Banning Afghan women from working “is unacceptable and puts lives in danger,” says Guterres

Following an international meeting of special envoys for Afghanistan held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, the General secretaryAntónio Guterres, indicated that all the participants in the event agreed on the need to agree on a “engagement strategy” with the Taliban to help the most vulnerable population in the country.

Address the most pressing problems

Guterres made it clear that the meeting did not focus on the recognition of the de facto authorities, but on the design of a common international approach that addresses the most burning problems, such as terrorism, the repression of human rights and the expansion of drug trafficking.

“If we want to achieve our goals, we cannot distance ourselves,” he said.

And then he added: “Many called for a more effective engagement based on the lessons we have learned from the past. The UN will continue to use its convening power to promote a forward-looking approachwhich puts the Afghan people first, and in a complementary way to existing regional platforms and initiatives”.

Guterres noted that the ban imposed by the Taliban leadership last month preventing Afghan women from working for the UN, after restricting them from working for national and international NGOs, “is unacceptable and puts lives in danger“.

“I will be very clear: we will never remain silent in the face of unprecedented and systemic attacks on the rights of women and girls. We will always speak up when millions of women and girls are being silenced and erased from our sight,” she said.

The world’s largest humanitarian crisis

As Secretary General, he recalled that Afghanistan is currently experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world with a 97% of Afghans living in poverty and 28 million depending on humanitarian aid.

“Six million Afghan children, women and men are one step away from living in famine-like conditions. In the meantime, the funding fizzles out,” she highlighted.

That financing to which Guterres alluded, the Humanitarian Response Plan, which seeks to raise 4.6 billion dollars, has only managed to obtain 294 million so far.

The vast majority of UN personnel providing vital aid in Afghanistan are Afghan nationals, he stressed, so banning women’s work “deliberately undermines the development of a country that desperately needs everyone’s contribution to achieving sustainable peace.” and contribute to regional stability”.

Later questioned about the possibility of attending a meeting with Taliban leaders, Guterres said that, although today was not the right time to discuss this issue, “I obviously wouldn’t reject that possibility.”

The Secretary General ended the meeting with the media stating that he had personally promised to convene a follow-up meeting of the envoys on a date to be determined.