Canada’s Foreign Minister, Mélanie Joly, called for the Taliban to be held accountable for their treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan, urging international action to address what she described as the regime’s systematic oppression.
Speaking at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Joly condemned the Taliban’s increasingly restrictive policies, which have barred women from public life and denied girls access to education.
“The Taliban continue to impose inhumane rules against women and girls, banning them from being in public so they are invisible, robbing young girls of the fundamental right to an education,” Joly said in her remarks. “How is that respecting human dignity? How is that protecting the best interests of their people? They need to be held accountable.”
Joly’s comments came as she announced that Canada, along with Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands, had taken steps to hold Afghanistan accountable under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The initiative, supported by 22 other countries, seeks to use international legal mechanisms to pressure the Taliban to reverse its draconian policies.
The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s rights since seizing power in August 2021, barring women from most employment, banning their access to higher education, and severely curtailing their freedom of movement. The moves have drawn widespread condemnation, but efforts to engage the group on human rights have yielded few results.
“Canada is a country that values freedom from oppression, not the freedom to thirst,” Joly said, adding that there should be “nothing controversial” about protecting the basic rights and dignity of women.
The initiative launched by Canada and its allies comes as many in the international community struggle to respond effectively to the Taliban’s rollback of women’s rights. Human rights advocates have repeatedly warned that the situation for Afghan women and girls is deteriorating rapidly, calling for stronger global action.
While the Taliban have insisted that their policies are in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law, critics say the restrictions have isolated the regime further on the global stage. Joly’s remarks underline the growing frustration among Western countries over the lack of progress in addressing the humanitarian and rights crises in Afghanistan.
“We see it around the world when groups or countries make clear that international law doesn’t apply to them,” Joly said, noting that the Taliban “cannot make international law disappear through simple decrees.”
This comes as many women’s rights movements from Afghanistan have commended the initiative by Germany and other countries as a fundamental step to hold Taliban accountable for their rights violations.
