Taliban authorities ordered NGOs to stop working with women after “serious complaints” that they did not follow an appropriate dress code. “Shocked”, Switzerland asks the Taliban to reconsider their decision.
“There have been serious complaints about non-compliance with the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations relating to women’s work in national and international organizations,” said the ministry responsible for approving licenses for NGOs operating in Afghanistan in a letter obtained by AFP. A ministry spokesman confirmed that the Economy Ministry sent the order to the NGOs.
“In case of neglect of the directive (…) the license of the organization which was issued by this ministry will be canceled”, specifies the letter addressed to national and international NGOs.
Switzerland “shocked”
“We are suspending all our activities from Sunday,” a senior official of an international organization involved in humanitarian action told AFP, on condition of anonymity. “We will soon have a meeting of senior officials from all NGOs to decide how to handle this issue.”
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, denounced in a tweet a “manifest violation of humanitarian principles”. “Switzerland is shocked,” reacted the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) on Twitter. “We are evaluating the consequences on humanitarian efforts and call on the Taliban to reconsider their decision,” he added.
“This decision may be devastating for the Afghan people,” tweeted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying he was “very concerned about the Taliban’s ban on women from distributing lifesaving humanitarian aid for millions of people. in Afghanistan”.
“The European Union strongly condemns the recent decision by the Taliban to ban women from working in national and international NGOs,” a spokeswoman for the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said in a statement sent to AFP. .
“Essential staff”
This decision is “a new deplorable attempt to erase women from political, social and economic spaces”, denounced Amnesty International.
The NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC), which has more than 3,000 women on its staff in Afghanistan, said it was “appalled”. “Our female staff are essential to the delivery of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan,” she added on Twitter.
Dozens of national and international NGOs work in multiple sectors across remote areas of Afghanistan, and many of their staff are women.
Rare manifestation of men
The announcement comes just four days after the Taliban government decided to ban Afghan women from attending public and private universities in the country for an indefinite period.
The Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, explained in a television interview that he took this decision because “students who went to university (…) did not respect the instructions on the hijab”.
“The hijab is obligatory in Islam,” he insisted, referring to the requirement for women in Afghanistan to cover their faces and their entire bodies.
On Saturday some 400 students from Kandahar, the cradle of the fundamentalist Islamist movement, boycotted their exams in solidarity with female counterparts and demonstrated in the streets. The demonstration was dispersed by Taliban forces who fired into the air, a professor at Mirwais Neeka University told AFP, on condition of anonymity. Protests by men are extremely rare in Afghanistan.
Multiplication of draconian measures
Despite their promises to be more flexible, the Taliban have returned to the ultra-rigorous interpretation of Islam that marked their first spell in power (1996-2001).
For 16 months, liberticidal measures have multiplied, in particular against women who have been gradually excluded from public life and excluded from colleges and high schools.
As well as being deprived of education, women are also banned from most government jobs or paid a pittance to stay at home. They are also prohibited from traveling without being accompanied by a male relative and must wear a burqa or hijab when leaving their homes. In November, the Taliban also banned them from entering parks, gardens, sports halls and public baths.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp