Two new NGOs, Christian Aid and ActionAid, announced on Monday that they would suspend their activities in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned women’s work in humanitarian work, bringing to six the number of organizations having made such an announcement. “ActionAid has taken the difficult decision to temporarily halt most of its programs in Afghanistan” until the situation clarifies, the NGO announced in a statement, hoping to be able to reverse this measure “as soon as possible”.
Paris denounces the “obscurantism” of the Taliban
France on Monday denounced the “obscurantism” of the Taliban after the Afghan government’s decision to ban women from working in NGOs, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “This new ban against women (…) demonstrates, once again (…) the obscurantism of the Taliban”, specified the Quai d’Orsay. “This relentlessness against them is intolerable”.
Deploring the “gradual erosion” of women’s rights in the country, the NGO, with which 97 women work in the country, denounced the “devastating consequences” of this decision by the Taliban. “Women are essential to any humanitarian aid operation”, especially in Afghanistan where “only women can interact with women”.
Half of the inhabitants need humanitarian aid
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. For its part, Christian Aid indicated that it was seeking “quickly to have clarifications” about this Taliban announcement and “urges the authorities to reverse this ban”, said in a press release Ray Hasan, head of the NGO. for this region of the world.
In the meantime, “we are unfortunately interrupting the work of our programs,” he said. “Banning women from humanitarian work will only reduce our ability to help the growing number of people in need, and risks worsening the dire humanitarian crisis that women and girls face,” he said. he added.
“Furthermore, this decision will deeply disrupt families who depend on the income of female aid workers in the context of the severe economic crisis in Afghanistan,” he continued.
“Millions of people on the brink of starvation”
Christian Aid official points out that ‘millions of people’ are ‘on the brink of starvation’ in the country, to the point that it has been reported that families ‘are so desperate that they have been forced to sell their children to buy food”. On Sunday, three NGOs – Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International – jointly announced the suspension of their activities, before being joined by a fourth, the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
The Afghan Ministry of Economy on Saturday ordered all non-governmental organizations to stop employing women or risk having their operating license suspended. It was unclear whether the directive applied to foreign female NGO staff.
The ministry said it made the decision after receiving “serious complaints” about non-compliance with the wearing of the “Islamic hijab” imposed in the country. Returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban banned women less than a week ago from attending public and private universities, for the same reasons. They had already excluded them from secondary schools.