Director-General of UNESCO: Global Community Must Apply Relentless Pressure on Taliban to Reopen Girls’ Schools

Photo: Xinhua/ Alamy Stock Photo via news.az

Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, expressing deep concern over the state of education in Afghanistan, has called on the international community to intensify diplomatic pressure on the Taliban and to relentlessly demand the reopening of schools and universities for women and girls.

On Friday, August 15, in a statement, she said that the right to education is non-negotiable, and despite the significant achievements of the past twenty years, an entire generation of Afghan women is being sacrificed.

According to her, since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have issued more than 70 restrictive decrees, many directly targeting women’s freedoms, particularly the right to education. As a result of these policies, 2.2 million girls have been denied the opportunity to continue their studies, and Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where secondary and higher education for girls is banned.

Azoulay also warned that the exclusion of women from the media and public sphere has intensified. She emphasized that under the Taliban’s “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law, the use of human images and the broadcasting of women’s voices on radio are prohibited, resulting in more than 81 percent of women working in the media losing their jobs since 2021.

Referring to the achievements of the past two decades, she said: “Between 2001 and 2021, the enrollment rate of girls in primary schools rose to over 80 percent, and women’s literacy almost doubled.” But now, these achievements are at risk of being destroyed.

The UNESCO Director-General stated that this organization, by training more than 1,000 local facilitators in 2,600 villages, is working to provide literacy opportunities for 57,000 young people, most of whom are girls, through alternative programs. UNESCO has also supported media outlets producing educational content, estimating that these programs have so far reached 17 million people.

However, she warned that no alternative program can replace in-person and formal education.

Azoulay concluded: “At a time when some are seeking to normalize relations with the Taliban, I call on the global community to mobilize more than ever to fully and unconditionally restore Afghan women’s right to education. Until the day they can return to school, we must not abandon them.”

This comes as the Taliban, since regaining power, have banned girls’ education beyond grade six and have so far ignored repeated calls from the international community to reopen schools and universities for them.