UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday condemned the ban on Afghan women working with the UN in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported.
Antonio Guterres in a tweet said: “I strongly condemn the prohibition of our Afghan female colleagues from working in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.” Guterres stressed that the prohibition on female workers would undermine the ability to deliver life-saving aid to the most needful people of Afghanistan, including women and children, according to Khaama Press.
“If this measure is not reversed, it will inevitably undermine our ability to deliver life-saving aid to the people who need it,” he said.
The UN expressed “serious concerns” after the Afghan female UN staff were on Tuesday banned from reporting to work in the eastern province of Afghanistan, Nangarhar, Khaama Press reported.
The UN said: “The United Nations in Afghanistan expresses serious concern that female national UN staff have been prevented from reporting to work in Nangarhar province.”
The UN warned the Taliban that the life-saving aid would be at risk without female staff since most of the International organization’s staff are female.
International organizations, including the UN, have repeatedly expressed their concerns over excluding women from the aid sector, saying that without female staff, the organizations will be unable to reach needy women.
The Taliban since it came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, has imposed bans on women and girls, preventing them from education and employment.
The Taliban first banned girls from going to school beyond sixth grade; in December 2022, a decree prohibited Afghan women from higher education and working with national and international NGOs.
