Taliban leaders in Afghanistan have issued an order prohibiting female UN staff members who are Afghan nationals from working anywhere in the country, a United Nations spokesman said on Tuesday.
“For the [U.N.] secretary-general [Antonio Guterres], any such ban would be unacceptable and frankly inconceivable,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “This is the latest in a disturbing trend undermining the ability of aid organizations to reach those most in need”, as more than half of the country’s 23 million residents require assistance.
The United Nations had voiced worry that the prohibition will be implemented in recent months. The organization had asked all employees to skip work for the next 48 hours due to worries about how the ban would be enforced.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) raised alarm over the fact that female employees in the eastern province of Nangarhar had been prevented from reporting to work.
Most female NGO staff were prohibited from working by Taliban officials in December, which according to charity workers has made it harder to contact female beneficiaries and may cause donors to withhold support.
The Taliban government, which came to power after US-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, claims it upholds women’s rights in line with its understanding of Islamic law
A high-level delegation led by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed visited Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat in Afghanistan in January to speak with Taliban leaders about a number of decrees that had severely restricted the rights of women and girls, particularly with regard to attending school and university and working outside the home.
