UN chief demands Taliban revoke ban on women staff

The UN mentioned that it can not settle for a Taliban choice to bar Afghan feminine staffers from working on the company.

The UN has mentioned that it can not settle for a Taliban choice to bar Afghan feminine staffers from working on the company, calling it an “unparalleled” violation of ladies’s rights.

The assertion on Wednesday got here a day after the UN mentioned it had been knowledgeable by Afghanistan’s governing Taliban that Afghan girls would not be allowed to work for the world physique. That announcement got here after the UN mission within the nation expressed concern that its feminine staffers have been prevented from reporting to work in jap Nangarhar province.

UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres demanded that the ban be “instantly revoked”.

“It is a violation of the inalienable basic human rights of ladies,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric mentioned in a press release on behalf of Guterres on Wednesday.

The Taliban haven’t commented publicly on the ban or launched a press release.

The UN assertion mentioned a number of UN nationwide feminine personnel have already skilled restrictions on their actions, together with harassment, intimidation and detention.

“The UN has subsequently instructed all nationwide workers – women and men – to not report back to the workplace till additional discover,” the assertion mentioned.

Regardless of preliminary guarantees of a extra average rule than throughout its earlier stint in energy, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since taking on the nation in 2021 as US and NATO forces pulled out of Afghanistan after 20 years of struggle.

Ladies are banned from schooling past sixth grade. Girls are barred from working, finding out, travelling with no male companion, and visiting parks. Girls should additionally cowl themselves from head to toe.

Afghan girls have been already barred from working at nationwide and worldwide non-governmental organisations, disrupting the supply of humanitarian help. Nonetheless, the ban didn’t beforehand cowl working for the UN.

That modified this week. On Wednesday, the UN mission mentioned that in keeping with the Taliban order, no Afghan lady is permitted to work for the UN in Afghanistan and that “this measure might be actively enforced.”

The ban is illegal underneath worldwide regulation and can’t be accepted by the United Nations, the assertion mentioned.

The secretary-general’s particular consultant for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, is participating Taliban authorities to convey the UN’s protest and to hunt a right away reversal of the order. The UN mentioned additionally it is participating member states, the donor neighborhood and humanitarian companions.

“Within the historical past of the United Nations, no different regime has ever tried to ban girls from working for the Group simply because they’re girls,” mentioned Otunbayeva. “This choice represents an assault in opposition to girls, the elemental rules of the UN, and on worldwide regulation.”

The UN has about 3,900 workers in Afghanistan, together with roughly 3,300 Afghans and 600 worldwide personnel, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric mentioned. The whole additionally consists of 600 Afghan girls and 200 girls from different nations.

Otunbayeva is a former president and overseas minister of the Kyrgyz Republic. She was appointed by the secretary-general in coordination with the UN Safety Council. A UN spokesman mentioned Tuesday that there had been no Taliban motion relating to the UN’s senior management.

Taliban restrictions in Afghanistan, particularly the bans on schooling and NGO work, have drawn fierce worldwide condemnation. However the Taliban have proven no indicators of backing down, claiming the bans are short-term suspensions in place allegedly as a result of girls weren’t sporting their scarf, or hijab, appropriately and since gender segregation guidelines weren’t being adopted.