The executive director of Human Rights Watch described the exclusion of women’s rights and the absence of women from the Doha talks as “shocking.”
Tirana Hassan sharply criticized this omission, warning that it risks legitimizing the Taliban and causing irreparable damage to the UN’s credibility.
This human rights organization states that despite the Taliban’s violations of women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan, which has led to the most severe women’s rights crisis in the world, there will be no discussion about women and their rights at the Doha talks.
According to reports, no Afghan women have been invited to participate in this meeting. The executive director of the organization harshly criticized the UN for organizing a meeting with the Taliban without including women’s rights on the agenda or inviting Afghan women.
The Taliban has stated that the agenda shared by the UN for the Doha meeting will focus on private sectors, finance, banking, and narcotics. This has drawn serious criticism from women’s rights groups, who emphasize that any international conference on Afghanistan lacking the full participation of women is illegitimate.
The upcoming Doha talks on June 30 and July 1 come amid a dire humanitarian and human rights crisis in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban took power, restrictions on women’s education and employment have severely worsened the situation, drawing international condemnation.
The exclusion of women’s issues from the Doha talks is particularly alarming, given the Taliban’s systematic dismantling of women’s rights. This further highlights the urgent need for the international community to address these violations and ensure women’s representation in discussions about Afghanistan’s future.