UN chief demands Taliban revoke ban on women staff

The UN said it cannot accept the Taliban’s decision to ban female Afghan staff from working at the agency.

The UN has said it cannot accept the Taliban’s decision to ban Afghan female staffers from working at the agency, calling it an “unparalleled” violation of women’s rights.

The statement on Wednesday came a day after the UN said it was informed by Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban that Afghan women would no longer be allowed to work for the world body. The announcement came after the UN mission in the country expressed concern that its female staffers could not report to work in eastern Nangarhar province.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded that the ban be “repealed immediately”.

“This is a violation of the inalienable fundamental human rights of women,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on behalf of Guterres on Wednesday.

The Taliban have not publicly commented on the ban or released a statement.

According to the UN statement, several female UN staff have already faced restrictions on their movements, including harassment, harassment and detention.

“The UN has therefore directed all national personnel – men and women – not to report to the office until further notice,” the statement said.

Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during the previous stint in power, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since taking over the country in 2021, as US and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan after two decades of war.

Girls are banned from education after sixth grade. Women are not allowed to work, study, travel without a male companion and visit parks. Women must also cover themselves from head to toe.

Afghan women were already barred from working for national and international non-governmental organizations, disrupting the delivery of humanitarian aid. Yet the ban previously did not cover working for the UN.

That changed this week. On Wednesday, the UN mission said the Taliban order prohibits any Afghan woman from working for the UN in Afghanistan and that “this measure will be actively enforced.”

The ban is illegal under international law and cannot be accepted by the United Nations, the statement said.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, is mobilizing Taliban authorities to convey the UN’s protest and push for an immediate withdrawal of the order. The UN said it is also involving member states, the donor community and humanitarian partners.

“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,” Otunbayeva said. “This decision is an attack on women, the fundamental principles of the UN and international law.”

The UN has about 3,900 staff in Afghanistan, including about 3,300 Afghans and 600 international staff, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The total also includes 600 Afghan women and 200 women from other countries.

Otunbayeva is a former president and foreign minister of Kyrgyzstan. She was appointed by the Secretary-General in coordination with the UN Security Council. A UN spokesman said on Tuesday that there had been no Taliban action against senior UN leadership.

The Taliban’s restrictions in Afghanistan, especially the ban on education and NGO work, have led to fierce international condemnation. But the Taliban have shown no signs of backing down, claiming the bans are temporary suspensions, allegedly because women did not wear their headscarves or hijabs correctly and gender segregation rules were not followed.