Oral Answers to Questions

Rebecca Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Doughty]

The fundamentals of the deal remain the same, and the overall quantum remains unchanged.

[Rebecca Smith (South West Devon) (Con)]

7. What steps his Department is taking to support women and girls’ rights in Afghanistan.

[The Minister for Development (Anneliese Dodds)]

We condemn the Taliban’s appalling treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan. The Taliban must reverse their barbaric decrees, and we keep working hard with international partners to maintain collective pressure.

[Rebecca Smith]

The cruelty and inhumanity of the Taliban should appal us all, and no doubt we all condemn the ban on medical training. The UK has provided significant aid to Afghanistan to support the health of women and babies, but with the Taliban now undermining women’s health as well as their rights, what will happen to these aid programmes and funds? What actions can we take to put pressure on the Taliban to reverse their decision?

[Anneliese Dodds]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right that the Taliban have been undermining so much of women’s and girls’ lives in Afghanistan. We are determined to support girls in Afghanistan, including when it comes to education. I have directly discussed that with the Aga Khan Foundation to ensure that support is getting directly to girls, but we also need to push hard politically. I was very pleased to announce that the UK is politically supporting the initiative to refer Afghanistan to the International Court of Justice for violations of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.