The UN’s Diplomatic Defeatism in Afghanistan: Forward or Back for Women, Peace and Security (WPS)?

The UN’s upcoming Doha III meeting with the Taliban notably excludes women and Afghan civil society representatives. This exclusion undermines the UN’s commitment to women’s rights and contradicts its Women, Peace, and Security agenda, drawing criticism for legitimizing the Taliban’s discriminatory policies.

It has been almost three years since the Taliban reclaimed Afghanistan in August 2021, and 1000 days since girls have been banned from attending secondary school. To date, international diplomatic efforts have not been able to reverse a single edict, of which there are over 70, the Taliban has introduced that violate the fundamental human rights of women and girls in the country.

This systematic discrimination includes a ban on women’s employment outside of limited health and educational occupations, such as midwifery and primary teaching, and accompaniment by a male guardian in public. The Taliban’s latest edict reduces the maximum income that can be received by a woman to Afs5000, equivalent to AUD$70 per month.

The United Nations (UN) has convened meetings of Special Envoys on Afghanistan in Doha since May last year to find “a common international approach” in engagement with the Taliban to address Afghanistan’s political, human rights, and humanitarian crises. It’s diplomatic efforts, such as Doha I, Doha II, visits by top UN officials, meetings, and resolutions have not yielded any change to the current situation.

Doha III challenge to WPS

On 30 June, the UN Secretary-General is hosting the Doha III by inviting all—including member states Special Envoys, international organisations, and the Taliban government—except women and civil society representatives from Afghanistan. Like Doha I and Doha II, the Taliban specifically requested that no women attend, and the UN has accepted this prerequisite. The UN mission head in Afghanistan, Ms Roza Otunbayeva, has responded by stating that it will “take time” for the Taliban to accept women. Convening this meeting on the Taliban’s terms, however, is a stark disavowal of the UN Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda and the international commitment to women’s equal participation in peace and security policymaking, reflected in multiple resolutions of the UN Security Council.

The Doha III meeting raises further concerns for women’s human rights in Afghanistan, adding to the manifest failures of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda in Afghanistan over the last two decades. That the trajectory towards engagement with the Taliban continues to exclude both the presence of women and the discussion of substantive issues concerning women in Afghanistan undermines the UN’s legitimacy based on its Charter and the 1948 UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights. As stated by the Executive Director at Human Rights Watch, Tirana Hassan, “excluding women risks legitimising the Taliban’s abuses and triggering irreparable harm to the UN’s credibility as an advocate for women’s rights and women’s meaningful participation.”

Since Doha III was announced, Afghan women from diverse backgrounds have been loud and clear in condemning the meeting and its consequences. And they are right to ask the UN about the implications of such engagement in their absence.

Steps toward international recognition of “gender apartheid”

Drawing attention to the Taliban’s brutality toward women and girls, women both inside and outside of Afghanistan have mounted an international campaign for the recognition of gender apartheid as an international crime against humanity. Diplomatic efforts among a growing number of states, including efforts by non-state actors, are supporting this call. In March the UK held a parliamentary inquiry into the situation of gender apartheid in Afghanistan to contribute to its planned debate at the UN General Assembly’s 79th session this September. Amnesty International has endorsed the international campaign for the recognition of gender apartheid with their independent study, while the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation project, and the Canadian Feminist Forum for Afghanistan, have dedicated their resources to promote the end gender apartheid campaign and the involvement and consultation of Afghan women.

At the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan, Mr. Richard Bennett, released his latest report. Based on several missions to the country, the report systematically documents the institutionalisation of women’s oppression by the Taliban regime and similarly calls for recognition of “gender apartheid” in the country.

Taliban intransigence

The UN has bent over backwards in its compromises with the Talban to bring it to the table at Doha III. Organising the Doha conference is undoubtedly complex. It involves bringing regional, international, and Taliban representatives together, and meeting the demands of diverse Afghan peoples. But excluding women’s rights, and presence, from the agenda critically affects the outcomes of the conference, while further demoralising the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, and demeaning the struggle for their rights. For years the UN has been propounding the importance of the “girl effect,” referring to girl’s secondary education as a force multiplier for a country’s overall development. For whatever reason, Afghanistan today seems to have a pass.

The Taliban’s position has been clear and consistent since coming to power that they will not re-neg on their rules. Rather, they have been waiting for the region and the world to accept and recognise them based on their terms alone. The UN’s compromise with the Taliban, without any step forward from them, is further emboldening the extremist group’s oppressive rule in Afghanistan. Time and again, the Taliban have used international diplomatic stages to act like a state, not only for the global audience but for their local rivals and the Afghan population. Doha III enables them to be accepted by the international community, and in the process, demobilises the democratic opposition while defying the women’s rights movement in the country.

What can be done?

In Afghanistan, the UN has an opportunity to uphold its principles and agenda, and build on the Security Council’s support to strengthen the position of Afghan women.

Real change from within Afghanistan is harmed by Doha-style meetings where decisions are made in the absence of the people of Afghanistan. Lack of progress in getting the Taliban to meaningfully engage on the protection of rights may push the international community to give up on Afghanistan. This further isolates the country and turns the spotlight away from the severe human rights violations in the country.

To overcome defeatism, there are several diplomatic strategies that international actors can adopt to support women and girls in Afghanistan who are key political agents but currently have no voice or access to public space in the country. Actionable political, educational, and economic support should include supporting the international campaign to recognise gender apartheid; providing training and support for Afghan women’s civil society to meaningfully participate in international forums and talks, such as the Doha Talks; offering scholarships for Afghan girls to educate the next generation of Afghan women leaders; and assisting Afghan businesswomen to access export markets directly and through the diaspora networks bypassing the Taliban regime. Afghanistan remains a fundamental testing ground for the efficacy of the UN and state commitments to the Women, Peace and Security agenda, including Australia’s commitments.

Dr Farkhondeh Akbari is a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University where she researchers inclusive peace, diplomatic actors, feminist foreign policy, and the women, peace, and security agenda. She has recently published papers focusing on the Taliban’s gender apartheid regime in Afghanistan.

Jacqui True FAIIA is Professor of Politics & International Relations and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University, Australia. She is also Director of the Monash Centre for Gender, Peace and Security.

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