The declaration adopted at the 15th Islamic Summit Conference emphasized the protection of rights for women and girls in Afghanistan, including their rights to education and employment.
The two-day conference, convened by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), marked the first appearance of a Taliban delegation at this event in over two years.
The declaration called for “full respect for the human rights of the people of Afghanistan.”
Participants stressed “the importance of full respect for the human rights of all Afghans and the need to protect the fundamental rights of Afghan girls and women, particularly the right to education and work.” They also called for more communication with the de facto authorities regarding these issues.
Additionally, they highlighted the need for more efforts to address the challenges related to ethnic groups, terrorism, drugs, and social issues to ensure inclusive governance and sustainable stability in Afghanistan.
According to the declaration, representatives from Islamic countries reaffirmed their support for a peaceful, stable, prosperous, and inclusive Afghanistan. They reiterated the need to tackle humanitarian, human rights, ethnic, security, terrorism, narcotics, and social challenges faced by the Afghan people.
The call for the protection of women’s and girls’ rights by OIC member states comes amid efforts by the Taliban to soften its repressive policies regarding women through attempts to engage at international meetings.
The Taliban announced early Sunday that its delegation, led by the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, attended the OIC’s session. Earlier, the Taliban-run Arg reported that the OIC delegation in a meeting with the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister had discussed girls’ and women’s rights to education, though this part of the statement was later removed.
