4-minute read
Dermot Feenan
LLB MA LLM Barrister-at-Law FRSA
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I’ve had no substantive reply from my MP, Flick Drummond (Conservative Party), to my letter of 21 December 2022 (below), asking that she raise concerns in Parliament and with relevant colleagues about the decision of the Taliban on 20 December 2022 to ban girls and women from universities in Afghanistan. I explain here why this is troubling.
First, she’s been asked by a constituent to address a matter falling within the scope of her power as an MP and has not done so. This poses a concern about her ability to represent issues raised within her constituency.
Secondly, this is not the first time she has failed to respond to such a letter of concern. The first time was in 2020, when I wrote to her about the plight of British-Australian academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, then imprisoned in Iran (see below).
I also wrote to others about the detention of Dr Moore-Gilbert, including with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who acknowledged the communication. Dr Moore-Gilbert was released in November 2020.
Thirdly, she is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Women, Peace and Security. The APPG’s purpose is to “provide a forum for the discussion and analysis of issues relating to the Women, Peace and Security agenda” and “to scrutinise and strengthen the UK government’s implementation of commitments to women and girls’ rights in fragile and conflict-affected states.” The situation of girls and women in Afghanistan certainly falls within the scope of the APPG’s purpose.
Relatedly, Drummond’s constituency website states that she has an interest in education and foreign affairs.
Drummond was also a member of the Women and Equalities Committee in Parliament, 6 July 2015 to 3 May 2017.
Fourthly, the Taliban’s decision to ban girls and women from universities remains in place eight weeks on from my letter. That decision isn’t isolated. It’s part of their broader subjugation of women and girls, whose situation has worsened significantly since the ban on 20 December 2022.
Three days after my letter to Drummond, the Taliban banned women from working for NGOs in the country. As a result, millions of women and girls in Afghanistan now no longer receive vital assistance.
On 28 January 2023, the Taliban doubled down on its ban on girls and women attending universities by barring them from taking the university entrance exam.
These restrictions follow the Talban’s ban on girls in secondary education and in government.
This week, John Sifton and Fereshta Abbasi at Human Rights Watch, the independent international human rights organisation, wrote: “There is no country in the world in which the human rights of women and girls are more repressed.”
Fifthly, in contrast to Drummond’s failure to engage substantively with my letter or the issues raised in the letter, others, including some tagged in my thread, have used their power to raise concerns and to work towards solutions regarding the plight of those girls and women in Afghanistan.
Denmark and Sweden have now offered refugee protection to all women and girls from Afghanistan.
Denmark’s decision follows the European Union Asylum Agency’s conclusion in January 2023 that “women and girls are in general at risk of persecution” under Taliban rule and “hence eligible for refugee status.”
On 27 December 2022, the United Nations Security Council stated that it was “deeply alarmed” by the situation of girls and women in Afghanistan, calling on the Taliban to reverse their decisions, and reiterating its support for UN-mandated actions.
A month later, on 31 January 2023, Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, travelled with UN colleagues to Afghanistan to engage with the national de facto leaders including the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss the reversal of the recent bans for Afghan women and girls’ rights and education.
Rina Amiri, U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights (who I tagged in my thread in the wake of the Taliban’s decision) has been relentless in her work on behalf of girls and women in Afghanistan—as her Twitter posts show.
The U.S. itself has imposed additional visa restrictions in response to the Taliban’s ban on women’s university education and working with NGOs.
Gordon Brown, a former Labour Prime Minister in the UK and now UN Special Envoy for Special Education, has also campaigned against the Taliban’s decision. Among his many interventions, he has recognised that Islamic countries could play a vital role in challenging the Taliban.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, met in extraordinary session in January 2023 to address recent developments in Afghanistan. The resulting communique reiterated the right of women and girls to access all levels of education.
The OIC called on the de facto Afghan authorities to strive towards reopening schools and universities for girls. The OIC’s communique was delivered in person by the Director of the OIC Mission in Afghanistan to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the de facto government in Afghanistan.
Tomas Niklasson, Special Envoy of the European Union for Afghanistan (who I also tagged in my thread), has addressed with international partners the Taliban’s decision. Among his many interventions, he has also joined Afghanistan’s neighbours in denouncing the ban.
Human rights organisations globally, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, continue to campaign for the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan following the decision to ban them from universities.
While Flick Drummond appears to have not acted on this issue, the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), was prompted—in response to a question from a crossbench peer in the House of Lords on 23 January 2023—to address the issue.
Lord Ahmad, whose ministerial portfolio covers the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and United Nations, said that the Taliban’s decision, alongside its ban on women working in NGOs, represented “a further violation of the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls.”
I’ve no wish to be unduly critical of Flick Drummond. She previously addressed the situation of girls and women in Afghanistan. In 2021, for instance, she asked the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during a debate in the House of Commons, to “keep in mind” the need to promote the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. But the Talban’s decision on 20 December 2022 to ban girls and women from universities led to swift and powerful responses by others. Drummond’s silence by contrast is troubling.
It is not just her silence in Parliament that is troubling. I also tagged into my thread Helen Grant, Conservative MP and the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Girls’ Education. She, too, has not raised once in the House of Commons the plight of girls in Afghanistan.
On 24 January 2023, she attended the UN Observance International Day of Education at the UN in New York. Following presentations by three Afghan women, Grant said: “I am absolutely humbled to hear the testimony of those Afghan women.”
Grant continued, “Brave, brave, women. I shall be taking their messages home with me, back to the UK.”
There is no public record of Grant having taken any such action since then nor is there any specific reference anywhere else in her speech to the situation of girls and women in Afghanistan.
Grant spoke in Parliament on 26 January 2023 to mark the International Day of Education. It might reasonably be expected this would have given her a chance of, in her own words at the UN, “taking [the Afghan women’s] messages home with me, back to the UK.” Not once did she refer to those women or even Afghanistan.
The UK’s Tory government has rightly been criticised for its failed policies in Afghanistan, including an evacuation fiasco when the Taliban took control. A parliamentary report found that the Government “failed to deliver the bare minimum”. We deserve better.
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© Dermot Feenan 2023