"WOMEN'S RIGHTS"

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said, “I was targeted for speaking out for girls education, and it proved to me that the Taliban was scared of the voice of women and girls. They did not want to hear women and girls speak out for equality, and they did not want to see women being educated.” UNIFEED

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said opportunities for women and children globally have been hit hard by COVID-19 and stressed that this represents the “silent testimony, a dark shadow of this pandemic.” UNIFEED

Volker Perthes, Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) said the country’s transition continued to see progress as well as setbacks and challenges. UNIFEED

As Sudan makes headway in transition to democracy, Security Council delegates urge sustained support for tackling causes of intercommunal fighting.

The international community should urgently offer a “lifeline” to millions of vulnerable Afghans “who face perhaps their most perilous hour”, the UN Secretary-General said. UNTV CH

Afghanistan has entered a new and perilous phase, with many Afghans profoundly concerned for their human rights, particularly women, and ethnic and religious communities, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said. OHCHR

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said peaceful protesters across various provinces in Afghanistan over the past four weeks have faced an increasingly violent response by the Taliban, including the use of live ammunition, batons and whips. UNTV CH

“The lack of clarity of the Taliban's position on women's rights has generated incredible fear” which is “palpable across the country,” the UN WOMEN Deputy Country Representative in Afghanistan said on Wednesday. UNIFEED

The Chair of the Elders, Mary Robinson, told the Security Council that “women’s rights are not Western rights, they are fundamental human rights,” stressing that “we cannot allow the women and girls of Afghanistan to be deprived of these rights, including the right to leave the country.” UNIFEED