The comment came in response to the latest report of the United Nations Special Representative for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Irene Khan, presented at the 53rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council.

In Afghanistan, the report stresses that women’s public presence has been completely erased by the Taliban, and that women’s rights groups are now playing an important role in the struggle for gender equality.

Women’s rights groups have been under pressure as civic space has shrunk in several countries, the most glaring example being Afghanistan, where the Taliban have totally erased the public presence of women, the report reads.

To ignore the ability of women to run the government and remove them from social, political and civic positions will leave the nation with more economic and social problems, and lead to the stagnation of personhood within a generation, Paikan warned.

mh/jav/ro/nvo