The Taliban ban Afghan women from working for NGOs

The Taliban ban Afghan women from working for NGOs

by foreign editor

A few days later the decision was made to exclude women from universities. For the United Nations a clear violation of human rights

Not only will they no longer be able to attend university. Now they can no longer work for NGOs and non-governmental organizations. the recent decision by the Afghan Taliban government discriminating against the country’s women, who have been banned from university lecture halls since Tuesday 20 December.

Now, in a letter sent to national and international NGOs operating in the country by the Economy Ministry on Saturday December 24, it has been stipulated that only men can work for the organisations. According to the government, the women employees of some organizations have violated Sharia law by improperly wearing the hijab. The letter was accompanied by the threat that all NGOs that do not comply with the decision would have their license revoked.

International reactions were not long in coming. The United Nations condemned the decision, calling it a clear violation of human rights, while Amnesty International argues that the ban is nothing more than a regrettable attempt to erase women from Afghanistan’s political, social and economic space. The US has also expressed harsh words: Secretary of State Antony Blinken fears that the decision could have devastating consequences for all Afghans and expresses his concern: This ban interrupts a vital aid chain for millions of people. Farnesina has expressed grave concern at an unacceptable decision that violates principles of international humanitarian law, while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has urged the international community to show a clear response to the bans.

The concern of several international organizations that Afghan women may no longer have the right to direct support as the Taliban do not allow men (the only ones who could be employed by NGOs) to work in direct contact with women. Three NGOs (Save the children, CARE and the Norwegian Refugee Council) have stopped their work in Afghanistan because without the women they work with they can no longer guarantee help for children, women and men.

The protests that erupted in Kabul and other cities, soon to be crushed by law enforcement officials after the decision to close universities to women, even spraying water jets on the protesters, did not slow down the Taliban’s decisions, therefore August 2021 to regain power, have gradually curtailed the rights of women — who in many provinces don’t even have access to secondary schools and are barred by law from parks, gyms and other public places — despite promising their government would be less radical than that of the 1990s .

December 25, 2022 (change December 25, 2022 | 16:33)