High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet reiterated her condemnation of the “systematic oppression” that the Taliban regime practices against Afghan women and girls, urging the movement to draw inspiration from some Islamic countries to improve women’s rights. She denounced the sharp decline in women’s rights in Afghanistan in recent months during an urgent debate at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the status of women and girls in the country.

Opening the debate demanded by the European Union, she noted that “since the Taliban took power, women and girls have experienced the biggest and fastest decline in their ability to exercise their rights (…) in decades.” And she warned that “their future will only get bleaker if things don’t change quickly.”

Bachelet, who briefly visited Afghanistan in March, urged the Taliban to “reach out to Muslim-majority countries that have experience in protecting the rights of women and girls, which is guaranteed by international law.”