The Afghanistan envoy appointed before the Taliban came to power keeps his country’s embassy in Ottawa in the hope that democracy will eventually return to his native country, and he calls on Canadians to fight “the gender apartheid.
“It is necessary to intensify efforts to defend women and girls in Afghanistan,” said Hassan Soroosh, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
The Taliban have tried to rename the country, calling it the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since they took Kabul in August 2021, but it is an unrecognized government in the world.
This allows Mr. Soroosh to provide consular services and advocate for Afghans everywhere. Lately, he has lobbied the Trudeau government to lift bans on bringing Canadian humanitarian aid into the country.
“In terms of numbers and severity, we still have the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world in Afghanistan; 28 million people need humanitarian aid,” he said.
“Canada has always been one of the first countries to respond to humanitarian emergencies in Afghanistan. »
Ottawa will change the law
Humanitarian groups say Global Affairs Canada told them that buying goods or hiring locals in Afghanistan would involve paying taxes to the Taliban, which could be considered under the Criminal Code as contributing to a group terrorist.
This advice was given despite a cascade of humanitarian crises, from a collapsing health system to soaring child malnutrition rates.
The government has announced its intention to amend the Criminal Code this spring.
Some aid groups, who did not want to be named to avoid damaging their relationship with the government, expect the Liberals to introduce legislation as soon as this week that could change multiple terrorism provisions in the Criminal Code.
Mr. Soroosh says Canada’s contributions to UN agencies working on the ground have helped, but he says Canada could play a bigger role in helping people recover from a dire humanitarian situation and the one of the coldest winters on record.
“I personally hope that there will be an effective solution for this very soon. »
Who will benefit from the aid?
Soroosh has repeatedly stressed that aid groups cannot allow aid to be diverted to the Taliban, but he is confident that Canadian groups will know how to handle this problem.
“It is very important to ensure that the aid will be directly and efficiently channeled to the vulnerable people, and that the Taliban will not be able to benefit from the aid or use the channeling of the aid as a tool for legitimation or consolidation of power. »
The media has reported allegations that the Taliban used international aid to line their pockets, and the lack of official paper trails makes these claims difficult to refute. International banking sanctions mean aid is usually channeled through informal networks known as hawala, which have no central connection.
“There have been many such cases over the past few months,” Soroosh said. For the international (non-governmental organizations) that continue to work in Afghanistan, this has been a dilemma. »
The Taliban has banned women from working with aid groups, a devastating blow to a sector where women make up at least a third of the workforce and can access spaces that men usually cannot.
Setbacks on women’s rights
Mr Soroosh said the Taliban was dismantling two decades of gains for women in Afghanistan and bringing back some of the most repressive measures of the 1990s.
“While the situation has been fundamentally dire and painful for all Afghans, it has been more painful for women and girls because they are systematically excluded from public life. »
Women are barred from gymnasiums and parks, and the Taliban publicly flogged those who left home without a male guardian.
“According to many international experts, these repressive measures against women and girls in Afghanistan constitute gender apartheid,” he said.
On Sunday, Amnesty International urged the UN Human Rights Council to end Taliban impunity, citing “the suffocating crackdown on the rights of women and girls and the targeted killings of ethnic Hazara”. .
In Ottawa, Soroosh says countries should do more to insulate the regime, such as engaging more with civil society groups.
He said countries like Canada could make ongoing talks in Qatar with Taliban officials conditional on certain practices ending. They could also sanction the elites so that they cannot take vacations abroad.
“This requires collective international efforts to exert greater pressure on the Taliban. Because it seems the Taliban have so far not felt the real pressure to change their policies and approach,” he noted.
“Politically speaking, as the experience in the case of Afghanistan shows, no regime and no system can survive without embracing the will of the people. »
Significance of Embassy
That is why the embassy and consulates Mr. Soroosh oversees in Toronto and Burnaby, British Columbia, have defied Taliban attempts to take control of diplomatic missions.
Instead, all three offices have cut spending and staff. The Ottawa embassy has gone from 19 employees to just two diplomats, three assistants and one part-time employee.
He said closing the embassy would be tantamount to abandoning Afghans in North America who need services and defence, and would dishonor the sacrifice Canadian soldiers have made in Afghanistan.