Taliban should respect human rights for the sake of international recognition: UN chief

The UN chief made the statement while laying out his priorities for 2022 at the General Assembly in New York, reported Tolo News. Guterres touching upon the issue of Afghanistan and human rights in the country said that respect for the rights of women and girls and human rights, in general, is required for the Islamic Emirate to gain recognition and also obtain international support.

"It is absolutely essential for them in the context of their objective of recognition, but also in the context of their objective of getting international support for their own people, it is absolutely essential to have full respect for the rights of women and girls and to have a positive approach to human rights in general," he said. 

Women's rights to work and girls' right to education have been two key issues the international community has set as part of the conditions for recognition. Following the collapse of the former government, secondary girls' schools have remained closed in most parts of the country. 

The US special envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West has said that the international community will pay the salaries of Afghan teachers if the Islamic Emirate reopens all girls' schools in the coming school year, reported Tolo News. 

The UN chief also talked about the world facing a five-alarm global fire that requires the full mobilization and support of all countries, reported Tolo News. "I want to begin the year by raising five alarms - on Covid-19, global finance, climate action, lawlessness in cyberspace, and peace and security," he said. "Now is not the time to simply list and lament challenges, now is the time to act," he added.