The United Nations on Sunday warned that restrictions imposed by the Taliban barring Afghan women staff from entering UN offices for the past three months were undermining the delivery of humanitarian assistance, particularly to women and girls.
In a statement marking 91 days since the ban took effect, Susan Ferguson, UN Women’s Special Representative in Afghanistan, said Afghan women staff had continued working from home or in communities, supporting families affected by recent earthquakes, returnees from Pakistan and Iran, and people seeking food, water, healthcare and shelter.
“The longer these restrictions remain in place, the greater the risk to these life-saving services,” Ferguson said. “Afghan women are indispensable to the United Nations’ work in Afghanistan. Assistance must be delivered by women, to women.”
Taliban ordered a nationwide ban on Afghan women employees entering UN compounds in September, expanding earlier decrees barring women from many forms of public life, including secondary education, most jobs and public spaces.
Ferguson said the restrictions violated the UN Charter and jeopardised the organisation’s ability to carry out its mandate. She said UN agencies had introduced interim workarounds but warned these were not sustainable.
“We call for the ban on Afghan women staff and contractors from entering United Nations premises to be reversed, and for their safe access to offices and the field,” she said.
Afghanistan remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than two-thirds of the population requiring assistance, according to UN estimates.
