ISLAMABAD: The United Nations said Wednesday it cannot accept a Taliban decision to bar Afghan female staffers from working at the agency, calling it an “unparalleled” violation of women’s rights.
The statement came a day after the UN said it had been informed by Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban that Afghan women would no longer be allowed to work for the world body. That announcement came after the UN mission in the country expressed concern that its female staffers were prevented from reporting to work in eastern Nangarhar province.
Prior to Tuesday, Afghan women were already barred from working at national and international non-governmental organizations, disrupting the delivery of humanitarian aid. But the ban did not cover working for the UN
That changed this week. On Wednesday, the UN mission said that under the Taliban order, no Afghan woman is permitted to work for the UN in Afghanistan, and that “this measure will be actively enforced.”
The ban is unlawful under international law and cannot be accepted by the United Nations, the statement said.
The Taliban decision is “an unparalleled violation of women’s rights, a flagrant breach of humanitarian principles, and a breach of international rules,” Wednesday’s statement said.
The Taliban have not commented publicly on the ban.
The UN statement said several UN national female personnel have already experienced restrictions on their movements, including harassment, intimidation and detention.
“The UN has therefore instructed all national staff — men and women — not to report to the office until further notice,” the statement said.
The Taliban decision drew condemnation from the world’s most recognized organizations. A joint statement singed by the Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council, INTERSOS, Action Against Hunger, and World Vision urged the lifting of the ban on Afghan women aid workers that has been extended to UN agencies.
“Without our female staff, the humanitarian community cannot effectively reach women and girls. With more than 28 million people in desperate need of aid to survive, this act will cut off people’s lifelines,” said the statement.
“We call on the De Facto Authorities to lift the ban and allow all female aid workers in Afghanistan to return to work immediately,” it said. “With Afghanistan facing record levels of hunger, the cost of this ban will be measured by lives lost.”
Separately, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said Afghanistan is home to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than 28 million people, including over 15 million children, need humanitarian and protection assistance this year — a staggering increase of 4 million people over 2022. Hunger and disease are lurking and the economy is in tatters.
“Yet despite this devastating situation, the de facto authorities have taken the unconscionable and confounding decision to ban Afghan women from working with the United Nations in Afghanistan, including UNICEF,” Russell said in a statement. “Coming on the heels of the decree banning Afghan women from working with NGOs, this decision is yet another affront to women’s fundamental rights and further undermines the delivery of humanitarian assistance across the country.” She said Afghan women are the lifeblood of the humanitarian response. They are highly skilled and uniquely placed to reach the most vulnerable Afghans, including children and women, the sick and elderly, and those living with disabilities.
“They have access to populations that their male colleagues cannot reach,” she said.
Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during its previous stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since taking over the country in 2021 as US and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan after two decades of war.
Girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade. Women are barred from working, studying, traveling without a male companion, and even going to parks. Women must also cover themselves from head to toe.
The secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, was engaging Taliban authorities to convey the UN’s protest and to seek an immediate reversal of the order. The UN said it is also engaging member states, the donor community and humanitarian partners.
“In the history of the United Nations, no other regime has ever tried to ban women from working for the Organization just because they are women,” said Otunbayeva. “This decision represents an assault against women, the fundamental principles of the UN, and on international law.”
Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN deputy special representative for Afghanistan, said at a news conference in New York that both male and female Afghan national staff have been asked to stay home until they can return to work under “normal conditions.”
“We will not have a situation where we are only working with all-male teams,” he said.
The UN has a staff of about 3,900 in Afghanistan, including approximately 3,300 Afghans and 600 international personnel. The total also includes 600 Afghan women and 200 women from other countries.
Alakbarov said this means all 3,300 UN national staff will stay home until the women can return to work, and they will be paid.
He said the ban doesn’t apply to international female staff and they are able to move freely and provide aid. But he said they are only about 30 percent or less of the total UN Afghanistan staff.
Alakbarov said the new UN policy in the country will be revised depending on what sort of exemptions or operational environment can be negotiated. However, he said there is no scenario in which the UN would provide aid in the country with men only.
“It is not possible to reach women without women. And without women, they will not be reached. And that’s the unfortunate reality,” he said.
