The Taliban orders NGOs to prevent female employees from coming to work

CNN
–

the Taliban administration In Afghanistan it has ordered all local and international NGOs to prevent their female employees from coming to work, according to a letter from the Ministry of Economy that it sent to all licensed NGOs.

The ministry said non-compliance would result in the aforementioned NGOs’ licenses being revoked.

The ministry stated in the letter – which its spokesman Abdul Rahman Habib confirmed to CNN – that one of the reasons for the decision was non-compliance with the rules of Islamic dress and other laws and regulations in force in the Islamic Emirate.

“Recently, there have been serious complaints regarding non-compliance with the Islamic veil and other Islamic Emirate laws and regulations,” the letter reads, adding that as a result, “directions have been issued to suspend all female employees of national and international NGOs.” . ”

Earlier this week, the Taliban government University education suspended To all female students in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education confirmed the university’s suspension to CNN on Tuesday. A letter published by the Ministry of Education said the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting and the order will take effect immediately.

In a televised news conference on Thursday, the Taliban’s higher education minister said they have banned women from universities for not adhering to Islamic dress codes and other “Islamic values,” citing female students traveling without a guardian. the movement Aroused anger among women in Afghanistan.

It leaves a mark Another step In the Taliban’s brutal crackdown on the freedoms of Afghan women, after the hardline Islamist group took control of the country in August 2021.

On Saturday, the United Nations condemned the Taliban’s announcement.

Women must be empowered to play a critical role in all aspects of life, including humanitarian response. The United Nations statement stated that preventing women from working violates the most basic rights of women, and is also a clear violation of humanitarian principles.

“This latest decision will only further harm those most vulnerable, especially women and girls.”

She added that she would try to obtain a meeting with the Taliban leadership to clarify the matter.

Amnesty International called for the ban to be “immediately rescinded” and for the Taliban to “stop abusing their power”.

“Women and girls should not be punished for claiming and defending their basic rights,” she said in a statement. “The right to work for all people, especially women in Afghanistan, must be fully realized in accordance with international human rights law.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke on Saturday. “Deeply concerned that the Taliban’s ban on women delivering humanitarian aid in Afghanistan will disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Women are at the center of humanitarian operations around the world. This decision could be devastating for the Afghan people.”

Although the Taliban have repeatedly claimed that they will protect the rights of girls and women, in reality they have done the opposite, stripping away the hard-won freedoms they have fought tirelessly for the past two decades.

Some of the most striking restrictions concerned education, as girls were prevented from returning to secondary school in March. This move devastated many students and their families She described to CNN their shattered dreams To become doctors, teachers or engineers.