Meeting of Afghan Activists in Albania Aims to Increase Pressure on Taliban Over Women's Rights Violations

Amid increasing pressure from the Taliban government on women, Afghan women activists gathered in Albania to decide on a coordinated strategy against the violation of their rights in Afghanistan. This is the second time this conference has been held in Tirana, the capital of Albania. The organizers stated that the reason for holding the meeting in Tirana was the refusal of several regional countries to host it. The Guardian reported on Wednesday, September 21, that more than 130 Afghan women participated in this conference, named 'All Afghan Women,' to create a unified voice representing Afghan women and girls in the fight against human rights violations by the Taliban government. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Afghanistan service, in addition to Afghan women residing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Iran, Rina Amiri, the U.S. Special Representative for Women, Girls, and Human Rights in Afghanistan, also attended the meeting. The Guardian, citing the conference organizers, reported that several women activists intending to travel from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Albania faced obstacles. The majority of the UN Security Council has urged the Taliban to halt the enforcement of the 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' law. The organizers of this international conference hope to exert pressure to revoke laws, including the prohibition on women speaking in public. Fawzia Koofi, a women's rights activist and former member of the Afghan parliament, whose organization 'Women for Afghanistan' is hosting the conference, stated that they have gathered to unite in their efforts to change the current situation 'at a time when women are being completely silenced in the public sphere.' This conference comes a few weeks after the Taliban imposed new laws prohibiting women's voices in public and mandating full-body coverings outside the home. Seema Ghani, a former minister in Hamid Karzai's government, described the presence of women at this conference as 'civil disobedience' and emphasized that 'we will not remain silent.' The organizers hope to present a set of demands or guidelines to the international community regarding accountability for the Taliban's violations of women's rights by the end of this three-day meeting. In the three years since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, women have been barred from most forms of paid work, public parks, secondary schools, universities, and access to the criminal justice system. The Taliban has also resumed stoning women for 'crimes' such as illicit relationships. The Taliban government approved the 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' law on August 22 of this year. This law, which focuses mainly on women's presence in public gatherings and has been emphasized by Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, has faced severe global criticism. This 114-page, 35-article document is the first official codified law regarding 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' by the Taliban government since its return to power in Afghanistan. Article 13 of the new law, announced by the Taliban's Ministry of Justice, states that covering women's entire bodies is 'necessary' (mandatory) and that 'due to fear of sedition, covering women's faces is essential.' In response, most member countries of the UN Security Council have called on the Taliban government to repeal the 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' law, which restricts women's rights.