Representational image. AP
New York: The United Nations (UN) said that it is prepared to leave Afghanistan in May if it cannot persuade Taliban to allow local women to work for the organization, according to the chief of the UN Development Program, reported Afghan news outlet Khaama Press.
The UN is talking with the Taliban in the hopes that it will make exceptions to an order forbidding local women from working for the organisation.
UNDP Administrator, Achin Steiner, said, according to Khaama Press, “It is fair to say that where we are right now is the entire United Nations system having to take a step back and re-evaluate its ability to operate there. But it is not about negotiating fundamental principles, human rights.”
After Afghan female UN employees were prohibited from reporting to work in the eastern province of Afghanistan, Nangarhar, the UN recently raised “serious concerns.”
The UN said, “The United Nations in Afghanistan expresses serious concern that female national UN staff have been prevented from reporting to work in Nangarhar province.”
Since women make up the majority of the workers of the international organisation, the UN warned Taliban that the life-saving aid would be in jeopardy without them.
“We remind de facto authorities that United Nations entities cannot operate and deliver life-saving assistance without female staff,” the UN said on Twitter, Khaama Press reported.
International organisations, like the UN, have frequently voiced their concerns over women’s exclusion from the aid sector, claiming that these organisations won’t be able to reach needy women without female personnel.
Since taking control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has put restrictions on women and girls, preventing them from receiving education and finding work.
The Taliban first prevented girls from continuing their education past the sixth grade; in December 2022, a decree prohibited Afghan women from pursuing higher education or working with national and international non-governmental organisations.
According to Khaama Press, the oppressive restrictions on women have drawn widespread condemnation from national and international organisations, who fear that they may stymie humanitarian help to Afghanistan’s most vulnerable population.
With inputs from agencies
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