Taliban Bans Women From Working For Domestic Or Foreign NGOs

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered all domestic and international NGOs to ban women employees from working after “serious complaints” about dress codes, the economy ministry told AFP on Saturday.

The order threatened to suspend the operating licenses of NGOs that did not implement the directive.

The latest restrictions come less than a week after Taliban authorities banned the woman from attending college, sparking global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities.

When the Taliban returned to power last August, they promised a more flexible form of control, but instead imposed tighter restrictions on women, effectively keeping them out of public view.

“Serious complaints have been received about violations of the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations related to women’s work in national and international organizations,” said a notice sent to all NGOs. rice field. Economics. “The Economy Ministry instructs all organizations to suspend women’s work until further notice,” the statement read.

“Failure to comply with the above policy will result in the revocation of the organization’s license issued by this ministry,” she added.

Two international NGOs confirmed receipt of the notification.

“From Sunday, all activities will cease,” a senior official at an international NGO involved in humanitarian action told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“We will soon hold a meeting with senior officials from all NGOs to decide how to deal with this issue.”

Dozens of national and international NGOs continue to operate in various sectors in remote areas of Afghanistan, and many of their employees are women. “Unfortunate” order

Another official who works for an international NGO involved in food distribution said the ban was “a devastating blow for women workers.”

“We have mainly female staff to deal with the humanitarian needs of Afghan women,” the official said.

“Well, how do we address your concern?”

Human rights group Amnesty International said in a tweet that the ban was Afghanistan’s “disappointing attempt to erase women from the political, social and economic sphere”.

The order is the latest attack on women’s rights in the country.

On Tuesday, authorities banned all women from attending college, sparking condemnation from the United States, the United Nations and several Islamic countries. The Group of Seven Developed Democracies said the ban could amount to a “crime against humanity”.

The ban came less than three months after thousands of women were allowed to take college entrance exams.

In response to the order, about 400 male students boycotted exams on Saturday in the southern city of Kandahar, the de facto center of power for the Taliban, in a rare protest organized by men.

The student strike was quelled by Taliban forces firing in the air, a lecturer at Mirwais’ Nikah University, where the protests were taking place, told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Taliban have already banned her teenage girls from attending secondary school, women have been forced out of many government positions, barred from traveling without male relatives, and ideally at home in a burqa. was ordered to cover the outside of the They are also prohibited from entering parks and gardens.

The Taliban have also resumed public flogging of men and women in recent weeks, expanding their implementation of extreme interpretations of Islamic law.