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Afghan women employees of the United Nations have been banned by the ruling Taliban from working in the country, a UN official said Tuesday.
The UN mission expressed “serious concern” after female staff were prevented from reporting for work in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province.
“We will continue to do everything possible to ensure that we reach the most vulnerable people, especially women and girls,” said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
He said UN officials were told through “various channels” that the ban was in effect across the country.
A Taliban spokesman was not immediately available for comment, and the group did not issue a statement.
The UN is concerned that employees may become targets
Despite early promises of more moderate rule than when they were in power before, the Taliban have adopted harsh measures since seizing power in 2021, as US and NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan after two decades of war.
Girls are barred from education beyond the sixth grade. Women are forbidden to work, study, travel without a male companion and even go to the park. Women should also cover themselves from head to toe when they leave the house.
Afghan women are also banned from working in national and international non-governmental organizations, hampering humanitarian aid deliveries.
Women working at the UN are not included in the NGO ban, but the UN has raised fears that women working at the UN could be targeted.
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Dujarric told reporters Tuesday that Secretary-General António Guterres said that “the ban is unacceptable and frankly, unimaginable.”
“We are still looking into how this development will affect our operations in the country, and we are looking forward to another meeting with the de facto authorities tomorrow in Kabul, where we are trying to find clarity.”
Dujarric said female staff members are essential to carrying out life-saving UN operations on the ground, saying that out of a population of about 40 million people, “we are trying to reach 23 million men, women and children with humanitarian aid.”
The UN has about 3,900 staff in Afghanistan – about 3,300 Afghan nationals and 600 international personnel, he said, including 600 Afghan women and 200 women from other countries. Dujarric would not speculate when asked whether the UN could continue operations in Afghanistan if the Taliban did not reverse the ban on Afghan women.
The UN’s contingency plan was “almost too tragic to contemplate,” he later added.
The UN political mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, is headed by a woman, Roza Otunbayeva, former president and foreign minister of the Kyrgyz Republic. They are appointed by the secretary general in coordination with the UN Security Council. Dujarric said there had been no Taliban action on senior UN leaders.
The Taliban’s restrictions on Afghanistan, particularly restrictions on education and NGO work, have drawn fierce international condemnation. But the Taliban have shown no sign of backing down, saying the ban is a temporary suspension because women do not wear the Islamic hijab, or hijab, properly and because gender segregation rules are not followed.
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