Verbatim report of proceedings

Thursday, 7 April 2022 - Strasbourg

10.3. Situation in Afghanistan, in particular the situation of women’s rights (RC-B9-0198/2022, B9-0198/2022, B9-0199/2022, B9-0202/2022, B9-0204/2022, B9-0205/2022, B9-0206/2022)

Mündliche Stimmerklärungen

  Seán Kelly (PPE). – Mr President, I was relieved to see that the situation in Afghanistan was on the plenary agenda this week.

I gave my strong support to the EU’s solidarity towards Ukraine, but we must also continue to advocate for those suffering under the oppressive Taliban regime, particularly for women, girls and the LGBTI community. I was horrified by the news on 23 March that girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan had been ordered to close just hours after reopening.

And, therefore, I fully support the calls in this resolution for the Taliban to uphold their commitment to ensuring the right to education for girls. I also support the many other important calls in this resolution: to allow women to fully participate in government and society, to allow women to access proper health care, to release all activists and human rights defenders who have been detained for advocating for the rights of women and girls and to stop all intimidation and harassment of these groups.

I was pleased to vote in favour of this resolution.