CNN
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Three foreign aid groups stated Sunday that they had been shifting to briefly suspend their operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban barred female employees of non-governmental organizations from coming to work.
“We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without our female staff,” aid organizations Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International stated in a joint assertion Sunday.
“Without women driving our response, we would not have jointly reached millions of Afghans in need since August 2021. Beyond the impact on delivery of lifesaving assistance, this will affect thousands of jobs in the midst of an enormous economic crisis,” stated the assertion, which was signed by the heads of the three NGOs.
“Whilst we gain clarity on this announcement, we are suspending our programmes, demanding that men and women can equally continue our lifesaving assistance in Afghanistan,” the assertion added.
The Taliban administration on Saturday ordered all native and worldwide non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to cease their female employees from coming to work, in keeping with a letter by the Ministry of Economy despatched to all licensed NGOs. Non-compliance will end result in revoking the licenses of stated NGOs, the ministry stated.
In the letter, the ministry cites the non-observation of Islamic costume guidelines and different legal guidelines and rules as causes for the choice.
“Lately there have been serious complaints regarding not observing the Islamic hijab and other Islamic Emirate’s laws and regulations,” the letter stated, including that in consequence “guidance is given to suspend work of all female employees of national and international non-governmental organizations.”
Earlier this week, the Taliban authorities suspended university education for all female college students in Afghanistan.
In a televised information convention on Thursday, the Taliban’s larger training minister stated they’d banned ladies from universities for not observing Islamic costume guidelines and different “Islamic values,” citing female college students touring with no male guardian. The transfer sparked outrage amongst ladies in Afghanistan.
A group of women took to the streets in town of Herat on Saturday to protest the college ban. Video footage circulating on social media confirmed Taliban officers utilizing a water cannon to disperse the female protesters. Girls could possibly be seen working from the water cannon and chanting “cowards” at officers.
The new restrictions mark yet another step in the Taliban’s brutal crackdown on the freedoms of Afghan ladies, following the hardline Islamist group’s takeover of the nation in August 2021.
Though the Taliban has repeatedly claimed it could shield the rights of women and girls, it has in truth completed the alternative, stripping away the hard-won freedoms they’ve fought tirelessly for over the previous twenty years.
Some of its most placing restrictions have been round training, with ladies additionally barred from returning to secondary faculties in March. The transfer devastated many college students and their households, who described to CNN their dashed dreams of turning into docs, lecturers or engineers.
The United Nations on Saturday condemned the Taliban’s NGO announcement and stated it could attempt to acquire a gathering with Taliban management to hunt readability.
“Women must be enabled to play a critical role in all aspects of life, including the humanitarian response. Banning women from work would violate the most fundamental rights of women, as well as be a clear breach of humanitarian principles,” the UN assertion learn. “This latest decision will only further hurt those most vulnerable, especially women and girls.”
UNICEF stated the order was an “egregious rollback of rights for girls and women (that) will have sweeping consequences on the provision of health, nutrition and education services for children.”
Amnesty International referred to as for the ban to “be reversed immediately” and for the Taliban to “stop misusing their power.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken additionally condemned the transfer Saturday. “Deeply concerned that the Taliban’s ban on women delivering humanitarian aid in Afghanistan will disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions,” he wrote on Twitter. “Women are central to humanitarian operations around the world. This decision could be devastating for the Afghan people.”
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahid stated US officers ought to “not interfere in the internal issues of” Afghanistan.
“Those organization operative in Afghanistan are obliged to comply with the laws and regulations of our country,” he tweeted Sunday, including, “We do not permit anyone to state irresponsible words or make threats about the decisions or officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the title of humanitarian aid.”