Afghanistan: governments and NGOs criticized for not sending women to discuss with the Taliban

Where are the women ?

Governments and international organizations that keep asking the Taliban to promote women are themselves criticized ... for sending only men to meet the Islamists.

Since their return to power in mid-August, the Taliban have established an all-male government and restricted women's rights to work and study, attracting a number of convictions abroad.

But we are also looking for women in the delegations of governments, agencies and NGOs who have since come to meet in Kabul the new masters of the country.

Heather Barr of the NGO Human Rights Watch has created a long list, under the keyword "sausageparty" ("sausage party", a term for a largely male meeting), of photos posted by the Taliban of their meetings. with various delegations in Kabul, without any woman.

Four countries, zero women.

Multinational #sausageparty #nowomennopeace # UNSC1325 https://t.co/s4DI5yrQ0T

- Heather Barr (@ heatherbarr1) October 21, 2021

“Foreign countries and especially aid organizations should lead by example.

No one should let the Taliban think that this kind of world they are creating, just for men, is normal, ”she explained.

Fawzia Koofi, who had participated in the fruitless peace negotiations between the Afghan government (now deposed) and the Taliban last year in Doha, does not hide his anger.

“As world leaders, when they talk about women's rights, they also need to act.

They have to show that they believe in it, that it is not just a political declaration, ”she said.

To read also "I saw the Taliban in my street and I cried": first days of anguish for the women of Kabul

Even more unfortunate example, humanitarian organizations seem to follow the same trend of exclusively male delegations.

When contacted, the organizations on her list say they are making efforts to include women in meetings with the Taliban.

But several of them admitted to having held at least one without.

A female delegation soon to be sent by the UN

The international committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations agency for children (Unicef) and Médecins sans frontières also explained that they had only sent small delegations of senior leaders, who happened to be men.

The UN has since announced that it will for the first time send an all-female delegation to Afghanistan to discuss girls' education with the Taliban.

Islamists have already met a few women, like Fawzia Koofi in Doha.

The latter, who survived two assassination attempts, initially hesitated to discuss it with the group that imprisoned her husband and threatened to stone her for wearing nail polish during their first reign in the 1990s. sitting across from them in Doha, she says she felt “powerful”.

“It was important for me to show myself and that my message be clear to them,” she declared in 2019. But today it is those who can ensure that women have their place at the table of discussions who often forget to do it, she says.