CNN
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The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday said it was “deeply alarmed” by the ruling Taliban’s ban on women attending university or working for aid groups in the country. Afghanistan.
In a move widely condemned by the international community, the Islamist group last week ordered all local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to Ban female employees from coming to work and suspended higher education for all female students in the country.
In a statement on Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council expressed “deep concern” and called for “the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.”
It also called on the Taliban to reverse its policies, “which represents a growing erosion of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The new restrictions mark another step in The Taliban’s brutal crackdown on the freedom of Afghan womenafter the hardline Islamist group took over the country in August 2021.
Although the Taliban have repeatedly vowed to protect the rights of girls and women, the group has done the opposite, stripping away the hard-won freedoms that women have tirelessly fought for over the past two decades. .
Some of the Taliban’s most prominent restrictions relate to education, with girls also banned from returning to high school in March. The move devastated many students and their families, who described to CNN their dreams of becoming doctors, teachers or engineers.
At least half a dozen major foreign aid groups have said they are Temporarily stop working in Afghanistan after the ban on female NGO workers.
The UNSC statement said the NGO’s ban would affect humanitarian activities in the country, including UN operations.
“These restrictions contradict the Taliban’s commitments to the people of Afghanistan and the expectations of the international community,” the UNSC added.
Writing on Twitter on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the restrictions were an “unreasonable violation of human rights and must be revoked”.
“Actions that exclude and silence women and girls continue to cause great suffering and great obstacles to the potential of the Afghan people,” he said.
