According to an EU expert, girls and women in Afghanistan will not be allowed to return to the country’s schools and universities in the new school year either. At meetings with Taliban ministers, he had not received any “firm commitment” from the militant Islamists, said the EU’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Tomas Niklasson, at a press conference.
Opening educational institutions to girls and boys, women and men in Afghanistan is not optional, Niklasson said. “It is a necessary investment in the future, in the next generation, in a better Afghanistan and, above all, it is a demand from all Afghans with whom we speak.”
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have continued to restrict the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. They are no longer allowed to attend school from the seventh grade and university.
At the end of last year, the new rulers also banned Afghan women from working in aid organizations, with the exception of the areas of health, education and nutrition. This is a clear violation of women’s right to work and severely impacts their ability to provide for themselves and their families, Niklasson said.
