Day: July 1, 2022

Delegates attending an urgent debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council on the status of women and girls in Afghanistan are urging the international community to exert maximum pressure on the Taliban.

In opening Friday’s debate, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet accused the Taliban of systematic oppression and of the exclusion of women and girls from public life in Afghanistan.

She told the rights council that domestic violence and harassment have grown under Taliban rule, as have attacks against female human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers. She said that women can no longer find employment and that secondary schooling for more than a million girls has ended.

She said an increasing number of restrictions on movement and dress have plunged women into a deep depression.

“While some of these concerns predate the Taliban takeover in August 2021, reforms at that time were moving in the right direction. There were improvements and hope,” Bachelet said. “However, since the Taliban took power, women and girls are experiencing the most significant and rapid rollback in enjoyment of their rights across the board in decades.”

The special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said the degradation of women’s rights is central to the Taliban ideology. Under Taliban rule in the 1990s, he noted, there was a marked regression in women’s and girls’ rights.

‘Misogyny and oppression’

“Therefore, it should come as no surprise that, despite public assurances from the Taliban that they would respect women’s and girls’ rights, they are reinstituting step by step the discrimination against women and girls characteristic of their previous term and which is unparalleled globally in its misogyny and oppression,” he said.

In an impassioned speech to the council, the first female vice president of the Afghan parliament, Fawzia Koofi, described the dire situation among Afghan women. She said women no longer participate in parliament, in civic or public life. She said every day one or two women commit suicide because they have no hope left.

“Afghanistan is the only place in the world that women are basically literally invisible — the second class of their citizens,” she said. “In the 21st century, it is heartbreaking. It is painful for me and for my other sisters and fellow citizens to advocate for our basic rights — the right to be visible, the right not to be erased from public life.”

The United Nations does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers, and the group does not have the right to speak at any U.N. forum. The Afghan ambassador of the previous government did speak and essentially confirmed what the other participants had to say.

While the debate was going on, 3,000 Islamic clerics were meeting at the first Loya Jirga, or grand council assembly, since the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Only men are present at the gathering, called to discuss national unity and issues the country faces. Taliban officials say male delegates are representing women.

Source: Voice of America

Thursday afternoon in Kolkata, India, fruit seller Tanvir Alam sat behind a basket of mangos on the sidewalk of a busy street, saying the nationwide ban on single-use plastic bags that goes into effect Friday, would hurt business.

“I do not know now what I will use to pack my fruits when there is a ban on thin plastic bags from tomorrow [July 1],” Alam told VOA Thursday.

India last year banned the use of bags made of plastic less than 75 microns thick. Market vendors and shopkeepers, though, are still using such bags.

“If we cannot use plastic bags, paper bags are the next available option for us. In the market, there are stronger paper bags, which are used by big shops. But I cannot afford to use those costly bags for my business on the footpath,” Alam said.

“One stronger paper bag that can carry 2 kilograms of mango will cost at least 8 rupees. But paying 8 rupees [$ 0.10] I can buy at least 25 plastic bags.”

Some market customers said plastic bags are convenient and useful.

“Every time carrying cloth bag from home is no more our culture for a long time. We prefer that the sellers provide bags for us. Plastic bags are cheap, they come almost free with the goods,” said a 65-year-old carpenter.

Officially announcing the single-use plastic ban last week, India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests released a list of the single-use plastic items to be banned.

The list of the banned single-use plastic items includes plastic cups, plates, cutlery, ice cream sticks, candy sticks, straws, wrapping and polystyrene (thermocol/Styrofoam).

In a recent statement, India’s Central Pollution Control Board asked people to switch to cotton and jute bags, clay cups, bamboo or wooden cutlery and other items made of biodegradable materials. People criticizing the latest ban say that the alternatives are either not abundantly available or very expensive.

The Indian government said in April the country was generating 3.5 million metric tons of plastic waste annually. However, the New Delhi-based nonprofit research group Centre for Science and Environment estimates the figure should be higher.

In May 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an address that India will eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by the end of 2022.

“The choices that we make today will define our collective future. The choices may not be easy. But through awareness, technology and a genuine global partnership, I am sure we can make the right choices. Let us all join together to beat plastic pollution and make this planet a better place to live,” Modi said.

In an article in The Guardian newspaper, Erik Solheim, former head of U.N. Environment Program, wrote in June 2018, “Let there be no doubt: we are on edge of a plastic calamity.”

Praising India’s initiative, though, he wrote again in 2018, “They have shown that political motivation, turned into practical action, can inspire the world and ignite real change.”

Welcoming the ban, Anoop Kumar Srivastava, founder of the Foundation for Campaign Against Plastic Pollution, told VOA the ban by the Indian government will pave the way for a reduction in plastic pollution in the country and eventually eliminate it.

“However, enforcement of the ban on single-use plastics will be challenging in India and will need to be coupled with a campaign to bring about behavioral change among the people. Awareness needs to be created about how single-use plastics harm human health and also the impact on the environment, which will adversely affect the future generations,” Srivastava said.

“This would reduce the demand for single-use plastics and help in the enforcement of the ban. At the same time, strict action would need to be taken against those who continue to produce banned items,” he said.

Anyone found violating the single-use plastic ban will be jailed for five years or fined more than 100,000 rupees ($1,265). Special control rooms will be set up to monitor and ensure enforcement of the ban at national and state levels, a statement from the environmental ministry read.

Yet, a vegetable seller on a sidewalk market said it is difficult for the government to enforce the ban completely.

“The thin and cheap plastic bags that we have used so far will still somehow be available in the underground market, the way cannabis or illicit liquor is sold. And many vendors will secretly buy and use the plastic bags,” Afroza Begum said.

Another fruit-seller, Begum’s neighbor who requested anonymity, said: “People running businesses on footpath know how to grease the palms of the police and others. The use of banned plastic bags will now perhaps reduce to some extent but will not stop completely. …This is India.”

Source: Voice of America