Afghan rulers urged to reverse ban on women aid workers
UNITED NATIONS — A strong majority of the UN Security Council urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers Friday to immediately reverse all “oppressive” restrictions on girls and women including the latest ban on women working for aid organisations which is exacerbating the already critical humanitarian crisis in the country.
The joint statement from 11 of the 15 council members said female aid workers are crucial to addressing Afghanistan’s “dire humanitarian situation” because they provide “critical life-saving support to women and girls” that men can’t reach. It reiterated the council’s demand for “unhindered access for humanitarian actors regardless of gender.”
Japanese ambassador Kimihiro Ishikane, the current council president, delivered the statement to reporters before a closed council meeting, surrounded by diplomats from the 10 other countries — Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Malta, Switzerland, Britain, United States and United Arab Emirates. The four council nations that didn’t support the statement were Russia, China, Ghana and Mozambique.
United Arab Emirates ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, who called for the meeting with Japan, told reporters afterward that “the key takeaways” from the closed discussion were the unity from humanitarian actors that the work they are doing is essential — and the unity in the Security Council to remain engaged, not only to express solidarity but practically “to try and help move the situation on the ground towards a better trajectory.”
Ms Nusseibeh said another takeaway was that engagement with the Taliban had to continue, that there are different ministries mandated to regulate different sectors of humanitarian work.
Diplomats said that some countries were pushing for a Security Council resolution demanding the Taliban reverse all its edicts on women and girls, but it was too early to say if that would happen. Ms Nusseibeh said council members were discussing next steps.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, told the council in a video briefing that the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls violate fundamental human rights and “contradict assurances that the Taliban gave prior to taking power about the role of women in their country.”
She outlined the potential negative impact of such decisions, including immediately on the delivery of humanitarian assistance, Dujarric said.
The 11 council members also urged the immediate reversal of the Taliban’s ban on girls attending secondary school and girls and women attending university as well as restrictions on women’s human rights and freedoms.