UN Says Afghan Women Staff Banned from Work by Taliban
Nearly 400 Afghan women who are UN employees have now been banned from working for the intergovernmental organization by the Taliban.
Nearly 400 Afghan women who are UN employees have now been banned from working for the intergovernmental organization by the Taliban. Previously, those working with the UN were exempt from the ban.The United Nations on Tuesday said that the Taliban have extended a ban on Afghan women working for NGOs to include the UN's mission in the country.
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After the Taliban signaled the ban on Tuesday, the UN told close to 3,300 of its staff members in Afghanistan not to come to work for the next 48 hours.
Close to 400 of them are female employees.
Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said during a briefing at the UN headquarters in New York that their female staff in Afghanistan had received "word of an order by the de facto authorities."
UN members will meet with Taliban officials in Kabul on Wednesday and "seek some clarity," Dujarric said.
UN: Any such ban is 'unacceptable'
In December, the Taliban ordered that all foreign and domestic NGOs to stop their female employees from working.
The UN, so far, had been exempted from this rule.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that on Tuesday, its female staff in Nangarhar province had been prevented from reporting to work.
Guterres said that any such ban would be "unacceptable and frankly inconceivable," according to his spokesperson.
"Such orders, as we saw today, violate the fundamental rights of women and infringe upon the principle of non-discrimination," Dujarric said.
He added that the UN is currently working to provide humanitarian aid for close to 23 million people, which is more than half the population in Afghanistan.
Women staff are vital for on-the-ground aid operations in the country, particularly in identifying other women in need.
Guterres also condemned the ban in Nangarhar and tweeted that the ban will "will inevitably undermine our ability to deliver life-saving aid to the people who need it."
Taliban's actions may amount to 'gender persecution'
The Taliban seized power again in August 2021 after US-led international troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
Since then, the Taliban leadership have imposed a hardline interpretation of Islam.
Teenage girls have been barred from attending secondary school, while women have been banned from attending universities.
Female government employees have been pushed out of their jobs, while all women prevented from traveling without a male relative and ordered to ideally wear a burqa outside of the home.
Women have also been banned from universities and not allowed to enter parks or gardens.
Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan said in a recent speech in Geneva that Taliban's actions on women may amount "to the crime of gender persecution."
ns/rs (AFP, dpa)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 05, 2023 10:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).