UNAMA calls on the Taliban to extend the practice license of female lawyers from Afghanistan

12 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva, has asked the Afghan Taliban authorities to extend the license of the country’s female lawyers as an exceptional measure to the fundamentalist veto against women’s work to optimize judicial processes in the country.

Otunbayeva has acted in response to the Taliban extension of the licenses of 1,300 lawyers, all male, who will be able to continue working in a country under Islamic law.

The head of UNAMA has conveyed her concerns directly to the Taliban Minister of Justice, Abdul Hakim Sharae, according to the United Nations in a statement, without the results of the meeting having been released.

Otunbayeba has described as “vital” the need to extend the licenses of Afghan lawyers given their “experience in providing legal support to the country’s women and children”, the same argument provided by NGOs that insist the Taliban allow the work of women cooperators given their access to the female population.

The fundamentalist movement has not only prohibited humanitarian aid workers from working as a rule, but has also prevented girls’ access to secondary and higher education.

The Taliban have promised to publish a specific code for the application of a regulation still considered erratic, to determine its exact scope.