The United Nations on Friday said it will continue to keep Afghan female employees working from home after the Taliban enforced the ban on Afghan women working for the global organization.
Currently, the UN has some 3,300 Afghan staff, of whom 400 are female, who have been forced to remain at home and follow the restrictions imposed by the ruling regime.
Meanwhile, there are some 600 international female staff working for the UN agencies in the country, who have not been affected by the ban. The UN has said it will review its operations and keep Afghan staff at home until May 5, as the situation remains unchanged for female staff under the Taliban administration.
Deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday there had been no change to “our posture on the ground.” Reuters reported.
“We are working to come up with appropriate working modalities,” Haq told reporters in New York on Friday. “We obviously have challenges in our mission in Afghanistan because the needs of Afghan people are immense, and we intend to meet those needs, however, our operations are clearly faced with major obstacles,” he added.
The Taliban administration’s crackdown on Afghan women and girls has adversely affected the inflow and distribution of humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan during these difficult times. With the continuation of the ban on women working for NGOs and girls attending universities and educational institutions, overall funding has decreased.
Since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, the group has tightened control on women’s access to public life, including barring women from university and closing girls’ high schools, which prompted widespread condemnations.
Despite the international community’s pressure and Afghan pleading with the Taliban’s de facto regime to reverse their policy regarding the ban on women’s education and work, however, no tangible change is yet seen on the ground.
