Washington: The United Nations has temporarily suspended several relief activities in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned women aid workers.
According to Al Jazeera, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, along with the heads of key UN agencies and international aid groups, called on the Taliban to lift the ban on women humanitarian workers and ” Repeal all directives prohibiting women from going to preschools, colleges, universities and public places.
“Women staff are key to every aspect of humanitarian activities in Afghanistan,” UN officials and aid agencies said in a joint statement.
The decision by #Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to ban women from working in
NGOs is a major blow.We urge them to reverse this directive, and all directives banning women from schools, universities and public life.
Full statement by @iascch https://t.co/yWzHrP6YP0
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) December 28, 2022
Preventing women from working could be life-threatening for thousands of Afghan citizens, the statement said, adding that some critical programs have already been temporarily halted due to a lack of female staff.
“We cannot afford to ignore the operational constraints that we now face as a human community,” the statement added.