Alakbarov said UN officials led by Otunbayeva met Tuesday with the Taliban’s foreign minister and they were told “there will be no additional order because the order was already issued in December,” apparently a reference to the Taliban decision that month to bar women from working for NGOs.
Taliban restrictions in Afghanistan have drawn fierce international condemnation. But the Taliban have shown no signs of backing down, claiming the bans are temporary suspensions in place allegedly because women were not wearing the Islamic headscarf, or hijab, correctly and because gender segregation rules were not being followed.
TAIPEI: China sent warships through waters around Taiwan on Thursday as it vowed a “resolute response” to the island’s president meeting US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen held talks with McCarthy in Los Angeles on Wednesday, expressing gratitude afterwards for the meeting that she said showed her island was not isolated on the international stage.
China had repeatedly warned both sides the meeting should not take place, and deployed an aircraft carrier through waters near Taiwan hours before the talks went ahead.
Three additional warships were detected in waters separating the island from mainland China, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday morning.
An anti-submarine helicopter had also crossed the island air defense identification zone, according to the ministry.
Despite Taiwan having been ruled separately for more than 70 years, China views it as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.
China carried out its largest-ever air and sea exercises around Taiwan following a visit in August last year by McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, to the island.
China deployed warships, missiles and fighter jets into the waters and skies around Taiwan in August.
Its response to the McCarthy meeting has so far been on a much lower level.
Tsai said in the United States she had received a warm welcome from politicians on both sides of the aisle.
“Their presence and unwavering support reassure the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated and we are not alone,” she told reporters at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
Tsai’s visit to California was technically a stop-over after a trip to Latin America to see two of Taiwan’s dwindling band of official diplomatic allies.
Hours after the Tsai-McCarthy meeting, China issued a strong rebuke.
“In response to the seriously erroneous acts of collusion between the United States and Taiwan, China will take resolute and effective measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” China’s foreign ministry said.
However there were no initial signs of extra military activity on Thursday morning on Pingtan island in southeastern China — home to a People’s Liberation Army base and known as the closest point on the mainland to Taiwan.
AFP journalists on Pingtan last year had witnessed missile launches and army helicopters flying over the island following Pelosi’s visit.
McCarthy, who is second in line to the US presidency, said a shared belief in freedom and democracy underpinned a relationship that was “a matter of profound importance to the free world.”
He had originally planned to go himself, but opted instead to meet Tsai in California.
The decision was viewed as a compromise that would underscore support for Taiwan but avoid inflaming tensions with China.
McCarthy vowed US arms sales to Taiwan — which infuriate Chinese leadership — would continue, in what he said was a proven strategy to dissuade aggression.
“And what we know through history, the best way to do that is supply the weapons that allow people to deter war,” he said.
“It is a critical lesson that we learned through Ukraine, that the idea of just sanctions in the future is not going to stop somebody” who wants to wage war.
Despite having all the trappings of a fully functioning state, only a handful of countries acknowledge Taiwan as a sovereign nation.
Under a carefully constructed diplomatic fudge, the United States formally recognizes authoritarian Beijing, but is an important backer of Taiwan, and maintains strong unofficial and commercial ties.
Taipei enjoys bipartisan support in the US Congress, and has grown closer to Washington under Tsai’s leadership — much to China’s annoyance.
Pelosi on Wednesday praised the California meeting, which was attended by more than a dozen lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican.
“Today’s meeting between President Tsai of Taiwan and Speaker McCarthy is to be commended for its leadership, its bipartisan participation and its distinguished and historic venue,” she said.
Tsai times out as Taiwanese president in 2024, and her party is facing a challenge from opponents seen as closer to Beijing.
She has positioned herself as a defender of the status quo — de facto, but unspoken, independence, even as China poaches allies and pressures foreign governments to isolate Taipei.
“We once again find ourselves in a world where democracy is under threat and the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated,” she told reporters.
“Taiwan is grateful to have the United States of America by all sides as we confront the unique challenges of our time.”
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The burning of coal for electricity, cement, steel and other uses went up in 2022 despite global promises to phase down the fuel that’s the biggest source of planet-warming gases in the atmosphere, a report Wednesday found.
The coal fleet grew by 19.5 gigawatts last year, enough to light up around 15 million homes, with nearly all newly commissioned coal projects in China, according to a report by Global Energy Monitor, an organization that tracks a variety of energy projects around the globe.
