The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution accusing the Taliban of violating the human rights of Afghan women and girls, failing to establish a representative government and plunging the country into “dire economic, humanitarian and social conditions”.

The resolution also pointed to persistent violence in the country since the Taliban takeover 15 months ago and the presence of terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and the so-called Islamic State and their affiliates as well as the presence of “foreign terrorist fighters”.

Germany’s UN ambassador, Antje Leendertse, had hoped the 193-member General Assembly would approve the German-facilitated resolution by consensus.

But a vote was requested and it was adopted 116-0, with 10 countries abstaining — Russia, China, Belarus, Burundi, North Korea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Some 67 countries did not vote.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, unlike Security Council resolutions, but they do reflect world opinion.

The adoption came the same day the Taliban, which already banned girls from secondary school, stopped women from using gyms and parks.

Before the vote, Ms Leendertse told the assembly that since the Taliban came to power in August 2021 Afghanistan has seen “a massive economic contraction and humanitarian crisis” which has left half the population facing “critical levels of food insecurity”.

“We expect a harsh winter and levels of needs that we have not seen in the last decades with little prospect for economic recovery and reduction of poverty,” she said.

Introducing the resolution, Ms Leendertse told the assembly the Taliban control the country but are not living up to their responsibility toward meeting the needs of the Afghan people.

“The resolution is a clear call to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, develop inclusive governance and fight terrorism,” she said.

“It contains a clear message that without that, there cannot be business as usual and no pathway toward recognition.”

The resolution pledges continued UN support for the Afghan people “in order to rebuild a stable, secure and economically self-sufficient state, free of terrorism, narcotics, transnational organised crime, including trafficking in persons, and corruption, and to strengthen the foundations of a constitutional democracy as a responsible member of the international community”.

It calls for improved access for aid workers and recognises the need to help address Afghanistan’s economic challenges, including efforts to restore the banking and financial systems and enabling Central Bank assets – held mainly in the US – to be used to help the Afghan people.

The resolution expresses deep concern at human rights abuses against women and girls, including sexual violence, and calls on the Taliban to promote “full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in all aspects of Afghan society”.

It condemns all attacks, reprisals and violence against journalists and media workers and calls for their perpetrators to be brought to justice.

The resolution reaffirms the assembly’s expectation that the Taliban will live up to its commitments to allow the safe departure of all Afghans and foreign nationals that want to leave the country.

A doctor and a father of three girls will be tried in an Egyptian criminal court over claims of female genital mutilation (FGM) surgery, a rights lawyer said.

Reda el-Danbouki, executive director of the Women’s Centre for Guidance and Legal Awareness in Cairo, said the procedures took place last week in the district of Juhaynah in Sohag province, 244 miles south of the capital Cairo.

He said the father took his three daughters – ages eight, nine and 11 – to the doctor after telling them they would be vaccinated against coronavirus.

Instead, the girls awoke from anaesthesia to find that their genitals had been removed.

The girls told their mother, who is divorced from the girls’ father, and she reported the incident to police. Police then arrested the father and the doctor, Mr el-Danbouki said.

The public prosecutor’s office in a statement last week accused the father and the doctor of carrying out the mutilations after a forensic analysis confirmed the practice had taken place.

Mr el-Danbouki said the doctor could face up to seven years in prison, while the father faces up to eight years.

Since the mid-1990s, Egypt has been battling the centuries-old practice of FGM, also known as female circumcision, which is misguidedly believed to control women’s sexuality.

In 2008, a law banning the removal of female genitalia was passed in Egypt’s parliament, despite strong opposition from conservative voices.

A 2015 government survey found that 87% of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have been circumcised.

In 2016, Egyptian politicians adopted amendments to the law, elevating the charge against suspects from a misdemeanour — in which offenders typically received up to two years in prison — to a felony, which draws tougher sentences and punishments.

Despite the changes, reports of girls bleeding to death following the procedure have made headlines in the Arab World’s most populous country.

In January, a 12-year-old girl died in the southern province of Assiut after her parents brought her to a doctor who performed the procedure on her.

More than half of girls in British schools and colleges have faced sexual harassment, according to a new report on Tuesday that called for sex education to be provided for all children in primary and secondary school.

A parliamentary committee report said sexual bullying had become an expected part of girls’ everyday lives. The report found evidence that almost a third of 16 to 18-year-olds had experienced unwanted sexual touching at school.

“Surely no one who reads or hears these striking statistics today could now deny how serious … this problem is,” Katie Russell of Rape Crisis, a charity which works with survivors of sexual abuse, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Young people told the committee that complaints of sexual harassment would often be forgotten, with no action taken.

Maria Miller, the lawmaker who chaired the committee, said the report found teachers often accepted sexual harassment as “just banter”.

Nearly three quarters of 16-18 year old students said they heard terms such as “slut” used towards girls on a regular basis.

Miller, from the ruling Conservative party, criticised Britain’s education department for having no “no coherent plan” to tackle the problem.

Under the current UK curriculum, sexual health education is compulsory at secondary school but teaching pupils about relationships and sexual consent is not.

A government spokesperson said the department would consider the report’s recommendations.

“Schools should be safe places and fortunately crime is rare, but no young person should suffer harassment or violence,” the spokesperson said.