The UN Security Council (UNSC) has criticized the Taliban administration’s ban on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups and has called for the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.
The 15-member UNSC said in a statement on Tuesday that the ban on women and girls attending Afghan universities and high schools “represents an increasing erosion for the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
During the Security Council’s meeting on Afghanistan last week in New York, the university’s ban on women was announced.
Since March, girls cannot attend high school.
“Would have a significant and immediate impact on humanitarian operations in the country,” including those of the United Nations, the council stated in response to Saturday’s announcement of a ban on female humanitarian workers.
The Security Council said, “These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people and the expectations of the international community.” It also said it fully supports UNAMA, the UN political mission in Afghanistan.
The latest restrictions by the Taliban on employment & education of women & girls are unjustifiable human rights violations & must be revoked.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) December 27, 2022
Actions to exclude & silence women & girls continue to cause immense suffering & major setbacks to the potential of the Afghan people.
‘Ban will impair NGOs’
The Security Council’s statement was echoed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who referred to the most recent restrictions on women and girls as “unjustifiable human rights violations” that “must be revoked.”
Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, cited the “terrible consequences” of banning women from working for non-governmental organizations.
In a statement released in Geneva, he stated, “No country can develop — indeed survive — socially and economically with the exclusion of half its population.”
“These unimaginable limitations put on ladies and young ladies won’t just expand the enduring of all Afghans, be that as it may, I dread, represent a gamble past Afghanistan’s lines.”
Turk stated, “The ban will significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the capacity of these NGOs to deliver the essential services on which so many vulnerable Afghans depend.”
Four major international aid organizations, whose humanitarian efforts have reached millions of Afghans, announced on Sunday that they were ceasing operations due to the inability to operate their programs without female staff.
Last week, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that 1.1 million teenage girls were banned from school, 20 million people face acute hunger, and two-thirds of the population needs assistance to survive.
When they were in power two decades ago, they had stated that their policies had changed despite having largely outlawed the education of girls.
Source: TRT World
