The United Nations condemned the Taliban’s decision this week to ban women from working with aid groups or attending university and threatened to suspend critical aid programs.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Thursday demanded that the ban be overturned, calling it a “grave denial of his humanity.”
“It will only result in more suffering and hardship for all Afghans, especially women and children,” he said. “This ban must be lifted.”
The UN refugee agency warned that some 500 women work with 19 partner NGOs in Afghanistan, serving almost 1 million women and girls across the country.
PRESIDENT BIDEN ASKED TO INTERVENE FOR VETERANS IN AFGHAN SOLDIER ARRESTED AFTER THE BORDER CROSSING ASYLUM CASE
TOPSHOT – A burka-clad Afghan woman walks down a street in Kandahar on December 25, 2022.
(Photo by NAVEED TANVEER/AFP via Getty Images)
“The latest restrictions will force the UN Refugee Agency to temporarily halt critical activities in support of the Afghan people, especially women and children,” the agency warned.
The warning echoes similar notices issued by other UN agencies this week, including a joint statement issued on Wednesday by UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and 18 other humanitarian groups, which said: “We cannot ignore the operational constraints we now face as a humanitarian community.
“Banning women from humanitarian work has immediate life-threatening consequences for all Afghans. Some time-critical programs have already had to be temporarily halted due to a lack of female staff,” the report read. release. “We anticipate that many activities will need to stop, as we cannot provide principled humanitarian assistance without female aid workers.”
Afghans queue to receive food aid from a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Kabul on December 25, 2022. – Several foreign aid groups announced on December 25 that they would suspend their operations in Afghanistan after the country’s Taliban rulers order all NGOs to prevent female staff from working.
(Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
TALIBAN MINISTER DOUBLES ON BAN OF WOMEN FROM UNIVERSITIES FOR VIOLATING ‘ISLAM AND AFGHAN HONOR’
The UN Security Council also on Tuesday condemned the many bans on women in Afghanistan, including their inability to attend high school or university, after the Taliban announced its latest restrictions on Saturday.
“These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people, as well as the expectations of the international community,” the security council said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, noted that this not only directly affects the 28 million people in need in Afghanistan, but will exacerbate the already dire economic situation across the country.
TOPSHOT – Burka-clad Afghan women walk down a street in Kabul on December 28, 2022.
(Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
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“No country can develop, indeed survive, socially and economically with half its population excluded,” he said. “Banning women from working in NGOs will deprive them and their families of their income and their right to contribute positively to the development of their country and the well-being of their fellow citizens.”
Western officials have repeatedly warned that these increasingly restrictive measures not only violate the human rights of women and girls, but are likely to lead to an increase in sexual and gender-based violence.
