The first-ever Group of 20 (G20) Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment, was held on August 26 in Italy - currently at the helm of the rotating presidency of the G20 - and was chaired by the country’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Participants were ministers in charge of women’s empowerment. Representatives of international advocacy groups, the business community, civil society, and academia also participated in the conference.

It may be mentioned that G20 is a ministerial-level forum comprising 19 countries, the European Union and representatives from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. G20 was formed after the G7 invited developed as well as developing countries during the 1997-1999 Asian financial Crisis to form the G20.

The talks in the recent summit were initially scheduled to focus on the promotion of women’s rights in the workplace, education and training, and protection against domestic violence. However, the main focus is said to have shifted to women’s rights and the situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of the country last month.

Draghi called on representatives from the G20 to “do everything possible” to protect the rights of Afghanistan’s women. “The G20 must do everything possible to ensure Afghan women retain their fundamental freedoms and rights, particularly to education,” He said. “We must not delude ourselves: Afghan girls and women are on the verge of losing their freedom and dignity and of returning to the sad condition they were in 20 years ago.”

“They risk becoming second-class citizens once again, victims of violence and systematic discrimination, simply because they are women,” the prime minister said. “As G20 members, we have an obligation not only to our citizens but also to the global community. We must defend the rights of women everywhere in the world.”

The conclusions reached on Thursday will be presented at the G20 leaders’ summit in Rome in October.

C20 action plan

Past experiences have shown that prior advocacy by civil society does have a meaningful impact on policies, oftentimes slow. But in this case, it had a very quick effect, as per the detailed action plan worked out by Civil 20—see details in  https://civil-20.org/c20-statement-on-afghan-womens-and-girls-rights.

It calls upon “G20 leaders and other relevant actors to defend women’s and girls’ rights in Afghanistan by implementing its strategic action plan” which also includes a call to organize chartered direct evacuation flights for the “at risk”; chart out legal pathways for granting asylum; fund women’s programs in Afghanistan and lastly, to pass a UNSC resolution.

Civil 20 (C20) is one of the official Engagement Groups of the G20. It provides a platform of civil society organizations around the world to bring forth the political dialogue with the G20. The Civil 20 process involves a wide variety of organizations and networks far beyond the G20 countries and it is structured around the C20 Guiding Principles.

In the context of the US, its government’s statements were impacted by the timely activism of leading women’s NGOs  - Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), National Organization for Women (NOW) and the key NGO on Afghan women Women for Afghan Women (WAW). They called on US President Joe Biden and his administration to prioritize evacuation of women and girls “at risk”, backing their endeavors with an online signature campaign.

The US evacuation policy

On August 25, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that around 1,500 US citizens remain in Afghanistan, about a third of whom are hoping to leave in the coming days. But he also assured that "While evacuating Americans is our top priority, we're also committed to getting out as many Afghans at risk as we can before the 31st (August).”

On August 26, with the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) bombing endangering and disrupting the US government’s evacuation timeframe, all hopes of getting the Afghans at risk in the pipeline before the Aug 31 withdrawal, would have been diminished.

On August 27, following the US military’s retaliation via a drone strike against an ISIS-K planner, the evacuations were speeded up. On August 28, a State Department spokesperson said 350 Americans were still looking to leave Afghanistan. According to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, ‘Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and vulnerable Afghans are still being processed at the airport.”

On August 28 itself, the evacuations gathered further steam after another US pre-emptive drone strike on an ISIS-K armed vehicle in Kabul. The next day, came the good news when the US, along with 97 other countries, announced they had reached an agreement with the Taliban to continue to get Afghan allies out of the country after the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline.

“We are all committed to ensuring that our citizens, nationals and residents, employees, Afghans who have worked with us and those who are at risk can continue to travel freely to destinations outside Afghanistan.  

“We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country…and we have the clear expectation of and commitment from the Taliban that they can travel to our respective countries.  We note the public statements of the Taliban confirming this understanding,” the countries said in a joint statement.

On August 30, Blinken stated: ”The US' work in Afghanistan is not done. One immediate priority is working with allies to get the airport in Kabul reopened so remaining Americans and allied Afghans can get out safely. Many challenges remain for the people of Afghanistan now that the Taliban has retaken control, and journalists and activists are urging the public not to forget about the humanitarian needs that will arise there.”

Pressure on Taliban

That the Taliban had to retract from the Aug. 25 statement of its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid that “They [the Americans]… can take all the people that belong to them but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” was on account of a coordinated international pressure led  by the US government, which after having accomplished the task of evacuating almost all its citizens, could finally take up the issue of safe passage of the “Afghans at risk” with the Taliban, and extract an assurance.

And all of this in turn was presumably also on account of the continued pressure of the three NGOs mentioned earlier and many others, along with the bipartisan initiatives on this matter in the US Senate of three women senators -  Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, Mazie K. Hirono (Democrat) member of Armed Services Committees and Susan Collins (Republican), member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, starting April this year.

On August 30, the United States hosted a virtual ministerial meeting with key partners on Afghanistan, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Qatar, the European Union, and NATO. The participants  discussed an aligned approach for the days and weeks ahead.

With the US and the international community now on board, it is hoped that the three NGOs would now write to the US President Joe Biden or his administration again — armed with more signatures in support -- outlining a detailed post-evacuation action plan, perhaps along the lines of that done by the C-20, and also try and participate as civil society representatives at the G20 leaders’ summit in Rome in October.

Given the Talibans’ growing need to be recognized, and to receive international aid, the US and the international community, backed by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations are in a much better position to together pin down the Taliban on its assurances and also hold it accountable.

On August 30 itself, the UN Security Council approved a resolution for creating a "safe passage" zone for people seeking to leave Afghanistan from Kabul's airport after the US withdrawal from the country. The Council is relying on the Taliban to secure the safe passage out for Afghans and foreign nationals who want to move elsewhere.

Significantly, the developments happened after the C20 called for a UNSC resolution to be passed to this effect. And following the adoption of the UN resolution, the UN Director at Human Rights Watch Louis Charbonneau issued a statement urging the Taliban to uphold human rights and called on other countries to "do their part by speedily processing asylum claims and issuing visas for at-risk Afghans so they can resettle.”

“The Taliban should know that the world is watching them closely. They should allow Afghans wishing to leave Afghanistan to do so freely, as they have pledged and the UN Security Council is calling for," the statement said.

"The Taliban should also heed the Council’s call that it uphold international human rights law, including the rights of women and girls, children and minorities. They will be judged by their actions, not their words,” Charbonneau added. So much for the power of advocacy!

(The writer, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer, is a former Member Secretary, National Commission for Women. The views expressed are personal. She can be contacted at ns570@columbia.edu)