The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons told the UN Security Council that “we remain extremely concerned about the fate of several women activists who were abducted from their homes and have disappeared.”

She also called on the Islamic Emirate to investigate such cases.

Tamana Zaryabi Paryani and Parawana Ibrahimkhel were the two women’s rights activists missing last week.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for the release of the two female activists.

“The UN chief highlighted the situation of women and girls, who are once again shut out of offices and classrooms,” UN News quoted Guterres. “He also appealed for the release of women activists who were arrested or abducted recently.”

Mahbooba Saraj, an Afghan women's rights activist, told the conference that “today” in Afghanistan, women are literally being erased from public life.

Most Afghan girls are banned from secondary schools," she said.

US Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Rina Amiri, said that she pressed for the immediate release of the two female activists in a meeting with the Islamic Emirate’s delegation in Oslo.

“In Oslo (US special envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas West) and I pressed for the immediate release of Tamana Parwani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Alia Azizi, and others. Raids and arrests of protesters need to end. Echoing demands of Afghan women, we pushed for concrete action on education, employment, and human rights,” she said.

The Islamic Emirate denied the allegations that it had arrested the two women’s rights activists but pledged to look into the issue.