Aid groups warn of deadly consequences from Taliban ban

The heads of about two dozen United Nations-aligned and other international organizations pursued diplomacy while demanding that the Taliban immediately end its policies severely curtailing the freedoms of women and girls.

They denounced a decision by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to ban women from working in humanitarian nongovernmental organizations, calling it a major blow for women, children and other vulnerable communities as well as the entire country that has forced some programs to be halted.

"Female staff are key to every aspect of the humanitarian response in Afghanistan. They are teachers, nutrition experts, team leaders, community health workers, vaccinators, nurses, doctors, and heads of organizations," a group of organizations' leaders said on Wednesday.

"Banning women from humanitarian work has immediate life-threatening consequences for all Afghans," they said. "Already, some time-critical programs have had to stop temporarily due to lack of female staff."

A day earlier, the head of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on the Taliban to bring its social, political and economic policies "in line with Afghanistan's international obligations" by immediately revoking 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,” Türk said on Tuesday.

And earlier in the week the United Nations' top official in Afghanistan met with a Taliban government minister to protest its ban on women working for NGOs.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's acting head, Ramiz Alakbarov, met with Taliban Economy Minister Mohammad Hanif in Kabul on Monday to call for a reversal of its ban, which jeopardizes the humanitarian work of international organizations trying to help the vast majority of Afghanistan's population.

"Millions of Afghans need humanitarian assistance and removing barriers is vital," said UNAMA, a U.N. special political mission that assists people in Afghanistan.

The meeting came after key international organizations such as CARE, the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children suspended operations on Sunday in Afghanistan.

The nation's new rulers banned all foreign and domestic organizations from employing women. Since its return to power in 2021, the Taliban has taken a series of steps to restrict women's freedoms after claiming it would honor some of them.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres was "deeply disturbed" by the Taliban's edict because it "will undermine the work of numerous organizations working across the country helping the most vulnerable, especially women and girls," said his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

"The effective delivery of humanitarian assistance requires full, safe and unhindered access for all aid workers, including women," he said, adding the ban "will cause further untold hardship on the people of Afghanistan."

'Catastrophic consequences'

Türk said the decree will terrible consequences for everyone in Afghanistan because "anning women from working in NGOS will deprive them and their families of their incomes, and of their right to contribute positively to the development of their country and to the well-being of their fellow citizens.”

NGOs and humanitarian organizations, many of them staffed and led by women, provide critical life-saving services for many people in Afghanistan, he noted. Along with providing food, water and shelter, they offer critical health care programs for pre- and post-natal and infant care that are only provided by women.

“The ban will significantly impair, if not destroy, the capacity of these NGOs to deliver the essential services on which so many vulnerable Afghans depend," said Türk. "It is all the more distressing with Afghanistan in the grip of winter, when we know humanitarian needs are at their greatest and the work these NGOs do is all the more critical."

IRC, which employs 8,000 people in Afghanistan including 3,000 women and has worked in the country since 1988, said it was "dismayed and disheartened" by the Taliban edict.

"With Afghanistan in the midst of a worsening humanitarian crisis and economic collapse, humanitarian actors have been essential in saving lives in the country over the course of the past year. None of that would have been possible without female humanitarian workers," the IRC said.

"The exclusion of women from humanitarian service delivery will have catastrophic consequences for the Afghan people," it said, "because our services depend on women workers."

The latest estimates from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, show more than two-thirds of Afghanistan's 41 million population, or 28.3 million people, need assistance, including 15.3 million children.

“We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without our female staff. Without women driving our response, we would not have jointly reached millions of Afghans in need since August 2021," CARE, NRC and Save the Children jointly said. "Beyond the impact on delivery of lifesaving assistance, this will affect thousands of jobs in the midst of an enormous economic crisis."

This story has been updated with additional details.