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10-05-2023
KABUL/ UNITED NATIONS: Some Afghan women employed by the United Nations have been detained, harassed and had restrictions placed on their movement since being banned by the Taliban from working for the world body, the UN says.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers informed the UN early last month that Afghan women employed with the UN mission could no longer report for work.
“This is the most recent in a series of discriminatory – and unlawful – measures implemented by the de facto authorities with the goal of severely restricting women and girls’ participation in most areas of public and daily life in Afghanistan,” the UN said in a report released on Tuesday.
Taliban authorities continue to crack down on dissenting voices, in particular those who speak out on issues related to the rights of women and girls, it said.
The UN report cited the March arrest of four women who participated in a Kabul protest demanding access to education and work and the arrest of Matiullah Wesa, head of PenPath, a civil society organization campaigning for the reopening of schools for girls.
It also highlighted the arrest of a women’s rights activist and her brother in February in the northern province of Takhar.
Several other civil society activists have been released, reportedly without being charged, after extended periods of arbitrary detention by the Taliban’s intelligence service, the report said.
The measures will have disastrous effects on Afghanistan’s prospects for prosperity, stability and peace, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.
The Taliban previously banned girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade and blocked women from most aspects of public life and work. In December, they banned Afghan women from working at local and non-governmental organizations, a measure that at the time did not yet extend to UN offices.
The report also pointed to ongoing extrajudicial killings of individuals affiliated with the former government.
On March 5 in southern Kandahar province, Taliban forces arrested a former police officer at his home, then shot and killed him, according to the report. During the same month in northern Balkh province, a former military official was killed by unknown armed men in his house. (Int’l News Desk)
