Save the Children Organization said Sunday they will resume some activities with female staff after being given “clear, reliable assurances from relevant authorities that our female staff will be safe and can work without obstruction”
This comes three weeks after the Taliban announced that Afghan women were banned from working for any non-government organizations (NGOs). This led Save the Children, and a number of other NGOs, to temporarily suspend operations in Afghanistan.
In a statement issued by the organization on Sunday, David Wright, Save the Children’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “Following the ban on female aid workers announced by the Ministry of Economy on 24 December 2022, Save the Children paused its activities. Our female staff are essential for the safe and effective delivery of our services, and we simply cannot operate without them. Women make up 50% of our workforce and are crucial for reaching women and girls.
“While the majority of our programs remain on hold, we are restarting some activities – such as health, nutrition and some education services – where we have received clear, reliable assurances from relevant authorities that our female staff will be safe and can work without obstruction.
“However, with the overarching ban still in place, our other activities where we do not have reliable assurances that our female colleagues can return to work, remain on hold. The activities we’re working to restart will provide vital assistance, but these activities are only a small percentage of our full operations,” he said.
Save the Children has warned that the ban on female NGO workers – on top of the existing humanitarian crisis – will drive up the needs of children and have a huge ripple effect. It will mean fewer women and girls are reached with essential support; it will mean more children are forced into labor and marriage because of the pressure on households who would otherwise be receiving cash and livelihoods assistance; it will mean tens of thousands of jobs are put at risk across the sector.
“We have been working in Afghanistan since the 1970s through all the ups and downs and changes and we are doing all we can to stay and support children in this country. We’re committed to returning to our normal level of operations as soon as we can, and we call on the Taliban to completely reverse the ban to allow Save the Children and other NGOs to fully resume activities with our male and female staff.”
The Taliban has not yet commented on this announcement.
