Declaration of the presiding officers of the regional conference on women in Latin America and the Caribbean on the urgent protection of the human rights of women, adolescents and girls in Afghanistan
We, the ministers and high-level authorities of the national machineries for the advancement of women in Latin America and the CaribbeanDate:
Bearing in mind the obligations assumed by States parties through the universal human rights system, under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) and the Optional Protocol thereto, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Optional Protocols thereto, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and other relevant conventions and treaties, which establish an international legal framework to protect, respect and guarantee all the human rights of women and girls in all their diversity, as well as the principle of non-discrimination, and to achieve gender equality,
Reaffirming the commitments made by States in the Declaration and Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015), especially through Sustainable Development Goal 5 "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls", and United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), which recognizes that violent conflict disproportionately affects women and girls, and intensifies pre-existing gender inequalities and discrimination, as, well as highlighting the important contributions of women in building sustainable peace,
Taking into account the provisions of the Santiago Commitment (2020) to promote measures to ensure the full and effective participation of women at all levels and stages of peace processes and mediation efforts, the prevention and resolution of conflicts, and peacekeeping, peacebuilding and recovery, as established in Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and other resolutions related to the women, peace and security agenda, as well as to promote the adoption of cooperation agreements among countries of origin, transit, destination and return for migrant women, refugees and asylum-seekers,
Taking up the call made by the United Nations Secretary-General to the Security Council and the international community as a whole to be united and utilize all available instruments to suppress the global terrorist threat in Afghanistan; guarantee that basic human rights will be respected; and protect the hard-won rights of Afghan women, adolescents and girls,
- Condemn all actions that jeopardize the security and human rights of women, adolescents and girls in Afghanistan, whose rights are being violated;
- Express our concern at any setback to the progress made towards achieving gender equality in Afghanistan that would put the physical and psychological integrity of women, adolescents and girls at risk;
- Urge all parties in Afghanistan to protect the human rights of women, adolescents and girls in the country;
- Call upon the international community to make every effort to guarantee the human rights of women in Afghanistan and ask countries in the region to take all measures within their power to stand in solidarity with women in that country and, in coordination with the United Nations system, to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to protect those in imminent danger, including those threatened because of the leadership and human-rights-protection roles they have played there.