- According to Federal President Viola Amherd, real peace can only be achieved with the equal participation of women.
- She reiterated this at the United Nations headquarters in New York with regard to the situation in Afghanistan.
- Discrimination and oppression against women must not be tolerated anywhere in the world, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
At a UN event for the inclusion of women in Afghanistan, Amherd said that just four years ago, Afghan women were involved in peace negotiations, held leadership positions and had political influence. “Today they are not even allowed to decide for themselves when to go shopping for groceries,” said the Federal President.
The Taliban’s recent so-called virtue law, which prohibits women from raising their voices in public, clearly shows the aim of systematically silencing women and banishing them from public life. Education, especially for girls, is not only a basic right, but also the key to a peaceful and prosperous future for Afghanistan, said Amherd.
Meryl Streep presents film
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The American actress Meryl Streep presented the film “The Sharp Edge of Peace”. The documentary follows the only women in the Afghan government’s negotiating team on the difficult path to negotiating a peaceful political structure with the Taliban.
In her presentation, Streep recalled that women in Switzerland only gained the right to vote in 1971, while in Afghanistan they were able to vote as early as 1919. But the way Afghan culture and society have been turned upside down in recent years is a warning to the rest of the world.
Today, a squirrel jumping around in a park or a songbird in Afghanistan has more rights than a girl because the Taliban have closed the parks to women and forbidden them from singing, the actress said.
Without the inclusion of women in public affairs, Afghanistan will never find its rightful place in the world, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the event co-organized by Switzerland. Discrimination and oppression of women must not be tolerated anywhere in the world.
Amherd recalled that Switzerland will chair the UN Security Council’s open debate on women, peace and security in October. The discussions will focus on the role of women in peacebuilding and mediation.
