Taliban bans UN Afghan female staff from providing humanitarian support

05.04.2023

Author: Sophie Flemming

Women’s Rights Researcher

On Tuesday the 4th of April the spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric publicly reported that his colleagues at the U.N. mission UNAMA have received a message from the de facto authorities that ban female national staff members of the U.N. from working. He said that it is not clear yet how the ban is affecting the operations and that meetings in Kabul with the authorities will come to clarify this manner. During that time, all Afghan staff is advised by the U.N. not to come to the offices for two days (Mukhtar, 2023). 

The U.N. Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett tweeted that the Taliban’s decision to ban U.N. employed Afghan women from working “is another gross violation of their fundamental rights to non-disc, is against U.N. Charter & will seriously impact essential services for Afghans. Women staff are essential. I urge Taliban to reverse the decision immediately” (Bennett, 2023). This ban targets 400 Afghan women which could pose major challenges to continued U.N. operations in Afghanistan (Nichols & Greenfield, 2023). More than half of the Afghan population is in need of humanitarian assistance and without female aid workers, it it almost impossible to reach vulnerable, female-headed households (Mukhtar, 2023).

Even if foreign female workers are exempt from the ban, this would still be the most significant test on the future of UN operations in Afghanistan, and the relationship between the organization and the Taliban government (BBC News, 2023). The U.N. has tried to maintain relatively constructive engagements with the Taliban authorities although they have since their accession to power in August 2021 implemented bans on women accessing higher education and even many public spaces and working for NGOs that violate the fundamental rights of women. These restrictions make Afghanistan the “most repressive country in the world for women’s rights” said UN head of the UNAMA Mission Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva (UN News 2023).

The Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned this ban in a tweet but former female parliamentarians who were cast out from their office urged him to address the Human Rights Crisis in Afghanistan beyond just statements (Mukhtar, 2023). But since the Taliban are not recognized by the U.N. to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan, their ability to sanction the Taliban is limited to freezing aid, which is the last thing they want to do. Since the Taliban’s takeover, the U.N. has delivered 1.8 billion $ in cash into the country to maintain their work and to prevent inflation from spiraling (Wintour, 2023). Now, aid officials have also stressed the risk that donor countries could reduce funding due to frustration over continuous restrictions on women (Afghanistan (Nichols & Greenfield, 2023).

The Taliban don’t aim to be a part of the world community and don’t react to fierce international condemnation. Instead, they are becoming an increasingly reclusive and dictatorial movement which is the opposite of what they promised before American forces pulled out of the country, said regional political analyst Torek Farhadi. They hide their discriminatory actions behind the alleged justification that women were not wearing the hijab correctly and because gender segregation rules were not being followed (Wintour, 2023). This approach once again portrays women as the guilty ones.

Sources and further reading

BBC News (April 5, 2023). Taliban ban Afghan female staff, UN says. Retrieved on April 5, 2023, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65184767

Bennett, R. (April 5, 2023). Tweet from UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett at 12:44am. Retrieved on April 5, 2023, from https://twitter.com/SR_Afghanistan/status/1643383946208772096

Mukhtar, A. (April 5, 2023). Taliban bars Afghan women from working for U.N. in latest blow to women's rights and vital humanitarian work. Retrieved on April 5, 2023, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-taliban-ban-afghan-women-un-blow-to-rights-and-humanitarian-work/

Nichols, M. & Greenfield, C. (April 5, 2023) UN Afghan staff told to stay home as Taliban signals UN female ban. Retrieved on April 5, 2023, from https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-staff-eastern-afghan-province-stopped-reporting-work-statement-2023-04-04/

UN News (April 4, 2023). Taliban order bars Afghan women from working with UN. Retrieved on April 5, 2023, from https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1135357

Wintour, P. (April 5, 2023). UN concern after its female workers are ‘banned’ from working by Taliban. Retrieved on April 5, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/04/un-concern-after-its-female-workers-are-banned-from-working-by-taliban-afghanistan