The ban on Afghan women working for the UN goes against the United Nations charter which rejects all segregation, the world organization said on Wednesday, warning that there would be no “exception “.
The UN announced on Tuesday that the Taliban now prohibited its Afghan employees, so far spared from this type of measures applied to NGOs, from working with the organization throughout the country.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “calls on the Taliban to immediately revoke” this decision, his spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
These women are “essential” to the humanitarian operations of the UN, “the application of this decision will harm the Afghan population, millions of people in need of this assistance”, he continues.
In this country plagued by one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet, around 23 million men, women and children are affected by aid, according to the UN.
However, in the deeply conservative and patriarchal Afghan society, it is not allowed for a woman to talk to a man who is not a close relative. A woman can therefore only come into contact with an aid recipient of the same sex.
Some 3,900 people work for the UN in Afghanistan, including 3,300 nationals, according to the organization. About 600 women are among these employees, including nearly 400 Afghans.
Interviewed by AFP, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, stressed that this ban “would violate the United Nations charter”: “It is absolutely clear that no authority can give instructions in the United Nations, whether on the basis of gender or any other principle, on which should be employed”.
“It’s a big violation of women’s rights”, and the UN “cannot accept that, neither in Afghanistan nor in any other country” and “make an exception”, insisted Mr. Alakbarov.
“In the history of the United Nations, no other regime has ever tried to ban women from working for the Organization just because they are women,” said the head of the Mission. United Nations Assistance Agency in Afghanistan (Manua), Rosa Otunbayeva.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told reporters in New York that women employed by the international organization in Afghanistan would continue to receive their salaries.
“I am extremely disturbed that during the month of Ramadan all we get from the Taliban is a blow to the teachings and beliefs of Islam,” she said.
The subject is on the agenda of the Security Council on Thursday, for discussions behind closed doors.
Contacted several times, the Taliban government did not respond to AFP’s requests.
On December 24, 2022, the Afghan Ministry of Economy announced that the 1,260 NGOs operating in the country were now prohibited from working with Afghan women, due to “serious complaints” about non-compliance with the wearing of the hijab, which must fully cover the body and face. The UN, however, was not involved.
The day after the ban, several NGOs announced that they were suspending their activities, before resuming them in mid-January with the support of their female staff in a few sectors benefiting from exemptions such as health and nutrition.
“We were able to obtain certain exceptions, flexibilities in certain provinces, but we do not know if that will hold with the latest developments”, worried Wednesday the humanitarian coordinator of the UN.
“Many donors and contributors” have already stopped funding the aid program for Afghanistan, also deplored Mr. Alakbarov. So far, the UN appeal for assistance for 2023 has only been funded to “3-4%” of the expected amount, he said.
Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban have returned to the austere interpretation of Islam which marked their first passage to power (1996-2001) and have multiplied the draconian measures against women.
Access to university and secondary school is forbidden to them.
They have also been excluded from many public jobs, or are paid a pittance to stay at home. They are not allowed to travel without being accompanied by a male relative and must cover themselves fully when leaving their homes.
06/04/2023 04:11:13 – Kabul (AFP) © 2023 AFP