Top Women Diplomats Concerned Over Suspension of Girls’ education in Afghanistan

ISTANBUL (AA) – Women foreign ministers from 18 countries on Friday expressed their concern over the suspension of schooling for girls beyond the sixth grade in Afghanistan.

“As women and as foreign ministers, we are deeply disappointed and concerned that girls in Afghanistan are being denied access to secondary schools this spring,” foreign ministers said in a statement.

Those signing the statement were foreign ministers from Albania, Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Kosovo, Malawi, Mongolia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Tonga, and the UK.

The statement came after Afghanistan’s educational institutions re-opened Wednesday, with girls that were to begin education beyond the sixth grade told by the Taliban to stay at home.

“The Taliban’s decision to suspend secondary classes until further notice is particularly disturbing as we repeatedly heard their commitments to open all schools for all children,” the statement added.

The women foreign ministers urged “the Taliban to live up to their commitments to the Afghan people and to adhere to the international conventions that Afghanistan has subscribed to.”

“We call upon the Taliban to reverse their recent decision and to grant equal access to all levels of education, in all provinces of the country,” the statement added. “Practical difficulties in implementing a non-discriminatory educational policy must be overcome.”

Noting that access to education is “a human right to which every woman and every girl is entitled,” the statement added: “No country can afford to not take advantage of the potential and talent of its entire people.”