INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Today marks 1,000 days since Afghan girls were banned from attending secondary schools & a ruling imposed by the Islamic Emirate in December
2021.In a statement marking the day, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said: &&Today marks a sad and sobering milestone: 1,000
days since the announcement banning girls in Afghanistan from attending secondary schools.&1,000 days out-of-school amounts to 3 billion
learning hours lost.&For 1.5 million girls, this systematic exclusion is not only a blatant violation of their right to education, but also
results in dwindling opportunities and deteriorating mental health.&She said the rights of children, especially girls, &cannot be held
hostage to politics& and that their lives, futures, hopes and dreams are hanging in the balance.Russell also stated that the ban impacts the
humanitarian crisis and has serious ramifications for Afghanistan&s economy and development trajectory.&Education doesn&t just provide
It protects girls from early marriage, malnutrition and other health problems, and bolsters their resilience to disasters like the floods,
drought, and earthquakes that frequently plague Afghanistan.&She called on the Islamic Emirate to allow all children to resume learning
The UN has not however been the only organization to repeatedly call on the Islamic Emirate to lift the ban on girls&s education.Just last
month, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to respect Afghan girls and women&s
right to education and work.In a declaration issued after the OIC summit in Gambia, the organization described the right to education and
work as the fundamental rights of Afghan girls and women, and called for more communication with the IEA authorities on these issues.The
Islamic Emirate has however stated in the past that the issue of education of girls and women is an internal matter and countries should not
interfere in it. Related Stories: OIC summit urges IEA to respect girls& right to educationMcCaul stresses pressuring IEA to lift bans
on Afghan women and girlsThe post UNICEF marks ‘sad& 1,000-day milestone of ban on Afghan girls& education first appeared on Ariana News.
