The UN Security Council condemned the Taliban-led administration’s ban on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups on Tuesday and called for their full, equal, and meaningful participation in Afghanistan.
The 15-member council said in a unanimous statement that the ban on women and girls attending Afghanistan’s high schools and universities “represents an increasing erosion for the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
“Unjustifiable human rights violations and must be revoked,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated on Twitter on Tuesday. “Added he: Women’s and girls’ rights violations continue to wreak havoc on the Afghan people’s potential and cause immense suffering.
During the Security Council’s meeting on Afghanistan last week in New York, the university’s ban on women was announced. Since March, girls cannot attend high school.
“Would have a significant and immediate impact for humanitarian operations in country,” including those of the United Nations, the council stated in response to Saturday’s announcement of a ban on female humanitarian workers.
The Security Council said, “These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people and the expectations of the international community.” It also said it fully supports UNAMA, the UN political mission in Afghanistan.
Four major international aid organizations, whose humanitarian efforts have reached millions of Afghans, announced on Sunday that they were ceasing operations due to the inability to operate their programs without female staff.
Last week, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that 97 percent of Afghans live in poverty, that two-thirds of the population needs help to survive, that 20 million people are severely hungry, and that 1.1 million teenage girls are not allowed to go to school.
In August of last year, the Taliban came to power. When they were in power, two decades ago, they had said that their policies had changed, but they had largely outlawed girls’ education. Internationally, the administration led by the Taliban is not recognized.
