- Natasha Brisky
- BBC
Leaders of the organizations said their organizations “would not have reached the millions of Afghans in need without their female employees.
Three major humanitarian NGOs have suspended their work in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned female humanitarian workers from working for them.
In a joint statement, CARE International, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children said they would not be able to continue their work “without our female employees”.
Humanitarian organizations insist and ask that women continue to work for them.
But Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement is consistently “suppressing women’s rights.”
The NGO’s latest statement came days after the Taliban banned women from attending university.
A spokesman for the Taliban’s economy ministry, Abdul Rahman Habib, said female employees of foreign aid organizations had violated the dress code by not wearing headscarves.
The Taliban have threatened to quickly revoke the licenses of any organization that does not comply with the ban.
The leaders of the three organizations said their organizations “would not have reached the millions of Afghans in need since August 2021” if not for their employees.
The statement added, “While we seek clarification on this statement, we suspend our programs and ask men and women alike to continue our assistance to save the lives of people in Afghanistan.”
The UN’s chief humanitarian coordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, said the UN was trying to persuade the movement to lift the ban because it represents “a red line for the entire humanitarian community”.
She added in an interview with the BBC that the United Nations could stop delivering humanitarian aid to Afghanistan if the Taliban authorities do not reverse their decree banning the work of women relief workers.
But Alakbarov said it was not yet clear what the Taliban meant in their edict.
He said the Taliban’s health minister had told the United Nations that the agency should continue its health-related work and that women could “come to work and do their jobs.”
He added that other ministries have contacted the United Nations directly to say work in the areas of disaster and emergency management should continue.
Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council said nearly 500 of the aid’s 1,400 employees were women and that the employees were working “according to all traditional values, dress codes, movement and gender segregation in the workplace”.
He said he hoped the decision would be “reversed in the coming days” and warned that millions of people would suffer if the work of NGOs were hampered.
Other NGOs also expressed concern about the impact of the job ban “in the midst of a massive economic crisis”.
Afghan NGO workers, who are the main breadwinners for their families, have previously told the BBC of their fear and helplessness following the ban.
One said, “If I can’t go to work, who can support my family?” Another described the news as “shocking” and insisted that she had complied with the Taliban’s strict dress code.
The ban sparked international outcry, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning it would “cut off vital, life-saving assistance to millions of people”.
Since regaining control of the country last year, the Taliban have consistently curtailed women’s rights, despite their promises that their rule would be softer than it was in the 1990s.
In addition to the ban on female NGO workers and female university students now enforced by armed guards, girls’ secondary schools remain closed in most provinces.
Women were also banned from parks, gyms and other public places.
