The Diplomat
The Congress has asked the Government to condition “any eventual future cooperation with Afghanistan” on “the human rights situation”.
The non-legislative proposal, approved in mid-December by the Committee on International Cooperation for Development at the initiative of the Popular Group, urges the Government “to condition any future cooperation with Afghanistan, whether in the form of economic commitments or development assistance, on the state of the human rights situation in Afghanistan”.
It also asks the Executive of Pedro Sánchez to promote, within the European Union, the creation of development cooperation programs specifically aimed at “encouraging the schooling of women and girls in the new political context of the country” and instruments for the follow-up of the education situation in Afghanistan in order to monitor the total number of children and young adults attending school, “paying special attention to the proportion of these students who are girls and women”.
The motion also urges the Government to ensure that all Afghans hosted in Spain have the necessary means to live with dignity, especially avoiding that the departure from Afghanistan truncates their educational development, and calls for recognition of the work of Spanish cooperation in Afghanistan, “especially highlighting its achievements in education”.
The bill recalls that more than 270,000 Afghans have fled their homes since January because of the “worsening security conditions” and that this situation has worsened further with the capture of Kabul by the Taliban on August 15, after U.S. President Joe Biden announced last year the withdrawal of its troops “within six months” and after “20 years on the ground”. This situation is “particularly worrying” for women and children, since “the return of the Taliban to power and their adoption of Sharia law presage the systematic violation of the rights of women and girls”.
Therefore, it continues, “the international community must redouble its diplomatic efforts to seek the best guarantees that the Taliban will respect international humanitarian law”. Likewise, “the European Union must continue working to avoid past mistakes and offer a coordinated and effective response of reception and asylum”, and the Spanish Government “must lead with facts the defense of human rights in Afghanistan, maintaining the commitment acquired with the people of Afghanistan and, especially, with those who, like women and girls, are more exposed to the abuses of the Taliban”.
