UN expresses concern after Taliban bans Afghan female UN staff members from reporting to work in Afghanistan

Kabul [Afghanistan], April 5 (ANI): The United Nations has expressed “serious concerns” after the Afghan female UN staff members were on Tuesday banned from reporting to work in the eastern province of Afghanistan, Nangarhar, Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported.

The UN said: “The United Nations in Afghanistan expresses serious concern that female national UN staff have been prevented from reporting to work in Nangarhar province.”
The UN warned the Taliban that the life-saving aid would be at risk without female staff since most of the International organization’s staff are female.

“We remind de facto authorities that United Nations entities cannot operate and deliver life-saving assistance without female staff,” the UN said on Twitter, Khaama Press reported.

International organizations, including the UN, have repeatedly expressed their concerns over excluding women from the aid sector, saying that without female staff, the organizations will be unable to reach needy women.

The Taliban since it came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, has imposed bans on women and girls, preventing them from education and employment.

The Taliban first banned girls from going to school beyond sixth grade; in December 2022, a decree prohibited Afghan women from higher education and working with national and international NGOs.

The suppressive restrictions on women are confronted with massive criticism by national and international organizations warning that it will disrupt the humanitarian aid to the most needful people of Afghanistan, according to Khaama Press.

As per the World Food Organisation, only on March 2023, more than four million went without food due to the shortage of funds. The number reached nine million in April if new funding still needed to be received from Japan’s contribution.

The UN said: “Nearly 20 million Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from. Six million of them are one step away from famine.”

According to the organization, the UN is seeking to raise USD 4.6 billion to provide emergency aid to more than half of the population of Afghanistan, including women and children. At the same time, the raising funds has been disturbed by the Taliban’s gender discrimination policy, Khaama Press reported.

The Taliban, however, wants active engagement with the international community; At the same time, the increased gender discrimination policy contradicts their willingness.

Meanwhile, the Taliban in another repressive move shut down a women-run radio station in northeast Afghanistan for playing music during the fasting month of Ramzan, Al Jazeera reported.

The radio station, Sadai Banowan was Afghanistan’s sole women-run station, broadcasting for ten years. Sadai Banowan translates to “women’s voice” in Dari. Six of the eight employees in the radio station were females.

Moezuddin Ahmadi, the provincial director for information and culture, said that the radio station repeatedly broke Islamic Emirate laws and regulations by playing music during Ramadan. As a result, the station was shut down.