UNSC to hold discussion on Taliban's new burqa order

KABUL: As the Taliban's recent decision to impose additional restrictions on women, including the mandate that they cover their faces in public places, the United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting to discuss the issue on May 12 at the request of Norway mission. The discussion will be focused on the human rights situation, as well as the release of girls and women and Taliban's imposition of new restrictions on them, Khaama Press reported.

According to Norway's UN mission, Deborah Lyons, the UN's special envoy for Afghanistan, will brief the 15-member council on the intensification of restrictions and the newly devised decree for Afghan women. Afghanistan's supreme leader has ordered the country's women to cover their faces in public - one of the harshest restrictions imposed on them since the Taliban seized power last year.

"They should wear a chadori (head-to-toe burqa) as it is traditional and respectful," said a decree issued by Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhunzada that was released by authorities at a function in Kabul on Saturday. The group promised to respect women's rights after assuming power in August. However, reversing their declaration that girls' high schools would open, claiming they would remain closed until a plan was developed to reopen exposed the Taliban's plans out in the open.

During their previous rule, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban denied women the right to work and education, and the group's stance over the past nine months, which has dominated Afghanistan, suggests that the group is once again pressing for stricter controls.