Somaya got emotional onstage after appealing with global leaders at the United Nations to defend the rights and education of women in Afghanistan.
As soon as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last year, many young girls' ambitions were wrecked when an Islamic organisation banned them and then dismissed a commitment to open females' high schools. Somaya Faruqi, the former captain of the Afghan girls’ robotics team, got emotional onstage after appealing with global leaders at the United Nations to defend the rights and education of women in Afghanistan a year after the Taliban gained power.
She revealed that it was difficult for 20-year-old Faruqi to contain herself and her emotions because "girls are not in classrooms this year; classrooms are empty, and they are at their homes.
In her speech, Faruqi said, "Today, Afghanistan is the only country in the world that forbids girls from attending schools." While proposing the leaders to unite together for protecting the rights of girls in Afghanistan, she recalled those who have suffered.
When the Islamist Taliban took control of the country in August of last year and the United States and its allies withdraw their forces from Afghanistan after a 20-year conflict, Faruqi, who is currently a student at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, departed the country.
Speaking this week at the UN in New York as world leaders assemble for the U.N. high-level summit, she asked them to gather together and seek the reopening of girls' schools and the security of their rights at the General Assembly.
Faruqi remarked, "This week, you are all here to propose solutions to transform education to all, but you must not forget those who [are] left behind, those who are not lucky enough to be at school at all." "Show your solidarity with me and millions of Afghan girls."
READ | Punjab Governor turns down Bhagwant Mann’s demand for special session, Kejriwal says ‘democracy is over’
Malala Yousafzai on Somaya Faruqi’s speech
Malala Yousafzai, the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize winner who was shot by a Taliban assailant in Pakistan as she was leaving school, criticised politicians for their inaction. She shared the speech of Somaya Faruqi at UN on her Twitter.
Yousafzai stated on Monday that the majority of the people listening "know exactly what has to be done. You must not make petty, stingy and short-term pledges, but vow to uphold the right to complete school and address the financing gap once and for all." Following the Taliban invasion, she urged with the international community last year not to compromise on the preservation of Afghan women's rights.
Condition of girls’ education in Taliban invaded Afghanistan
The Taliban have stated that women should not leave the house without a male relative and that they must cover their faces, though some women in urban areas disobey this directive. The Taliban withdrew their plan to offer high schools for girls in March.
Due to more stringent regulations and Afghanistan's economic crisis, thousands of women have been forced out of the labour and the majority of teenage girls no longer have access to education, according to foreign development agencies.
According to the Taliban, women's rights are respected in accordance with their understanding of Islamic law, and since March, they have been attempting to find a method to establish girls' high schools. Many leaders called Taliban to lift ban on girls’ education.
READ | India receives UN award for large-scale health initiative against hypertension
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Taliban to "remove all restrictions on girls' access to secondary school immediately" at the Transforming Education Summit on Monday. According to Guterres, one of the most crucial stages toward achieving global peace, security, and sustainable development is educating girls.
The Alliance for Afghan Women's Economic Resilience, an alliance between the State Department and Boston University aimed at improving Afghan women's entrepreneurship and learning possibilities and broadening workplace opportunities, both in Afghanistan and elsewhere, was launched by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday.
READ | CBI arrests ABG founder-chairman Rishi Agarwal in Rs 22,842 crore bank fraud case
"This should be, in the year 2022, self-evident to everyone on this planet. But of course, it’s not, and we have to fight for it. We have to struggle for it every single day," Blinken added. U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights Rina Amiri expected that the effort will encounter several difficulties. Any initiatives to aid women's redeployment into Afghan culture will be hampered by instability, a lack of security, and financial turmoil.
At the alliance event, Fereshteh Forough, CEO of Code to Inspire, the country's first coding school for women and girls, stated that after the Taliban took power, she was forced to close the school and switch to online instruction.
(With inputs from Reuters)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Somaya Faruqi at UN, United Nations, Afghanistan, girls' education in Afghanistan, Taliban, UN Speech, emotional UN speech")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}