Three Non-governmental Organisations that provide health care, education, child protection and nutrition services to the needy in Afghanistan have put on hold their work in the Middle East country.
The NGOs, which include Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International, said on Sunday that they cannot provide assistance to the people effectively without the women on their team.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelSpeaking with the Associated Press on Sunday, Neil Turner, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s chief for Afghanistan, said: “We have complied with all cultural norms and we simply can’t work without our dedicated female staff, who are essential for us to access women who are in desperate need of assistance,” he said.
The decision by the aid groups is coming after the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan banned women from working at international and local non-governmental organisations.
According to the letter to all NGOs from the Ministry of Economy, the ban is being placed because women that are aid workers do not wear the hijab.
The ministry said any NGO that does not comply, risk revoking of its license.
The US, through its Secretary of State Antony Blinken, condemned the ban and warned that the effects of the ban would be devastating for citizens in need.
“Women are central to humanitarian operations around the world. This decision could be devastating for the Afghan people,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
The South Asian branch of Amnesty International described the ban as “yet another deplorable attempt to erase women from the political, social and economic spaces” of Afghanistan.
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Ever since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan as the United States left last year, it has sustained a campaign of subjugation of women’s rights.
Women are not allowed to travel long distance without male companion; women have also been banned from gym and parks and, recently, girls were banned from enrolling for university education.
The economy of the Islamic country has also been on the downward trend.
Frozen billions of Afghan currency reserve and sanctions on the Taliban government have driven millions of Afghans into poverty, with families – who can no longer support their children – giving out their girls into early marriages.
According to the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, more than 28 million Afghan citizens depend on foreign aid to survive.
The current population of Afghanistan is around 41 million.
