Afghan women’s rights activists and protestors, calling themselves Coalition of Women’s Protest Movement, held a press conference Monday to condemn the latest Taliban decree ordering women to cease working at the United Nations. They labelled the move predictable, and called for NGOs to cease operations in Afghanistan until the order is revoked.
The Taliban seeks to systematically eliminate women from society, the coalition said, issuing more than 40 repressive decrees against the rights of women and girls since taking power in Afghanistan in August 2021. The Taliban then use women’s rights as a political bargaining tool to get what they want from the international community, they added.
When the Taliban issued an order prohibiting domestic and foreign NGOs from employing women in December 2022, the activists said they asked the humanitarian organizations to stand firm against the cruel decision and to cease humanitarian activities in Afghanistan rather than abide by the Taliban order. But contrary to their hopes, the coalition said international organizations failed to deal with the Taliban’s treatment of women and have instead engaged and worked with the fundamentalists, despite the ongoing ban on women’s work.
The press conference heard from women that the ongoing interaction and seemingly unconditional flexibility of the international community in working with the Taliban has meant the Taliban has only oppressed the Afghan people further and with more courage, especially women and girls.
The aggravated humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan with more than 20 million people suffering from extreme hunger is the result of Taliban mismanagement and radicalism, the women said. They said the Taliban have removed the right to a dignified life from the Afghan people by banning women from work and are spreading poverty and hunger among Afghan families.
The coalition called on the United Nations and other international organizations in Afghanistan to put aside attempts to “understand” the Taliban and cease working with them – cease operations in Afghanistan – until the Taliban reverse their bans.
They warned that upholding the ban on women’s work will only aggravate the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the Taliban need to be held accountable for this.
The press conference ended with the women’s rights activists emphasising the situation in Afghanistan is a human rights crisis, and aid organizations should prove their commitment to human rights by putting women’s rights at the top of their agenda.
The Taliban, who are currently the de facto government in Afghanistan, last week banned women from working for the United Nations, one of the largest humanitarian organisations still operating in the country. It is in line with an order issued last year banning women from working for NGOs.
The Taliban have not been recognised as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan by any other country since taking power 20 months ago.
