UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations reaffirmed its “commitment to stay” in Afghanistan in a review assessing its operations in the country in light of the Taliban banning women and girls from working for the international body.
According to Arab news, the United Nations announced on 4 April that the Taliban had barred Afghan women and girls from employment in United Nations offices countrywide, a prohibition that had previously only affected non-governmental organisations (NGOs) but spared the United Nations.
Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, subsequently launched the review and concluded that it was committed “to stay and deliver on behalf of the women, men and children of Afghanistan”
He said it launched an appeal “to our donors to keep adding this assistance people need.”
In a statement issued from Kabul, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reiterated its condemnation of the restriction, which “seriously undermines our work, including our ability to reach all citizens in need.”
It said, “We can’t disengage despite the challenges,” noting that it was conducted “extensive consultations with multiple Afghanistan stakeholders, including civil society and women’s groups, member states and donors.”
It said, “We continue our focused, principled and constructive engagement with possible levels of the Taliban de facto authorities to obtain the reversal of this ban and make sure the safety of all the United Nations and aid personnel,”
Haq said that the United Nations entities in Afghanistan would “continue to discuss appropriate working modalities,” adding that “humanitarian operations carry on to be undertaken.”
He noted, Since the ban, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has asked all Afghan staff, both women and men, to work from home, but other agencies in Afghanistan “have had different ways of handling the condition”
Since ousting the foreign-backed government in 2021, the Taliban government have imposed the austere version of Sharia law the United Nations has labelled “gender-based apartheid.”
