German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday denounced the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for restricting women’s rights.
“The Taliban are literally building a social dungeon for 50% of the Afghan population just because they are women,” Baerbock said in Berlin. “Your actions are not and will not be without consequences.”
The foreign minister attended a conference organized to hold the Taliban accountable for violations of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Afghanistan is a party to the landmark treaty on women’s rights, which was adopted in 1979.
But the Taliban have overseen a crackdown on the rights of women and girls since returning to power in Kabul in 2021.
Germany – along with Australia, Canada and the Netherlands – threatened in September to take the regime to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over the issue.
The Foreign Office invited representatives of Afghan civil society and international organizations to the conference on Tuesday.
“My message to all of you out there in Afghanistan, to all the women and girls, to the teenagers, is we are not forgetting you,” said Baerbock. “We hear you, and we stand by your side.”
While Germany does not recognize the Taliban, it “continues to provide the Afghan people with humanitarian aid, with food and basic health care,” said Baerbock.
However, she insisted that the aid is transferred through non-governmental organizations and does not involve cooperation with the regime in Kabul.
“Our initiative is also about making clear to all the regimes out there, you will not get away with shutting [out] all the voices of women to consolidate your own power,” she said.
“We pay very close attention to where women’s rights are violated because women rights are a yardstick for the state of a society.”
