Italy has held the first thematic summit of the Group of the 20 most powerful countries in the world dedicated to gender equality and female empowerment.
In a context marked by the crisis in Afghanistan after the rise of the Taliban and by the risk that women run with the coming to power of the fundamentalists, expectations were placed on the possibility of attending a first joint international step to implement concrete mechanisms to defend Afghan women and girls are in place.
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The opportunity was unique, but nevertheless, the G-20 meeting has briefly passed on the issue, despite attempts by the hosts, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Equality Minister Elena Bonetti, to reach a full international commitment in defense of Afghan women. Bonetti even called an extraordinary meeting of the Group's equality ministers to discuss the matter. "We cannot and do not want to look the other way," he stressed in his welcome speech.
When the meeting ended, the Italian minister appeared before the media in a brief press conference in which she explained that the participating countries have agreed on the need to define a concrete international strategy to address the situation in Afghanistan, but did not indicate any precise initiative . "We have agreed on the need to ask the entire international community to assume responsibilities in Afghanistan and make available all the necessary instruments to prevent violence against women and guarantee that they maintain their rights and are not discriminated against," he limited himself to saying.
The meeting was held in the tourist town of Santa Margherita Ligure, on the imposing Ligurian coastline. And it was clouded by the absence of representatives from China, which has multiple interests at stake in Afghanistan and which has had recent contacts with the Taliban, although it has shown caution when it comes to coming up with concrete deals with the Islamist militia. It did have the presence of the ministers of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, other countries with great influence in the area. The Spanish Minister of Equality Irene Montero participated by videoconference on behalf of Spain, permanent guest of the G-20. "For the Government of Spain, the human rights of women and girls must be the main international priority," he wrote on his social networks.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who is preparing an extraordinary G20 summit to address the Afghan crisis, urged members of the Group of the 20 most industrialized and emerging countries at the beginning of the meeting to "do everything possible to ensure that Afghan women preserve their fundamental freedoms and basic rights ”.
And he especially highlighted the need to maintain the right to education, since the Taliban, among other methods of repression, prohibit girls from attending school after a certain age.
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During his speech, Draghi stressed that the almost 19 million Afghan women and girls "are on the verge of losing their freedom and dignity and returning to their sad state of two decades ago."
In addition, she pointed out, "they run the risk of once again being second-class citizens, who face violence and are systematically discriminated against, just because of their gender."
And he settled: "We must not fool ourselves."
In the almost two weeks that have passed since the fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the fundamentalists, the stories of women hiding in their homes, forced to cover themselves or unable to enter their places of work or study have multiplied.
Although female illiteracy rates, gender violence and legal and cultural obstacles to achieving equal opportunities have always been high in Afghanistan, even in the most recent years, since 2001, when the five-year period of the first Islamic Emirate established by the Taliban, the progress has been immense. Despite the promises of the militia, women fear a brutal setback, with the imposition of wearing a burqa, being accompanied by a male guardian to be able to leave the house or with the prohibition of studying, working, traveling alone, watching television , read or play sports, under penalty of being stoned, mutilated or imprisoned. "The progress made over the past twenty years must be preserved," Draghi stressed. And he has launched an appeal to the rest of the states: “As G-20 countries,we have an obligation not only to our own citizens, but to the world community. We must defend women's rights everywhere and especially where they are threatened ”.
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