That 1 percent increase comes at a time when the world needs to retire its coal fleet four and a half times faster to meet climate goals, the report said. In 2021, countries around the world promised to phase down the use of coal to help achieve the goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).
“The more new coal projects come online, the steeper the cuts and commitments need to be in the future,” said Flora Champenois, the report’s lead author and the project manager for GEM’s Global Coal Plant Tracker.
New coal plants were added in 14 countries and eight countries announced new coal projects. China, India, Indonesia, Turkiye and Zimbabwe were the only countries that both added new coal plants and announced new projects. China accounted for 92 percent of all new coal project announcements.
China added 26.8 gigawatts and India added about 3.5 gigawatts of new coal power capacity to their electricity grids. China also gave clearance for nearly 100 gigawatts of new coal power projects with construction likely to begin this year.
But “the long term trajectory is still toward clean energy,” said Shantanu Srivastava, an energy analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis who is based in New Delhi. Srivastava said the pandemic and the war in Ukraine temporarily drove some nations toward fossil fuels.
In Europe, where the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant a scramble for alternative energy sources and droughts stifled hydropower, the continent only saw a very minor increase in coal use.
Others went the other way. There were significant shutdowns in the US where 13.5 gigawatts of coal power was retired. It’s one of 17 countries that closed up plants in the past year.
With nearly 2,500 plants around the world, coal accounts for about a third of the total amount of energy installation globally. Other fossil fuels, nuclear energy and renewable energy make up the rest.
To meet climate goals set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, coal plants in rich countries need to be retired by 2030 and coal plants in developing countries need to be shut down by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency. That means around 117 gigawatts of coal needs to be retired every year, but only 26 gigawatts was retired in 2022.
“At this rate, the transition away from existing and new coal isn’t happening fast enough to avoid climate chaos,” said Champenois.
Srivastava added that its important to make sure the millions employed in coal and other dirty industries are not left behind when transitioning to clean energy, although that gets more difficult the more coal projects get locked in.
“Every day we delay a transition to clean energy,” Srivastava said, “it not only makes it harder to achieve climate goals but it also makes the transition more expensive.”
NEW YORK: Former US President Donald Trump’s surrender on criminal charges Tuesday was marked by clashes between his fans and foes outside a downtown Manhattan courtroom, and a now-familiar cycle of name-calling and outrage from lawmakers and Trump himself.
But many Americans who say they are watching this case and other Trump investigations play out aren’t looking for political point-scoring — they’re holding out hope that the US democracy delivers justice.
“It’s what the system is for,” said Carla Sambula, who said she had driven an hour from her Rockland County, New York, home to sit in line outside a Manhattan courthouse so she could witness Trump’s indictment firsthand. “It’s hard to say if they’ll get it right, especially as a woman of color,” said Sambula, who is Black, adding she has not cast a vote since one for President Barack Obama in 2016.
Americans’ trust in such institutions as Congress, television news and the presidency, fell to the lowest average level in more than 40 years last year, Gallup polling shows. Just 14 percent say they have a great deal or “quite a lot” of confidence in the criminal justice system, half the level of a decade ago.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case is the first of several involving Trump as the country braces for a 2024 presidential election in which Trump is the leading Republican candidate. Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of cynicism on the far right and the far left,” said Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer and a professor of law at University of Minnesota. Both sides have coalesced around the idea that “the law is not about law, it is just about politics and power.”
Trump himself has over the years complained that law enforcement was targeting him for political purposes, and his rhetoric has heightened since the New York case surfaced.
On Wednesday, Trump called on his fellow Republicans in Congress to slash funding for the US Justice Department and the FBI. A number of Republicans have expressed concern the case is a test of whether government can be weaponized against disfavored politicians.
About half of Americans think the investigations against Republican Trump are politically motivated actions by Democrats, a new Reuters/Ispos poll shows — including 36 percent of Democrats. Half of Americans, meanwhile believe Trump and some members of the Republican party are working to delegitimize law enforcement to prevent charges against Trump — including 30 percent of Republicans.
Americans, however, say they want accountability — about 70 percent disagree with the idea of US presidents having immunity from all but the most serious criminal charges, the Reuters/Ipsos poll finds. An even higher level agree that no one in America should be “above the law.”
