UN: Denounces systematic attacks on women’s rights

His concern about the “systematic” attempts to encroach on the women’s rights expressed his High Commissioner UN for Human Rights, Volker Turk, in an interview with AFP, noting that he wants to visit Kabul and Tehran to discuss with the authorities.

“Afghanistan is the worst of the worst”he said. “Repressing women in this way is unprecedented.”

The 58-year-old Austrian, who took up the position in mid-October, expresses concern that, almost 75 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, efforts are increasing, including “insidiously”, to deprive women and girls of their rights.

“I am very concerned about these backslidings and the spread of retrograde ideas”Volker Turk told AFP.

Misogyny and efforts to block the path to gender equality may not be new, but she reckons it’s here to stay “a more systematic, more organized way to attack women’s rights.”

The most telling example, according to Turk, is that of Afghanistan, where the Taliban deprived women of university and secondary education and forbade NGOs from employing them.

These attacks on women are “a reminder of where a twisted perception can lead” and “we must ensure that what is happening in this country does not become the norm in the future”he said.

Like his predecessor, former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner expects to travel to Afghanistan to discuss “with the de facto authorities so that they realize that the development of their country must include women”.

The Austrian UN official has also asked to travel to Iran, which has been rocked by protests that erupted after the September 16 death of a young woman who was arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women, but Tehran has yet to respond. .

The High Commissioner wants to ask Iran to “remove certain discriminatory practices against women and girls”. He also wants to discuss the crackdown on protests that, according to the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), has left at least 476 people dead and thousands more arrested.

Turk is particularly concerned about the death sentences of protesters. To date, four people have been executed by hanging in connection with the protests.

In addition to measures taken by states, Turk also refers to social media “where misogynist and sexist comments seem to be allowed (…) and thrive.”

He emphasized the need to be taken “protection measures” so social media “to be responsible and not add fuel to the fire” mainly “on gender issues”.

The algorithms used by the platforms may “too quick to help give hate speech a very dangerous boost”he said.

Shortly after he took over as head of the High Commission, Volker Turk had written an open letter addressed to the new owner of Twitter Elon Musk, asking him to ensure respect for human rights on the social network.

He initially tried to contact the group working on human rights issues on Twitter, but, as he explained to AFP, “we couldn’t get in touch with anyone because everyone had just been fired.”

Although he is concerned about the current attacks on women’s rights, Turk believes that they “they look like a last ditch effort by the patriarchy to increase its power”. “It’s the old world that’s dying”supports.