An Offense to Women’s Rights: Taliban Bars Afghan Female Staffers from Working at UN
Written by Isabella Fang | Edited by Julianna Tejada and Jackie Wang
Public outcry has flared after the Taliban issued orders to ban Afghan women from working at the United Nations (UN). Prominent national and international organizations, including the UN, expressed fierce criticism of the Taliban’s decision, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declaring it “utterly despicable.” Although over a dozen UN experts called for the revocation of the decree, the Taliban ultimately pushed forward, enforcing the nationwide prohibition.
On April 4, Taliban officials advised the UN that the existing ban on Afghan women working for domestic and humanitarian organizations would be extended to encompass the UN. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN’s political assistance mission in Afghanistan, led discussions with the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, to call for the reversal of the decision. “In the history of the United Nations, no other regime has ever tried to ban women from working for the organization just because they are women,” Otunbayeva said. “This decision represents an assault against women and on international law.”
Meanwhile, 3,330 Afghan UN employees, composed of 600 women, stayed home on April 5–6. After a closed emergency meeting with the UN Security Council, briefed by Otunbayeva, the UN persisted in its appeal to overturn the ban. The de facto authorities, however, proceeded to prioritize misogyny over the needs of millions of Afghan civilians.
In a statement released on April 11, the UN announced that its national personnel would remain at home with exceptions strictly regarding critical duties. An operational evaluation period over the organization’s presence in Afghanistan has been underway since.
Regrettably, this isn’t the Taliban’s first attempt to eliminate the freedoms and fundamental rights of women. Despite claims of a more moderate and fair rule, the Taliban have introduced over 40 decrees to curtail women’s rights, including curbs on education beyond the sixth grade, traveling, studying, or working without a male chaperone, and going to parks or gyms. According to the senior UN official in Kabul, Afghanistan remains “the most repressive country in the world for women’s rights.”
When the Taliban banned women from working at non-governmental organizations in December 2022, excluding the UN, half a dozen foreign aid groups in Afghanistan suspended operations due to the absence of their female employees. Without the deliverance and distribution of lifesaving aid, the country’s state of affairs plunged while the urgency for major services and resources skyrocketed. Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, female UN staff in the country have been harassed and detained. Now, the Taliban’s subsequent order to prevent women from working at the UN is expected to similarly escalate Afghanistan’s current political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.
To justify its actions, the Taliban has insisted that bans like the one imposed on female UN workers are allegedly required due to women wearing the hijab improperly and refusing to comply with gender segregation rules. Confining most women and girls to their homes, the Taliban have virtually eradicated Afghan women from the public sphere.
The Taliban is testing the future of the UN’s work in Afghanistan. Inflicting this edict will have sweeping implications for the country and its citizens. In one of the world’s most dire humanitarian aid emergencies, female workers are vital in on-ground assistance. 28.3 million individuals are predicted to require essential assistance this year, and 3/4 of those in need are women or children.
By restricting the capacity for female UN staff to reach other women in need and provide necessary support, Afghan citizens will go without sustaining and lifesaving aid. Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, told reporters, “Without our female staff, we cannot engage properly; we cannot deliver programs.” If women’s political participation in humanitarian issues and international organizations like the UN is outlawed, aid dependency and poverty will become an intergenerational problem. Instead of seeking to unify the country, the Taliban has severely divided it by gender and violated the rights of Afghan women. Hope now rests in the hands of the international community to stand up in reprehension against the Taliban’s decision, defend justice, and fight for the humanity of women.
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