At least four major foreign aid groups have said they are temporarily suspending their operations in Afghanistan in response to the Taliban’s decision to bar female employees of local and international NGOs from coming to work.
Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Care Organization and International Rescue Committee are those international organizations that have suspended their operations. In a joint statement they said; “We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without our female staff.”
“Whilst we gain clarity on this announcement, we are suspending our programs, demanding that men and women can equally continue our lifesaving assistance in Afghanistan,” Save the Children said.
Care International Organization in Afghanistan while expressing deep concern about Taliban’s decision to ban women from working in NGOs said that “without women aid workers, NGOs may not be able to reach women, girls, and families, cutting access to aid for half of a population already suffering from a hunger crisis.”
NGOs can’t work without female staff
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Afghanistan said that their ability to deliver services rely on the female staff at all levels of our organization. “If we are not allowed to employ women, we are not able to deliver to those in need. Therefore, the IRC is currently suspending our services in Afghanistan,” the IRC added.
Islamic Relief, UNICEF, and MSF Afghanistan also said they can’t work without their female staff.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Development Minister, Svenja Schulze spoke about aid providing to Afghanistan and said “without female employees, organizations cannot continue their work in many areas for half the population.”
Schulze said that since women are not able to work, she is in favor of suspending the current support Germany provides with others for the time being.
Taliban bans women from working?
In a surprise move, the Taliban ordered all national and international non-government organizations to suspend their female staff members until further notice. The announcement faced widespread reactions at national and international levels.
The decision came just days after the Taliban banned women from universities that also drew nationwide-protests and international condmention. The male students abandoned their classes until their female classmates were not attending and also warned to write any exams.
The regressive ban comes as an extension of a similar decision imposed on girls studying in primary schools. When the Taliban returned to power last year, they allowed only primary education for girls. But now they are also banned from going to school. Taliban also told female teachers to stay at home until further announcement.
“We are three educated sisters. I am a teacher, my sister is a doctor and my younger sister is working in a NGO, but now we are jobless,” an Afghan woman Nadia told Harici.
Nadia said that when the ban on women working in all sectors was announced, they started to cry. “We cried a lot that night. We are only the breadwinner. I have an old father, he is also suffering from heart problems,” Nadia lamented.
What we should do now, Nadia questioned, asking the Taliban to reverse the decision otherwise several families will face hunger and poverty.
35 private universities at the brink of collapse
After the announcement of suspension of women from attending universities, at least 35 private universities are now at risk of collapse due to lack of students.
Media officer at the union of private universities, Mohammad Karim Nasiri said at least 35 higher education institutions would be closed due to economic challenges if female students were not allowed to attend the classes.
Founder of Mura educational center, Azizullah Amir said his university had only female students, but now the campus is empty. “Our goal was to provide higher education to the Afghan women, and now when they are not allowed to come, we have to close it,” Amir lamented.
Enayatullah Khalil Hadaf, the Deputy of Dawat University said that they are considering closing the university and will resume activity once all universities reopen.
Ziaullah Hashimi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education said that they are working to resolve the university problem, but refrained from providing more information.
There are currently 140 private universities active in Afghanistan.
Destructive policies against women
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has called on the Taliban to revoke immediately a raft of policies that target the rights of women and girls. “No country can develop – indeed survive – socially and economically with half its population excluded. These unfathomable restrictions placed on women and girls will not only increase the suffering of all Afghans but, I fear, pose a risk beyond Afghanistan’s borders,” Turk said.
Turk urged Taliban to “ensure the respect and protection of the rights of all women and girls – to be seen, to be heard and to participate in and contribute to all aspects of the social, political and economic life of the country, in line with Afghanistan’s international obligations.”
In the wake of fragile economic conditions, the decision would have terrible consequences for women and for all Afghan people. Banning women from working in NGOS will deprive them and their families of their incomes at a time when over half of the population of estimated 35 million are already under poverty. The ban also stops the women of their right to contribute positively to the development of their country and to the well-being of their fellow citizens.
NGOs provide critical life-saving services
NGOs and humanitarian organizations provide critical life-saving services for many people and distribution could not be possible sans women employees.
Providing food, water, shelter and healthcare, and some critical programs, such pre- and post-natal and infant care, are only provided by women.
These women are also having leadership roles in these NGOs which are very important in delivering humanitarian aids in Afghanistan.
The ban will significantly impair, if not destroy, the capacity of these NGOs especially during winter when these aid group’s work is more critical. Afghans need humanitarian support at their greatest in general, but during winter in particular.
The Taliban must return women and girls of their inherent rights, and any attempt to relegate them to silence and invisibility will not succeed. There were already protests in favor of women rights, and even some Taliban high-members are against the ban of women’s education and work.
