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not and a woman may not in public. This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law. This is odd,\u201d she said, referring to the Taliban\u2019s latest edict for Afghan women, banning their voices and presence from public spaces.<\/p>\n
The meeting was co-hosted by Ireland, Indonesia, Switzerland and Qatar, in partnership with the Women\u2019s Forum on Afghanistan, which works to ensure that Afghan women are included in any dialogue and decision-making at the international level on the future of their country.<\/p>\n
It came on the eve of the annual debate in the General Assembly, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took time out of his packed schedule to uphold international solidarity with Afghan women.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to amplify the voices of Afghan women and call for them to play a full role in the country\u2019s life, both inside its borders and on the global stage,\u201d the UN chief said.<\/p>\n
Guterres vowed that the UN \u201cwill never allow gender-based discrimination to become normalized anywhere in the world,\u201d adding \u201cwhat is happening in Afghanistan can be compared with some of the most egregious systems of oppression in recent history.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Taliban have been slashing away at women\u2019s and girls\u2019 rights since returning to power in August 2021.<\/p>\n
The Afghan authorities have issued more than 70 fatwas, directives and decrees, including limiting girls to primary-level education, banning women from most professions and prohibiting them from using parks, gyms and other public places.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe meet in perilous times, and it is heart wrenching to be a woman and never as much as now in Afghanistan,\u201d said Margot Wallstrom, a former Swedish foreign minister and chair of the Women\u2019s Forum on Afghanistan who served as the moderator.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest Taliban edict wants to silence women, including singing, and make them invisible. Not here at the UN though. Today, we will let their voices and their concerns be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms.Streep also introduced a short version of the documentary film \u2018The Sharp Edge of Peace\u2019, which follows the only woman on the Afghan Government team negotiating with the Taliban in talks held in Doha, Qatar, in 2020.<\/p>\n
She recalled that Afghan women received the right to vote in 1919, well before their counterparts in her homeland, the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way that this culture, this society, has been upended, is a cautionary tale for the rest of the world,\u201d said Ms. Streep noting that even animals in Afghanistan\u2019s capital, Kabul, have more freedom than women and girls there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 24 : Afghan women earned the right to vote more than a century ago, but today, under Taliban rule, they are practically erased from public life, Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, who is also a prominent advocate for women\u2019s rights, said at […]<\/p>\n
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