UN Chief urges Taliban to reverse ban on Afghan women working for United Nations

New York: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed deep concern over what he termed the continuing discriminatory policies imposed by the Taliban on Afghan women and girls, as he reiterated his call to immediately reverse the ban on Afghan women working for the global body and ensure their safe and unhindered access to UN premises throughout the country.

Guterres said that restrictions on women’s full participation in public life, education and many areas of employment violate their fundamental rights and remain a critical impediment to Afghanistan’s economic development, stability and reintegration into the international community.

Guterres’ statement comes as September 7 marks one year since Afghan women have been barred from accessing UN premises in Afghanistan. The UN chief urged the Taliban to immediately reverse the ban on Afghan women working for the UN and ensure their safe and unhindered access to UN premises.

“These restrictions are contrary to international law, including the UN Charter, and undermine the organisation’s capacity to carry out its mandate and deliver life-saving and other assistance to the Afghan people at a time when needs remain high.”

“Unhindered access for all United Nations personnel to their places of work is critical to fulfil our mandate, and to reach and support vulnerable people, especially women and girls, in accordance with cultural practices. Ensuring that women can deliver humanitarian assistance and essential services to women and girls is critical to an effective and principled response,” he added.

In his statement, Guterres also urged the Taliban to lift all restrictions imposed on Afghan women and girls and uphold their rights to full, equal, and meaningful participation in all aspects of Afghan society.

Last month, UN experts warned that institutionalised gender-based repression has further deepened under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, amid mounting restrictions on the Afghan population, particularly women and girls.

“Five years may be a short period in the life of a country, but it is a long one in a child’s life. A generation of girls has now been denied secondary education. A girl who was in grade six when the ban began is reaching adulthood without another day in school,” the experts said.

They quoted an Afghan girl as saying: “It has been five years since I was deprived of my education. It is deeply depressing to feel that you cannot move forward but are stuck where you were five years ago.”

The experts reiterated that the Taliban’s “intentional and targeted gender-based deprivation” of fundamental rights amounts to the “crime against humanity of persecution” on gender grounds.

As this repression forms part of an institutionalised system of gender-based discrimination, oppression and domination, the experts said it can also be characterised as “gender apartheid”. They called on the global community to actively support the codification of “gender apartheid as a distinct crime against humanity”.

According to the experts, the Taliban have continued to impose repressive measures on the Afghan population, including a decree on the criminal rules of courts that permits violence against women as long as it does not “break bones” or “leave obvious bruises”. They noted that another decree governing the separation of spouses implicitly permits child marriage and makes it extremely difficult for women and girls to escape abusive or forced marriages, while these decrees also discriminate against religious minorities.

IANS