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Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot dead by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan as she left school in 2012, pleaded with the world on Friday not to compromise on protecting the rights of children. Afghan women after the Taliban takeover.
As countries and organizations take first steps to engage with the die-hard Islamist group, Yousafzai, 24, said she fears the Taliban will act as they did when they were in power. 20 years ago despite a sharp increase in work and education opportunities. for Afghan women ever since.
“We cannot compromise on protecting women’s rights and protecting human dignity,” Yousafzai told a panel on girls’ education in Afghanistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“Now is the time to deliver on that commitment and ensure that the rights of Afghan women are protected. And one of those important rights is the right to education, ”said Yousafzai, who joined the panel by video.
Several world leaders pledged to work for the rights of Afghan women and girls at the annual United Nations meeting this week, but it was unclear how they would do it.
Concerns about women’s rights in Afghanistan have grown since the Taliban regained control in August, 20 years after being ousted from power by a US-led campaign in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on states -United.
The Taliban say they have changed since their 1996-2001 rule, when they also prohibited women from leaving the house without a male relative.
The Taliban sparked skepticism about their respect for women’s rights when they announced last week that they would open schools for high school boys but not for girls.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Taliban’s desire for international recognition was the only global lever to push for inclusive government and respect for rights, especially of women, in Afghanistan.
Among those who spoke to the UN about the plight of Afghan women and girls were EU Council President Charles Michel and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Michel called for preserving “as much as possible the gains of the last 20 years” and Sanchez said: “No society that only allows half of its population to move forward, and deliberately keeps the other half behind, is not durable. “
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