Taliban Prohibit Women from Working for Domestic and Foreign NGOs
Following “severe complaints” over their dress code, Afghanistan‘s Taliban leaders ordered all national and international NGOs to stop employing women, the Ministry of Economy informed AFP on Saturday.
The mandate threatened to suspend the operation permits of NGOs that did not comply.
Less than a week ago, the Taliban authorities forbade women from enrolling in institutions, sparking indignation around the world and demonstrations in certain Afghan cities.
When the Taliban retook control in August of last year, they had promised a more tolerant type of government, but they have instead put draconian limitations on women, effectively excluding them from public life.
A copy of the notification sent to all NGOs stated that “there have been serious complaints regarding the non-observance of the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations pertaining to the work of females in national and international organizations.” A spokesman for the economy ministry confirmed this statement.
The announcement stated, “The ministry of economy… directs all organizations to suspend female employment until further notice.”
The license of the organization that this ministry had issued would be revoked if the aforementioned mandate was ignored, it said.
The notification was received, according to two international NGOs.
On condition of anonymity, a top official with an international NGO engaged in humanitarian operations told AFP, “We are suspending all our efforts as of Sunday.”
“Top representatives from all NGOs will meet soon to decide how to tackle this situation,”
Numerous regional and rural parts of Afghanistan are still served by dozens of national and international NGOs, many of which employ women.
Order is “Deplorable”
The ban, according to another executive at a global NGO involved in food distribution, is a “huge blow to women personnel.”
The source stated, “We have women workers primarily to meet the humanitarian aid problems of Afghan women.
How can we now address their worries?
According to a tweet from the rights organization Amnesty International, the restriction in Afghanistan was a “deplorable attempt to eliminate women from the political, social, and economic sectors.”
The decree is the most recent violation of women’s rights in the nation.
All women were prohibited from enrolling in institutions on Tuesday, which drew criticism from the United States, the United Nations, and numerous Muslim countries.
The prohibition could be considered “a crime against humanity,” according to the Group of Seven industrialized countries.
Less than three months after thousands of women were permitted to take university entrance examinations, that prohibition was imposed.
Around 400 male students in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the de facto capital of the Taliban, skipped an exam on Saturday in response to the directive, staging a rare male-led protest.
Taliban soldiers fired into the air to disperse the students’ walkout, a lecturer at Mirwais Neeka University, the scene of the protest, said AFP on the condition of anonymity.
Teenage girls were previously prohibited by the Taliban from attending secondary education, and women have been forced out of many government positions and told to cover up outside the home, ideally with a burqa.
Additionally, they are not permitted in gardens or parks.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have also started publicly whipping both men and women, expanding the scope of their application of a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
