RASC News Agency: The think tank “Institute for Research and Development” has released a series of video messages from 100 women across 28 provinces of Afghanistan, calling for a boycott of the upcoming Doha meeting. These women have launched a campaign urging the boycott of the Doha meeting due to the absence of women in the agenda and at the negotiation table. The third Doha meeting is scheduled to take place in the coming days without the participation of women in its main negotiations.
The exclusion of women and democratic forces from the Doha meeting has sparked widespread criticism from women’s rights activists and civil society. Critics argue that excluding women from the Doha meeting contradicts the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asserting that any discussion about Afghanistan that excludes women lacks legitimacy. Several international organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have condemned the exclusion of women from the Doha negotiations, describing it as “shocking.”
Additionally, several Afghanistani activists and politicians have called for a boycott of the third Doha meeting. Previously, Rahmatullah Nabil, the former head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, urged Afghan women and civil activists to suspend relations with the United Nations. While women have not been invited to the third Doha meeting, a delegation representing the Taliban government will attend in Qatar.
The Taliban did not participate in the second Doha meeting held in February of the previous year, citing the UN’s refusal to accept their conditions as the reason for their absence. One of the Taliban’s conditions was that they should be the sole representatives of Afghanistan in the negotiations.
Sources have confirmed that the third Doha meeting will be overseen by Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General. Previous meetings were led by Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General.
