Four years ago in Afghanistan, on August 15, 2021, the Taliban launched their grim campaign to erase women from public life. Since seizing power, they have implemented more than 70 decrees violating the rights of girls and women - especially their right to education.
Today, Afghanistan stands out tragically as the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is strictly forbidden to girls and women. Nearly 2.2 million of them are now barred from attending school beyond the primary level due to this regressive decision.
Afghan women are also being gradually erased from journalism. The "Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," introduced by the Taliban in summer 2024, prohibits any representation of human figures and prevents women from speaking on the radio. Since 2021, more than 80% of women working in media have lost their jobs.
This exclusion of women from public life in Afghanistan has disastrous consequences for the country's long-term development, where half the population already lives below the poverty line.
Faced with this unacceptable situation, UNESCO continues to urge all countries to maintain diplomatic pressure on the de facto authorities and to relentlessly demand the immediate and unconditional reopening of schools and universities to Afghan girls and women. The right to education is non-negotiable. An entire generation of Afghan women is being sacrificed, despite the considerable progress we had achieved over the past twenty years.
Between 2001 and 2021, thanks to the coordinated efforts of the international community led by UNESCO, the number of students in Afghanistan increased tenfold. While there were virtually no girls in school in 2001, within two decades, the enrollment rate for girls of primary school age rose to over 80%. The literacy rate among women nearly doubled, from 17% to almost 30% across all age groups.
Since taking power, the Taliban have methodically worked to wipe out all these gains.
In response to this violation of the fundamental rights of Afghan girls and women, UNESCO is mobilizing to support alternative learning methods. In more than 2,600 villages across the country, over 1,000 community-based facilitators have been trained to provide literacy courses to 57,000 young people, the vast majority of whom are girls.
UNESCO also provides financial support and training to Afghan media outlets that develop and broadcast educational programs. This includes the Begum Organization for Women, which founded a radio station in March 2021 and a cable channel in March 2024, as well as the SOLAx platform - an online academy accessible via WhatsApp - that allows young women to access daily lessons. These programs, broadcast by UNESCO's media partners, have already reached an estimated audience of 17 million Afghans.
However, these alternative learning methods - which cannot replace classroom education - are themselves constantly threatened by the de facto authorities.
Over the past four years, UNESCO has become one of the last forums where Afghan women's voices can still be heard, such as during this year's International Women's Day, which we dedicated to Afghan women.
At a time when some are seeking to normalize relations with the Taliban, I call on the international community to remain more mobilized than ever to fully and unconditionally restore Afghan women's right to education.
Until the day they can return to school, let us not abandon them.
