Norway’s mission to the United Nations, which requested the closed-door meeting to “address the increasing restrictions on the human rights and freedoms of girls and women,” said the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, was set to brief the 15-member council.
Under the former Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, women were required to cover their faces and prevented from working, and girls were prevented from studying. But after seizing power in August, the movement pledged to respect women’s rights.
However, in March the movement backed down from its announcement that secondary schools would open for girls, saying they would remain closed until a plan was put in place to reopen them.
According to a decree from the movement’s supreme leader, Hebatullah Akhundzadeh, on Saturday, if a woman does not cover her face when leaving her home, her father or her closest male relative will be alerted, and may face imprisonment or expulsion from his government job.
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