The United Nations Security Council has called on the Taliban to reverse policies targeting women and girls in Afghanistan, expressing alarm at the “increasing erosion” of human rights.
The hard-line Islamist rulers banned women from working in non-governmental organisations on Saturday, in the latest blow to women’s rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The Taliban have already suspended university education for women in secondary school for girls.
The 15-member UN Security Council said in a statement it was “deeply alarmed by the increasing restrictions on women’s education, calling for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.”
The council added that the ban “would have a significant and immediate impact for humanitarian operations in the country, including those of the United Nations.”
It urged the Taliban “to reopen schools and swiftly reverse these policies and practices, which represents an increasing erosion for the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The Taliban also restricted women from most fields of employment, ordering them to wear head-to-toe in public, and banned them from parks and gyms.
The international community has made respecting women’s rights a sticking point in negotiations with the Taliban government for its recognition and the restoration of aid.
“These restrictions contradict the comments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people as well as the expectations of the international community, said the Security Council which also expressed its full support for the UN political mission in Afghanistan known as UNAMA.
UNAMA has urged the Taliban administration to reverse the ban that charities fear will worsen the hardship.
“Millions of Afghans need humanitarian assistance and removing barriers is vital,” UNAMA said in a statement, adding that its acting head and humanitarian coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov, had met the economy minister, Mohammed Hanif.
Source: BBC News, Al Jazeera, UCA News, The Guardian, Eyewitness News, image from Twitter: @jihadwatch