The US judicial system will be under intense scrutiny in the months ahead, as multiple track investigations continue.
The Manhattan case, which relates to hush money to a porn star, could last a year or more. An investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia may result in an indictment this spring, and the Department of Justice is investigating a related transfer-of-power issue as well as Trump’s retention of classified documents. A civil trial over voting machine company Dominion’s defamation allegations against Fox News over the 2020 election could start this month.
“One of the pillars of democracy is to hold elected leaders accountable. Usually we think of that politically, but it also applies legally when crimes have been committed,” said Vince Warren, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a legal and advocacy group.
The flurry of legal actions against Trump “could signal an era where presidential actions are subjected to legal accountability moving forward,” Warren said.
Amir Ali, executive director at the MacArthur Justice Center, pointed to the disproportionate incarceration of minorities and lower income people in the United States and said the system “has routinely given people with power a free pass.”
“It’s obvious the criminal legal system can punch down — it’s proven that, and oppressively so,” Ali said.
Yusef Salaam, one of five Black teenagers wrongfully convicted in a 1989 rape case wrote a full-page newspaper advertisement echoing one Trump paid for decades ago calling for Salaam and others dubbed the “Central Park Five” to face the death penalty.
“Even though thirty-four years ago you effectively called for my death and the death of four other innocent children, I wish you no harm,” Salaam, now a Democratic candidate for the New York City Council, wrote in his ad. “Rather, I am putting my faith in the judicial system to seek out the truth.”
The issues that will be addressed in multiple Trump-related cases coming up “reflect the fragility of any democracy,” said Adav Noti, vice president with the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan government watchdog. “People may try to stay in power illegally,” he said.
At least two ongoing probes into Trump deal with questions of whether he tried to block the lawful transfer of power to his successor, Democrat Joe Biden. Trump continues to assert falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud
The way to prevent the sabotage of a future election is for “high level people to do prison time for trying to overturn the 2020 election,” said Noti.
“There’s a good reason,” for the cynicism Americans feel, he said. But “it doesn’t have to be this way.”
BEIJING: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron are set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday for talks that could set a course for future relations after years of strained ties.
Macron, who arrived in Beijing late Wednesday, told reporters that Europe must resist reducing trade and diplomatic ties with Beijing, which is at odds with the West over issues including Taiwan, sensitive technologies and China’s close ties with Russia.
Von der Leyen said ahead of her trip that Europe must “de-risk” its relations with Beijing, as China had shifted from an era of reform and opening to one of security and control.
Europe’s relations with China have soured in recent years, mainly because of an investment pact that stalled in 2021 and Beijing’s refusal to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
But emerging from years of sparse diplomatic activity as pandemic border controls largely shut the country off from the rest of the world, China is eager to ensure Europe does not follow what it sees as US-led efforts to contain its rise.
For Macron’s visit at least, there are high expectations in Beijing.
“Macron’s visit is expected to produce concrete results in furthering economic and trade cooperation between China and France, as well as to increase political mutual trust,” state media outlet Global Times wrote in an editorial on Thursday.
“It is worth noting that various forces in Europe and the US are paying close attention to Macron’s visit and exerting influence in different directions,” the Global Times wrote. “In other words, not everyone wants to see Macron’s visit to China go smoothly and successfully.”
Macron will first meet newly appointed Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People, before Li heads for a “working lunch” with von der Leyen, who will be on her first trip to China since becoming European Commission President in late 2019.
Later in the afternoon, Macron and von der Leyen will separately hold talks with President Xi Jinping before all three hold trilateral talks in the evening.
Both Macron and von der Leyen have said they want to persuade China to use its influence over Russia to bring peace in Ukraine, or at least deter Beijing from directly supporting Moscow in the conflict. Russia calls the invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”
Macron, traveling with a 50-strong business delegation including Airbus, luxury giant LVMH and nuclear energy producer EDF, is also expected to announce deals with China.
But not everyone back home thinks that is a good signal to send.
“Three-quarters of the delegation are business leaders: the goal is first and foremost to sign contracts,” left-wing MEP Raphael Glucksmann wrote on Twitter ahead of Macron’s visit. “At a time the debate in Europe focuses on our suicidal dependency on China and Chinese interference, the message is inopportune.”