(Image source from: Afganistan to include female negotiators in peace meetings})

Human Rights Watch announced on Tuesday that, The Afghan government can include female negotiators during the forthcoming multistate peace meeting on the Afghan peace process on January 11.

The meeting is expected to be participated by the representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China, in the Pakistan’s capital Islamabad to restart the peace negotiations.

Earlier, the peace talks have stuck in July due to the death of the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Heather Barr, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch  said that, "Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s promises to include women in peace talks have so far amounted to nothing.”  

“The January 11 meeting is a key opportunity for him to show that his government is genuinely committed to women’s full participation in future talks,” he added.

According to a 2014 study by Oxfam, nearly 23 rounds of informal peace meetings has been done in the presence of the Afghan government and the Taliban during 2005 to 2014, but the women’s presence was found only in two meetings. Till now, no women have been included during the peace talks between international negotiators and the Taliban.

Nandini