Edited News | OHCHR , UNITED NATIONS , UNOG
At the bi-weekly Geneva press briefing on Tuesday, UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Marta Hurtado made the following comments on Afghanistan girls' education.
“This week girls in Afghanistan should have been starting another year in secondary school with hope and aspiration. But for the past year, girls have not been allowed to attend Grades 6 to 12. We urge the de facto authorities to open schools to girls at all levels, as well as to universities,” she said.
“The denial of a secondary school education, and then of access to university, is manifestly discriminatory, profoundly distressing for girls and women, along with their families and communities, and deeply damaging to the country as a whole,” Hurtado said.
“The decision to deny girls and women their right to an education exposes them to violence, poverty and exploitation,” she said.
Disempowering half of Afghanistan’s population is counterproductive and unjust. Structural discrimination such as this is also deeply damaging for the country’s prospects of future recovery and development.
Education is a fundamental human right. As a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Afghanistan is obliged to ensure that everyone has access to an education.
“The de facto authorities have pledged that all women and girls will be allowed to go to school. Our Office urges that they honour this promise, without delay,” she said.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact:
Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or
Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or
Jeremy Laurence + +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org or
Marta Hurtado - + 41 22 917 9466 / marta.hurtadogomez@un.org
Tag and share
Twitter @UNHumanRights
Facebook unitednationshumanrights
Instagram @unitednationshumanrights
Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | UNRWA
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini will update the press on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Summary: WHO deems current public health risk posed by avian influenza A (H5N1) low. Virus detected in calves and dairy cattle in the U.S., but virus fragments in pasteurized milk are not infectious. Surveillance and information sharing are crucial in combating the spread of zoonotic viruses.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNMAS
The head of UN peacekeeping and demining reiterated calls on Monday for a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday as a first step to returning the war-ravaged enclave to some normality, while mine clearance experts warned that Gaza is now at its “most dangerous period”.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is gravely concerned by the escalating violence in and around El-Fasher city, North Darfur, where dozens of people have been killed in the past two weeks as hostilities between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have intensified., UN Human Rights spokesperson Seif Magango told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) briefed the journalist on the latest development in Iran.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
"WHO warns of widespread misuse of antibiotics during COVID-19 pandemic, fueling antimicrobial resistance."