UN Security Council criticises Taliban ban on Afghan women's medical education
Hindustan TimesThe UN Security Council has said it was deeply concerned about the recent decision by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to ban women from medical education, which could leave millions of women and girls without health care in the future. UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, told the council this week that women and girls are “facing progressive erasure from almost all walks of life.” The council on Friday criticised “the increasing erosion” of human rights under the Taliban, especially for women and girls who have been denied access to education beyond the sixth grade, economic opportunities, participation in public life, freedom of movement and other basics. In a resolution adopted unanimously Friday, the Security Council criticised not only the medical education ban but the Taliban's “vice and virtue” directive issued in August that further restricts women's rights, including prohibiting their voices from being heard in public. UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, told the council this week that women and girls are “facing progressive erasure from almost all walks of life.” She said the Taliban announcement in early September that female students would be barred from attending medical institutes and classes of higher education will have serious consequences.