Aid agencies including Save the Children have suspended operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban barred women from working for foreign non-governmental organisations.
On Sunday, after the hardline rulers warned organisations their operating licences will be suspended if they continue to employ women, Humanitarian Country Team met in Kabul to discuss how to respond. The group comprises top UN officials and representatives of dozens of Afghan and foreign NGOs.
A joint statement was released by the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children and CARE.
"We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without our female staff," the statement read.
"Whilst we gain clarity on this announcement, we are suspending our programmes, demanding that men and women can equally continue our lifesaving assistance in Afghanistan."
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, called the decision a "humanitarian red line".
Dozens of organisations work across remote areas of Afghanistan and many of their employees are women, with several warning the ban would stymie their work.
"The ban is going to impact all aspects of humanitarian work as women employees have been key executors of various projects focussing on the country's vulnerable women population," said a top official of a foreign NGO in Kabul.
The economy ministry, which issues the licences, said it had received "serious complaints" that women working in NGOs were violating a strict dress code that the theocracy insists women adhere to.
On Saturday, the Taliban's Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif announced the ruling in a letter.
The European Union, a major funder of aid organisations that work in Afghanistan, denounced the latest ban.
"The EU strongly condemns the Taliban's recent decision to ban women from working in national and international NGOs," a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
"We are assessing the situation and the impact it will have on our aid on the ground."
The International Rescue Committee said its more than 3,000 female staff in Afghanistan were "critical for the delivery of humanitarian assistance" in the country.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said women were "central to humanitarian operations around the world" and that the ban would be "devastating" to Afghans.
The latest ban comes as the Taliban also barred female students from attending universities on Tuesday, effective immediately.
Afghan women have since demonstrated in major cities against the ban.
Witnesses in the western city of Herat said about two dozen women were heading to the provincial governor’s house to protest against the ban on Saturday, chanting “education is our right”, when they were pushed back by security forces.
The same day, Taliban forces used a water cannon to disperse groups of female demonstrators.
There has been widespread international condemnation of the university ban.
An official in the Taliban administration, Minister of Higher Education Nida Mohammad Nadim, spoke about the ban for the first time on Thursday in an interview with Afghan state TV.
He said the ban was necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught breached the principles of Islam.
He said the ban would be in place until further notice.
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A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
