UN Urges Taliban To Uphold Afghan Girls’ Right To Education

News Desk

United Nations: Marking the second anniversary of the Taliban’s ‘fatwa’ banning secondary education for girls, the head of the UN Fund for Education in Emergency Situations has called on the world community to ensure that every girl in Afghanistan has an opportunity to learn.

“Denying education to girls is a violation of universal human rights,” Executive Director of Education (ECW) Yasmine Sherif, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The de facto authorities can do the right thing for Afghanistan’s long-suffering people by ensuring that every girl in Afghanistan can access quality education and contribute to the rebuilding of their war-torn country,” she continued.

According to Yasmine Sherif, 80 percent of Afghan girls of school age are currently not in school. “That’s 2.5 million girls who are denied their right to the safety, protection, and opportunity of education—their human rights,” she remarked.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has expressed solidarity with all Afghan girls who are courageously advocating for the right to education.

The fund recently launched the #AfghanGirlsVoices campaign, which will raise awareness of the issue throughout the year.

“We must work together to ensure that, through education, every girl in Afghanistan can emerge from the shadows and contribute to the brighter future that every Afghan deserves,” Sherif added.

ECW runs a multi-year resilience programme in Afghanistan that aims to support more than 250,000 children and young people across some of the most remote and underserved areas of the country.

It has appealed for immediate additional funding to cover a $30 million shortfall in order to fully implement the initiative, as well as the $670 million required to fully support a new strategic plan to reach 20 million crisis-affected children worldwide over the next three years. Agencies