By Fatema Adeeb in TOLOnews, April 07, 2023 at 8:17 PM
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on the interim Afghan government to revisit its decision regarding barring Afghan female staff of the UN agencies in Afghanistan from working.
He also expressed “grave concerns” over the ban, saying that the new “edict will intensify the successive restrictive measures imposed on women and girls, including banning them from governmental organizations.”
The ban has faced continued reactions by many world countries and international organizations.
The German mission for Afghanistan on Twitter said “we strongly condemn the Taliban’s” ban on women working for UNAMA.
“It puts millions in acute danger and blatantly violates human rights. Women are essential to humanitarian assistance,” the German mission said on Twitter. “We are now coordinating further steps with our international partners.”
The deputy spokesman for the US Department of State, Vedant Patel, said that women are central to humanitarian and civil society operations around the world.”
“In Afghanistan in particular, only women are able to reach some of the most vulnerable, in part because many of the most vulnerable households are woman-headed and male aid workers cannot enter,” he told the reporter in Washington D.C.
This comes as the Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General, said that Afghan women will not be replaced by men.
“Afghan women and men are essential to all aspects of the UN’s work in Afghanistan. As we’ve said repeatedly, Afghan women’s meaningful participation is essential to reach safely and effectively populations in need with principled and quality assistance,” he said.
Political analysts said the ban will face Afghanistan with various types of challenges.
“As the ban on female’s education and girls led the fate of the Afghan generation to darkness, the ban on women’s work, especially for the women who are the only breadwinners of their families, is causing different challenges,” said Saleem Kakar, a political analyst.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the Afghan interim government’s new decision about female employees of the UN in Afghanistan.
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-182868
