Taliban's targeting of NGOs deplorable, say UN experts

Geneva [Switzerland], December 30 : UN experts have called for an immediate reversal of the Taliban's recent order barring women from working in international and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Afghanistan.
In a statement, UN Human Rights Office, said they are supporting a unified effort of the international community to take a stand against this latest human rights violation, further banishing women from the workplace, preventing delivery of life-saving aid and crippling the work of NGOs which will have a terrible impact on the entire country.
Just four days after the Taliban banned women and girls from attending universities, on December 24, the acting Minister of Economy issued a letter barring women from working in international and national NGOs, a further violation of women's rights with the double blow of preventing the delivery of vital life-saving services and denying many women of their livelihood.
"The ban on women working in NGOs not only deprives women workers of their fundamental rights and livelihood, but also prevents them from supporting their communities. It will further push women out of jobs and completely erase them from the public sphere," said the experts. The ban will have a dire impact on local NGOs, particularly women-led NGOs, which have provided services and support for women, children and marginalized groups, they added.
UN agencies have said that many national civil society organizations will be dealt a grievous blow by this cruel and unlawful decision.
"The ban will have catastrophic effects on tens of millions of Afghan people in need of humanitarian assistance, especially women and children, as women aid workers play a critical role in needs assessment, planning and implementing the humanitarian response. It is a clear violation of the non-discriminatory practice that should guide all humanitarian aid," said UN Human Rights Office.
It added that without female humanitarian workers, women and girls as well as boys will not have access to food, education, child protection, gender-responsive legal aid, livelihoods support and essential healthcare services.
International and national NGOs that are the main service-providers delivering a large proportion of international aid in Afghanistan and have expanded their operations since August 2021, including through the employment of more female staff. These NGOs are also the target of this extremely harmful and discriminatory measure by the Taliban.
Following the decision, some major humanitarian NGOs have suspended or reduced their operations both because their services depend on their female workers and because, as a matter of human rights principle, they will not accept the gender composition of their staff being dictated to them, and we agree.
"We have been observing with deepening concern the volatile situation of humanitarian workers and their operations in the country. The de facto authorities have been routinely interfering in humanitarian operations by requesting excessive information on humanitarian workers and beneficiaries and restricting their activities in ways that are contrary to humanitarian principles," the UN experts said.
They called on the de facto authorities to immediately lift the ban on women working with national and international NGOs.