You are not allowed to go to high school.

You are not allowed to do sports.

You are not allowed to travel.

You are not allowed to work.

To take the bus.

To speak to a man or boy.

To see a doctor on your own.

It sounds like prison.

But this has been the reality for women and girls in Afghanistan since 2021.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are removing every last shred of freedom from women and girls.

And now, they have even banned women from speaking in public.

In German, we have an expression for that: “mundtot”.

It literally means mouth-dead.

To kill someone, by killing their voice.

That’s what is happening right now.

And many of the cruel provisions in the so-called “vice and virtue” law are, what is more, vague and unclear.

That means women in Afghanistan are also subjected to the erratic and arbitrary interpretation of the law by the morality police.

And as Rosa Otunbayeva, Head of UNAMA, told the Security Council last week, the draconic conduct of the Taliban does not only separate women from men.

It also separates them from other women because they don’t dare to do anything anymore.

It comes as no surprise that 90 percent of women in Afghanistan say that their mental health is deteriorating.

And that 8 percent say they know a woman who tried to take her own life.

It is nothing less than the unprecedented attempt to erase 50 percent of the Afghan population from public life.

We all feel that this is simply unacceptable, this de facto imprisonment of half of the population. And I would say, and we discussed this with our colleagues: if we were to see such steps not based on gender but on race or religion, we would call them crimes against humanity.

We are here today because we cannot just watch this unfold.

We are here today because the regime has to be held accountable for these crimes against female humanity.

This is why we are launching this initiative and embarking on a new path.

To send a clear message to women and girls in Afghanistan that we see them.

But also to send the clear message that we hold the regime accountable for these crimes against female humanity.

The Afghanistan de facto government, the Taliban, is responsible under international law for the violation of numerous obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which Afghanistan ratified in 2003.

Therefore, together with Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, we have made clear to the de facto authorities that we expect them to comply with Afghanistan's obligations under CEDAW.

As required by CEDAW provisions, we are making an earnest attempt to engage the de facto authorities on how they fulfil their international human rights obligations, especially those concerning women and girls.

We believe in the power of law.

I would like to underline right at the outset for everybody: by doing this, we are not politically recognising the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. However, we stress that the de facto authorities are responsible for upholding and fulfilling Afghanistan’s obligations under international law.

Because women's rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.

And as we embark on this path, we and our teams do, of course, know that this route involves various steps. We have to engage on the political level. We have been trying to do so for more than two years now.

And the four countries that launched this initiative, one that is supported by so many other countries here, are also making clear in the statement that further steps could follow.

We know, and we are also thankful for this debate, that not every country around the table is pledging to follow each and every step that is coming, leading ultimately to international courts.

But what unites this group is the understanding that CEDAW is more than just paper. It is a Convention that holds countries accountable. I would thus really like to thank all the countries supporting this initiative.

I think this is really what the spirit of UNGA is all about.

There might be minor differences between our countries but if we stand together to protect the core of what is important to us, we can ensure that human rights and women's rights are more than just paragraphs.

So thank you very much for your cooperation.