Ireland has joined an international chorus of disapproval over a decision to exclude Afghan women from a meeting between the United Nations and Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban at the weekend.
The two-day, UN-led meeting in Qatar was the first of its kind attended by the Taliban which has not been internationally recognised since seizing power in 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war.
Special envoys on Afghanistan from 25 countries attended the meeting in Doha, aiming to “improve international engagement with the Taliban and Afghanistan in a more organised manner”. However, Afghan women were blocked from attending.
Nelofer Pazira-Fisk, an Afghan journalist and film-maker living in Ireland, said: “The Irish Government can play a crucial role as part of the UN and the Security Council. They should have objected to this exclusion.”
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She said: “More needs to be done at the international level to ensure women’s rights are included in any peace talks. Silent diplomacy will only embolden the Taliban, leading to further repression of Afghan women.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said, while Ireland was not a participant in the Doha meeting, it had “consistently spoken out about the importance of women’s participation at all levels of peace processes, including those led by the UN.
“The EU and its member states including Ireland, along with like-minded partners, advocated for the inclusion of representatives of the Afghan civil society, including women’s organisations, in all of the discussions.”
The spokesperson added: “Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls remains a key priority for Ireland’s foreign policy. Ireland has consistently stood in solidarity with women and girls in Afghanistan and continues to advocate on their behalf at international fora.”
Several Afghan women activists, both inside and outside the country, echoed these concerns.
Fawzia Koofi, a former Afghan parliamentarian and women’s rights activist, said: “If the international community and the UN want to be useful, let the women of Afghanistan directly talk to the Taliban. This is something that the leaders of the gender-apartheid regime fear the most.”
Ms Pazira-Fisk, who lives in Dalkey, Co Dublin where she shared a home with her late husband the journalist Robert Fisk, said the decision to exclude Afghan women from the official meeting was “a direct insult to Afghan women”, not only inside Afghanistan also within the diaspora " who have had to flee the country as result of Taliban’s return”.
Since seizing control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have significantly limited women’s rights and freedoms, including a ban on higher education, employment and imposing restrictions on movement.
Heather Barr from Human Rights Watch said excluding Afghan women from the Doha meeting “sets an enormously problematic precedent” for international affairs.
United Nations political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said on Monday she shared concerns expressed by international envoys about the exclusion of women from the meeting. However, organisers faced a tough choice because they had to arrange a direct meeting with the “de facto” rulers of Afghanistan and international envoys, she said.
“Regrettably, the de facto authorities will not sit across the table with Afghan civil society in this format.”
In a statement, she added the engagement on Sunday and Monday with the Taliban authorities did not mean recognition of their government but was a part of the international community’s broader effort to resolve issues facing millions of Afghans.
The talks on Monday looked at the private sector and narcotics in particular. – Additional reporting Reuters
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