Discussing Afghanistan's Developments, Indonesian Foreign Minister Emphasizes Issues Of Women's Rights

JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stressed the need to prioritize the issue of women's rights in discussing the current development of the situation in Afghanistan.

"Indonesia recommends that the issue of women must continue to be included as one of the priorities in the engagement (involvement) of the international community with the Taliban," Foreign Minister Retno said at a press conference in Doha, Qatar on February 19, according to a statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, February 20.

The press conference was held following a meeting in Doha which was attended by Foreign Minister Retno at the invitation of the United Nations Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN Secretary-General) Antonio Guterres to discuss the development of the situation in Afghanistan.

During the meeting, Foreign Minister Retno conveyed several things, including that Indonesia welcomed the report by the Secretary General of the United Nations regarding the situation in Afghanistan.

Indonesia also recorded reports on the situation of women's rights in Afghanistan prepared by the United Nations for the issue of gender equality and women's empowerment -- UN Women, International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Indonesia also recorded a response given by the Taliban or the De Facto Authority (DFA) to the two reports.

From the Taliban report and response, Foreign Minister Retno assessed that there is a fairly wide gap between the expectations of the international community and other stakeholders with what the current DFA or Taliban is doing, including in efforts to fulfill the rights of Afghan women.

Therefore, Foreign Minister Retno assessed that the main challenge was on how to bridge the gap.

Regarding efforts to embrace all parties in Afghanistan, according to Foreign Minister Retno, Indonesia emphasizes the importance of continuous involvement even though it is not yet time to confess to the DFA or Taliban.

In addition, continued Retno, Indonesia also refers to a UN Women report which states that since coming to power in August 2021, there have been 50 Talibanmen who are considered eroding women's rights, and none of these series have been canceled to date.

For this reason, the Indonesian government recommends that women's issues need to continue to be included as one of the priorities in the involvement of the international community with the Taliban.

"In this issue, it is important for the United Nations to continue to coordinate with the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation)," said Foreign Minister Retno.

In her statement, Foreign Minister Retno also conveyed several things that Indonesia had done to help Afghan women, including providing scholarships to Afghan women.

"This initiative has been supported by several countries, including Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, UK (England), and Canada," he said.

Indonesia also, he said, is collaborating with Qatar to provide scholarships to Afghans, provide capacity building programs regarding financial literacy, and is in talks to discuss developing the madrasa curriculum.

Another thing that Foreign Minister Retno emphasized at the meeting was that, in principle, Indonesia agreed with the recommendations of the Secretary General of the United Nations regarding the appointment of the Special Envoy for the Secretary General of the United Nations on the issue of Afghanistan.

"What needs to be ensured is that the special envoy can work and produce results. This is the biggest challenge given the position of the Taliban who cannot accept the appointment of the special envoy. Do not let a special envoy be formed but in the end they cannot work," said Foreign Minister Retno.

Meanwhile, he also conveyed the importance of continuing to pay attention and help the Afghan people.

In this case, the Indonesian Foreign Minister conveyed about Indonesia's assistance in the form of 10 million doses of polio vaccine and mobile clinics, ambulances and medicine supplies for the Afghan people.

Indonesia has also provided training on family welfare programs to deal with health crises caused by natural disasters in the country.