Special OSCE Asian Partner for Co-operation Group Meeting, 3 June 2024, Australia
Afghan Women’s Rights – regional problem with global impacts. Can we do more?
3 June 2024
Statement delivered by H.E Ambassador Ian Biggs, Australia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organisations in Vienna
Excellencies, colleagues,
I thank the Permanent Representatives of North Macedonia and Afghanistan for raising this most serious of issues, and thank our speakers for their valuable work and insights.
Australia is committed to protecting and promoting the rights of women and girls.
The Taliban’s edicts impose upon the women and girls of Afghanistan the most acute and systematic forms of oppression.
Repressive restrictions on education, mobility, employment and clothing have sought to exclude women and girls from all participation in society.
We commend the courage shown by women and girls in Afghanistan to stand against oppression and demand their rights.
We applaud the many Afghan communities and individuals who have bravely stood up in support of Afghan women and girls.
Australia continues to work closely with our international partners to push back against the Taliban’s repressive restrictions and to advocate for fair and equal treatment of women.
Upholding the rights of women and girls is not just the right thing to do.
The full and equal participation of women and girls in society is critical for sustainable economic and political development, social cohesion, stability, and lasting and sustainable peace in Afghanistan.
Australia condemns in the strongest possible terms the Taliban’s ban on female UN and NGO staff from delivering humanitarian assistance.
This is not only a gross violation of human rights—it also hurts millions of Afghan people that depend on humanitarian aid to survive.
This aid is desperately needed. At least 23 million Afghans require humanitarian assistance, including more than 15 million facing acute hunger.
Without the participation of women, aid will not reach the most vulnerable. When food and other basic needs are scarce, it is again women and girls that suffer the most.
Barring women and girls from receiving an education and excluding women from working in crucial sectors will also severely inhibit the much-needed economic recovery of Afghanistan. We support the Afghan people’s calls for girls and women to return to work, school, and university, and for women to continue to play essential roles in humanitarian and basic needs assistance delivery, and we urge the Taliban to respect the political, economic, social, and cultural rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Taliban policies designed to erase women from public life will have consequences for how our countries engage with the Taliban. With these moves, the Taliban are further isolating themselves from the Afghan population and the international community. Our foremost concern will continue to be the welfare, rights, and freedoms of the people of Afghanistan.
Australia is standing with the women and girls of Afghanistan.
We have committed AU$71 million in 2023–24 and have allocated a further AU$50 million in 2024–25 towards humanitarian and basic needs assistance in Afghanistan—with a strong focus on the needs of women and girls.
This includes this providing food, shelter and sexual reproductive health services, essential health, protection and education services.
Australia’s support is being delivered through the United Nations, including the UN Population Fund, the World Food Programme and the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund.
No Australian funding will benefit or legitimise the Taliban regime.
The Taliban continue to demonstrate their contempt for the rights, freedoms, and welfare of the Afghan people, particularly women and girls, and their disinterest in normal relations with the international community.
Australia also continues to work with its partners to elevate the voices of Afghan women and girls, including through:
- co-sponsoring United Nations Security Council Resolution 2681, condemning the Taliban’s ban on Afghan women working for the UN; and
- Australia's National Statements to the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly.
I again thank Ambassadors Avirovic and Bakhtari for facilitating this discussion and would like to make particular mention of Ambassador Bakhtari’s tireless advocacy for the women and girls of Afghanistan.
Australia looks forward to continued collaboration with the OSCE, Participating States and the Asian Partners for Cooperation to advance gender equality and protect the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan and across the world.
Thank you.