Three foreign NGOs announced on Sunday, December 25, to suspend their activities in Afghanistan the day after the Taliban's decision to ban women from working for local and international NGOs that are essential in the country.
In a joint statement, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International announced Sunday afternoon to suspend their activities until the announcement made Saturday evening by the Taliban is "clarified".
“We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in #Afghanistan without our female staff.
Without women driving our response, we would not have jointly reached millions of Afghans in need since August 2021.”
https://t.co/O60859bUT4
— Save the Children International (@save_children) December 25, 2022
"We are suspending our programs, demanding that men and women can continue our help to save lives in Afghanistan in the same way", explain the three associations.
>> To see, our report: "Afghanistan: in a clandestine school for girls in Kabul"
On Sunday, senior UN officials and dozens of NGOs operating in Afghanistan conferred on how to proceed after the Taliban ordered them to stop working with women.
On Saturday night as the West prepared to celebrate Christmas, the Afghan Ministry of Economy ordered all non-governmental organizations to stop working with women or risk having their operating license suspended.
It was unclear whether the directive applied to foreign female NGO staff.
In the letter issued to local and international NGOs, the ministry explains that it took this decision after receiving "serious complaints" that the women working there did not respect the wearing of the "Islamic hijab".
The rights of Afghan women in sharp decline
In Afghanistan, women are forced to cover their faces and their entire bodies.
“We were never notified of any problem concerning the dress code for women,” an association official said on Sunday, on condition of anonymity.
"The ban is going to impact all aspects of humanitarian work, as female employees hold key positions in projects targeting the country's vulnerable female population," a senior official with a law firm told AFP on Sunday. foreign NGO.
Millions of Afghans depend on humanitarian aid provided by international donors through an extensive network of NGOs.
In a statement, the UN reminded the Afghan authorities that by excluding women "systematically from all aspects of public and political life", they are "setting the country back by undermining efforts to achieve peace and meaningful stability. in the country".
The noose around women has tightened in recent months.
The Taliban, who returned to power in August 2021, banned them, less than a week ago, from attending public and private universities, for the same reasons of dress code not being respected.
They had already excluded them from secondary schools.
They are further barred from many public jobs, cannot travel without a male relative, and have been ordered to cover themselves outside the home, ideally with a burqa.
They are also not allowed to enter the parks.
Considerable consequences
"This latest egregious rollback of the rights of girls and women will have far-reaching consequences for the delivery of health, nutrition and education services to children," UNICEF regional director George Laryea-Adjei tweeted on Sunday.
UNICEF strongly condemns the Taliban decree banning female humanitarian workers at NGOs in #Afghanistan from work.
This latest egregious rollback of rights for girls & women will have sweeping consequences on the provision of health, nutrition & education services for children.
— George Laryea-Adjei (@G_LaryeaAdjei) December 25, 2022
Dozens of organizations work in remote areas of Afghanistan and many of their employees are women.
Several of them warned that a ban on female staff would hamper their work.
"There are fifteen of us in my family and I am the only support, if I lose my job, my family will starve," testified Shabana, 24, an NGO worker in Kabul.
>> To read also: "Inspired by the demonstrations in Iran, Afghan women continue the fight"
"As you celebrate the arrival of the new year, Afghanistan has become hell for women," added the young woman on this Christmas day.
Not wishing to give her name for fear of reprisals from the Taliban, another 27-year-old Afghan, who was to start working Sunday in an international NGO, saw her "dreams fly away".
"The hard work that I had provided in recent years in the field of education was shattered," she testified to AFP.
"But we are brave enough not to accept the bans, and to fight for our rights. It may take time, but if we believe in ourselves, we will come back stronger than ever", declared, combative, the young woman .
According to the United Nations and aid agencies, more than half of the country's 38 million people need humanitarian assistance during the harsh winter.
With AFP
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