Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, has said that placing women and girls at the centre of peacebuilding helps make peace agreements more durable and strengthens communities’ resilience.
In a post on her X account Bahous wrote that women’s leadership and their security are both essential to national and international security.
In part of her post, she stressed the importance of investing in women, peace and security, adding that such investment is essential to keeping people safe and protecting their rights.
Her remarks come as Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, has also expressed concern over the continued denial of education to girls in Afghanistan.
She warned that Afghanistan is facing the world’s most severe crisis of women’s rights.
Since taking control of Afghanistan, the de facto authorities have barred women and girls from education. In their latest restriction, they closed the doors of medical institutes to women and girls, even as the country’s health sector faces a shortage of personnel.
The move has left millions of schoolgirls unable to continue their education.
Women have also been barred from going to sports clubs, restaurants and public baths; being examined by male doctors; travelling without a mahram (male guardian); and working for domestic and international non-governmental organisations, as well as UN offices in Afghanistan.
According to reports, if the ban remains in place, nearly four million girls could be denied an education by 2030.
