The European Parliament is holding a two-day con-ference and a series of events to discuss the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan since the politi-cal change in the country.
The conference kicked off on Monday and will end on Wednesday. A number of prominent Afghan women, EU parliamentarians and representatives from international organizations have attended the event.
In Tuesday’s conference, the participants called for the international community’s support for the women and girls in Afghanistan.EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola, speaking at the conference said: “The European Union has defined respect on human rights, in particular women’s rights, the rule of law and freedom of the media as key conditions for engagement with the current Afghan authorities.”Angelina Jolie, an actress and a special envoy for UNHCR, said the Afghan women have suffered a lot in the past four decades, but they never lost hope for their country. She called on the Islamic Emirate to reopen schools for girls. “I call on the de facto authorities in Afghanistan, to reopen all schools. To enable the girls to sit the exams that they missed last year. To release Tamana Paryani and Parwana Ibra-himkhil, and the other women held in detention. And to let women participate fully and freely in work and politics and society.” Sima Samar, the former chairperson of Afghani-stan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said Afghanistan is the collective failure of the international community, the Afghan gov-ernment and the Afghan people. She warned the international community against abandoning Af-ghanistan.
She said Afghan women make up half of the popu-lation and they must have all their rights and free-doms as human beings. “Whether they like it or not, women are half of the population in Afghanistan. They must have all the rights and freedom as human beings. Denial of the fact is not changing the reality that half of the human forces are women.” Samar went said the problem in Afghanistan is chronic and requires a long-term multi-dimensional strategy based on human rights values.—TOLO
