NGO group calls on Taliban to lift ban on female UN staff

5 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

A group of international NGOs, including Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have demanded that the ‘de facto’ authorities in Afghanistan lift the ban against female United Nations staff so that all their agencies can work normally. .

“Without our female staff, the humanitarian community cannot effectively reach women and girls. With more than 28 million people desperately in need of help to survive, this act will cut people’s lifelines,” they said in a statement. set.

The text, signed by Save the Children, Action Against Hunger, the Danish Refugee Council, INTERSOS, the Norwegian Refugee Council and World Vision, reflects that this prohibition against women cooperators entails a “cost in lost lives” due to to “record levels of hunger” in the country.

This comes after the United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) alerted the day before that the authorities set up by the Taliban have prevented its female staff from entering one of its offices, as well as working, in Nangarhar province. (this).

According to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, it is not clear if the ban on its workers extends to the entire country or only to the aforementioned province, since the local authorities would have “formally” ordered this measure. , although it could not be applicable to the rest of the Afghan territory.

The Ministry of Economy of Afghanistan’s Taliban authority issued a decree in December ordering all NGOs, whether national or international, to suspend women’s employment contracts until further notice.

After a series of protests, as well as warnings from various organizations to halt humanitarian aid, the ministry’s spokesman, Abdul Rahman Habib, stated in January that women could work in any NGO they wanted.