Secretary-General António Guterres signed an agreement with Kazakhstan to establish a new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) center for Central Asia and Afghanistan, saying the initiative will support Afghanistan’s path toward stability and growth under a framework of human rights, including the rights of women and girls.
Speaking at the signing ceremony on Sunday, Guterres said Afghans continue to face “severe hardship — from entrenched poverty and mass displacement to earthquakes, climate shocks and a fragile humanitarian outlook.”
“They deserve peace, stability and a better future,” he said. “This center will work with regional partners and the international community to support Afghanistan’s sustainable development path — with full respect for human rights, including the rights of women and girls, and with a focus on economic self-reliance, peace and dignity.”
The new center, to be based in Kazakhstan, will focus on gender equality, youth unemployment, climate change and water shortages, according to the U.N. It is intended to become a hub for coordinated regional cooperation on development challenges.
Rights advocates in Afghanistan, however, urged the U.N. and international partners not to lose sight of the country’s deteriorating human rights situation under Taliban rule. “Any effort on Afghanistan must prioritize human rights and ensure the people are not forgotten,” said Tamana Soltani, a social activist.
Taliban have not publicly commented on the center. The initiative comes as humanitarian aid to Afghanistan has sharply declined in recent months, even as Afghans continue to grapple with deepening poverty and widespread unemployment.
