Opening Remarks by Ambassador Wahidullah Waissi

Launch of the “Advancing Afghan Women’s Rights” Report

Australian National University 

1 May 2025

Distinguished colleagues and friends,

Representatives of the Australian Government, 

Members of the diplomatic corps,

Members of academia and civil society,

Honoured Afghan women and diaspora representatives,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we gather, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. I pay my respect to their Elders past and present. This land, rooted in ancient knowledge and dignity, offers an appropriate foundation for today’s gathering, a forum dedicated to justice, inclusion, and the rights of women.

I acknowledge and thank the ANU Gender Institute for hosting this event, and express my appreciation to Azadi-e Zan and its Executive Director, Susan Hutchinson, whose unwavering efforts continue to amplify the voices of Afghan women, within Afghan women in Australia. I commend DFAT and the Australian Parliament and all partners who have supported this initiative in last November through their principled and sustained solidarity.

Since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Afghan women have been systematically removed from society and stripped of their most basic rights. This is not a mere rollback of progress. It is the imposition of gender apartheid, a form of structural violence designed to erase women from public life, to silence ambition, and to delegitimize half of a nation.

As this report documents, Afghan women are banned from education, excluded from employment, and targeted for repression. Their freedom of movement, their access to healthcare, and their fundamental dignity have all come under siege. These are not isolated violations, they are part of a coordinated, ideological campaign to erase women from the future of Afghanistan.

Yet, amid this darkness, there is light. There is resilience. There is resistance. And that is what brings us together here today.

This event, this report, and this coalition of voices from academia to activism, from parliament to the grassroots—are a demonstration to the fact that Afghan women are not alone. They are not forgotten. They are not silent. And the world is still listening.

Afghanistan’s future must not be dictated by a single armed group that excludes its people, disregards its constitutional legacy, and violates international norms. No path to stability or legitimacy can bypass accountability. While engagement may be necessary in navigating this complex crisis, it must not come at the expense of justice, inclusion, and the fundamental rights of the Afghan people especially its women and girls.

The international community must adopt a clear and principled approach to Afghanistan. That approach must be anchored in these five strategic imperatives:

1. Conditional Engagement – Any diplomatic or economic engagement with the Taliban must be predicated on measurable progress in human rights, particularly for women and girls.
2. Protection and Restoration of Women’s Rights – No credible vision for Afghanistan’s future can exclude its women. Restrictions must be reversed and international law must be upheld, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
3. Inclusive Political Dialogue – We urge the United Nations and other stakeholders to expand the scope of intra-Afghan dialogue to include women leaders, civil society actors, and democratic opposition groups. Afghanistan’s political future must reflect its full diversity—not the narrow, ideological framework of a single armed group.
4. Targeted Humanitarian Support – we call on international partners, including Australia to increase aid directed at people-centric programs, bypassing the controlled institutions while supporting Afghan-led initiatives delivering education, healthcare, and livelihood support.
5. Accountability and International Mechanisms – The pursuit of justice through the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice must remain steadfast.

The Australian Government has played a historic role in supporting Afghanistan. From military deployments to development cooperation, from the protection of evacuees to the resettlement of women judges and athletes, this country has shown courage, compassion, and commitment. But now is the time to go further.

Support must continue to flow to the organisations who are doing the brave work of teaching girls, treating patients, assisting women entrepreneurship and marketing, and documenting human rights abuses. Those organisations to understand the terrain, operate with credibility and care, and need direct, sustainable support.

Furthermore, Afghan diplomatic missions that continue to operate under the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations—and in adherence to the constitutional values of the Republic, must be supported in fulfilling their diplomatic and consular responsibilities. Any concession to demands made by the Taliban, absent legitimacy and accountability, risks not stabilizing Afghanistan but silencing its people, undermining justice, and extinguishing the prospects for a democratic and inclusive future.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today’s event reminds us that solidarity is not a gesture, it is a responsibility. We are not here to merely bear witness to injustice. We are here to challenge it, to speak against it, and to act with moral clarity.

Let me close with this: Afghan women are not victims waiting to be saved. They are agents of change, educators, leaders, thinkers, and builders of a nation that one day will rise from the ruins of repression.

Let this gathering be remembered not as a commemoration of loss, but as a reaffirmation of purpose. Together, let us uphold a simple yet powerful conviction: that no woman, anywhere, should be excluded from her nation’s future.

Thank you.