Speeches

Madam President, women and girls in Afghanistan need our full attention. They need to be heard and they really need help. The situation is worrying. The little progress made over the past 20 years – especially when it comes to the education of girls – is in danger. But even more worryingly, so many women are in danger. Their lives and future is looking very dark, because ‘Taliban’ means systematic, brutal oppression; it means hating women. It is against this backdrop that we, the European Union, have to re-evaluate the past in order to avoid mistakes in the future. This means we need strategic autonomy. (Our most important partners are the UN and the NGOs on the ground.) And we need to make all money and help contingent on clear conditions like the respect of human rights, especially the respect for girls’ and women’s rights.