WHO: Taliban ban on female workers in NGOs has ‘immediate life-threatening consequences’ for all Afghans

The Taliban's ruling banning women from humanitarian work has “immediate life-threatening consequences” for all Afghans, the World Health Organisation has warned.
Commuters make their way along a street during snowfall in Kabul on Thursday.Commuters make their way along a street during snowfall in Kabul on Thursday.
Commuters make their way along a street during snowfall in Kabul on Thursday.

Women were last week barred from working in charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) by the Taliban, including in humanitarian organisations.

The WHO said that Afghan women have access to populations that their male colleagues cannot reach and are critical to safeguarding communities – and warned that it may not be able to carry out many of its activities.

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Afghanistan is currently facing a humanitarian disaster, with around half of the population currently relying on aid at a time when the weather is at its coldest in the mountainous country. The World Food Programme has said that 90 per cent of people in Afghanistan face insufficient food consumption, while aid organisations believe two-thirds of the country's population will need humanitarian assistance in 2023.

The ruling has come under fire from many international organisations, including the United Nations mission to Afghanistan. Earlier this week, three global NGOs – Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International – said in a joint statement that they were suspending their programmes as they awaited clarity on the administration’s order.

The WHO’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee on Afghanistan said: “Female staff are key to every aspect of the humanitarian response in Afghanistan. They are teachers, nutrition experts, team leaders, community health workers, vaccinators, nurses, doctors, and heads of organisations. They have access to populations that their male colleagues cannot reach and are critical to safeguarding the communities we serve. They save lives. Their professional expertise is indispensable. Their participation in aid delivery is not negotiable and must continue.

“Banning women from humanitarian work has immediate life-threatening consequences for all Afghans. Already, some time-critical programmes have had to stop temporarily due to lack of female staff. This comes at a time when more than 28 million people in Afghanistan, including millions of women and children, require assistance to survive as the country grapples with the risk of famine conditions, economic decline, entrenched poverty and a brutal winter.”

It added: “We will endeavour to continue lifesaving, time-critical activities unless impeded while we better assess the scope, parameters and consequences of this directive for the people we serve. But we foresee that many activities will need to be paused as we cannot deliver principled humanitarian assistance without female aid workers.”

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, also called for the ban to be lifted.“Preventing women from humanitarian work is a grave denial of their humanity. It will only result in further suffering and hardship for all Afghans, especially women and children. This ban must be lifted,” he said.

The ban on women working in NGOs comes amid various restraints brought in for Afghan women by the Taliban government. Last month, women were banned from using public parks – an activity that was already segregated – while girls have been banned from attending middle school and high school and most recently, women barred from attending university.

Previously, women who wanted to work in any job had to be accompanied at all times by a male chaperone if they were required to leave the house.

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The International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan earlier this week expressed concern at the move and the earlier bar on women from attending university, warning of “catastrophic humanitarian consequences in the short to long term”.