MONITORING (SW) – The US, Allies and the UN have urged the Taliban to reverse ban on women working in the non-government organisations.
The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States and the High Representative of the European Union said they are gravely concerned that the Taliban’s ‘reckless and dangerous’ order barring female employees of national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the workplace puts at risk millions of Afghans who depend on humanitarian assistance for their survival.
“We call on the Taliban to urgently reverse this decision”, said a joint statement.
Women are absolutely central to humanitarian and basic needs operations, it said.
Unless they participate in aid delivery in Afghanistan, NGOs will be unable to reach the country’s most vulnerable people to provide food, medicine, winterization, and other materials and services they need to live, it added. This would also affect the humanitarian assistance provided by international organizations, as international organizations utilize NGOs to deliver such materials and services, warned the statement.
The US and Allies said they are in close contact with the United Nations, who are urging, also on behalf of all international donors, that the Taliban reverse this decision immediately. “This would avoid any disruption and allow the continuation of all humanitarian operations of international and national NGOs”.
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