“Discriminatory Laws”: UN Chief Asks Taliban To Revoke Ban On Girls’ Education

New York: On the International Day of Education, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the Taliban in Afghanistan to reverse the ban on girls’ access to secondary and higher education.

Calling education a fundamental right, Guterres said that now is the time for all nations to ensure taking actual steps to develop welcoming and inclusive learning environments for all.

Now is also the time to end all discriminatory laws and practices that hinder access to education. I call on the de facto authorities in Afghanistan in particular to reverse the outrageous and self-defeating ban on access to secondary and higher education for girls,” the official spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General said in a release.

Taking to Twitter, Guterres also tweeted and said, “Now is the time to end all discriminatory laws and practices that hinder access to education.”

The theme of this year’s International Day of Education reminds us “to invest in people, prioritize education,” the official release of the UN added.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to dedicate the International Day of Education 2023 to Afghan girls and women, TOLOnews quoted director-general of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay as saying.

According to UNESCO, currently, around 80 per cent of school-aged Afghan girls and young women are out of school under the Taliban rule, as they denied them access to secondary schools and universities.

After the Taliban ordered an indefinite ban on university education for Afghan girls, several humanitarian organizations, including Education Cannot Wait (ECW), a United Nations global, billion-dollar fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises called on the Taliban authorities in Kabul to revoke their decision to suspend the university education of Afghan women.