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RFI interviewed Renata Viana, Humanitarian Affairs and Advocacy Officer for Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan, about the Taliban government’s decision to ban women from working in the humanitarian sector. In total, six NGO’s decided to temporarily stop most of their programs in that country.
Two new NGOs, Christian Aid and AcionAid, announced earlier this week that they were suspending their activities in Afghanistan, bringing to six the organizations that have taken that decision after the Taliban government banned women from working in the humanitarian sector.
Lamenting the “gradual erosion” of women’s rights in the country, the NGO, which has a hundred employees in Afghanistan, denounced the “devastating consequences” of the Taliban government’s decision.
Renata Viana, responsible for humanitarian affairs and MSF Advocacy in Afghanistan, expressed herself in the same sense on the RFI microphones.
“The situation in Afghanistan is very worrying. There is a risk of a major catastrophe because there can be no humanitarian aid without women. It is only possible to provide health care if there are female staff, if there are women participating in the provision of care For all non-governmental organizations this is crucial. Women are key to health services and the provision of humanitarian aid. That is why at Doctors Without Borders we believe that this decision can have a truly enormous impact for entire families and for the entire community. “Afghan society. Afghanistan is suffering from an economic crisis. The humanitarian crisis has also been going on for several years,” he says.
This NGO has decided to continue its activities.
“As a medical organization, we see very clearly the huge impact that leaving the country or suspending the delivery of healthcare would have. So we do not plan to leave. We do not plan to suspend our activities. We hope that we can continue our commitment to the Afghan people,” Viana points out.
According to the UN and aid agencies, more than half of the country’s 38 million people will need humanitarian aid during the winter.
The Afghan Ministry of Economy ordered all non-governmental organizations on Saturday to stop employing women, under threat of losing their authorization to operate in the country, without specifying whether the directive also concerned foreign female staff.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, urged the Taliban on Tuesday to end the “terrible restrictions” imposed on women in Afghanistan.
“No country can develop — or survive — socially and economically when half its population is excluded,” Türk said in a statement.
“These unimaginable restrictions placed on women and girls will not only increase the suffering of all Afghans but, I fear, will pose a risk beyond Afghanistan’s borders.”
The High Commissioner warned that the policies implemented by the Taliban, which returned to power in August 2021, risk destabilizing Afghan society.
In recent months, they have tightened the siege on women, excluding them from numerous public jobs and prohibiting them from accessing parks, gardens, gyms or public bathrooms. Nor can women travel alone, access universities or secondary schools.
