Afghanistan, new restrictions for women: the Taliban ban them with immediate effect from working for the United Nations

ROME – Several female UN national staff in the country have already faced restrictions on their movements along with harassment, intimidation and arbitrary detention. The UN has therefore asked all national staff – men and women – not to report to the office until further notice. The Taliban ban is internationally illegal and cannot be accepted or respected by the United Nations.

The violations. Preventing Afghan women from working for the United Nations constitutes an unprecedented violation of their rights and of international humanitarian law, and also violates the principle of immunity of personnel engaged in the UN system. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, is involving the authorities at the highest level possible to convey the Organization’s protest and to demand an immediate lifting of the order. The Organization is also engaging with Member States, the donor community and humanitarian partners. The order will further impact the international community’s engagement in Afghanistan and the UN’s ability to support the population as it navigates an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The immunities and privileges of UN personnel. Afghan women working in the United Nations enjoy a number of privileges and immunities that are enshrined in international law. They must be able to move freely throughout Afghanistan to perform their duties independently. They cannot receive instructions from any authority outside the Organization, which exists to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of sex, race, language or religion. Efforts to ban women from working for the UN are therefore contrary to the Organization’s fundamental principles, but Afghanistan is nonetheless bound to abide by the UN Charter, having freely accepted its obligations when it became a state member in 1946.

Poverty. Two-thirds of the Afghan population – some 28.3 million people – are in need of life-saving assistance, 20 million are food insecure and 6 million are on the brink of famine. The new Taliban arrangement will also negatively affect the ability of the agencies involved in humanitarian assistance to reach the most vulnerable people, especially women living in the most remote areas.

An unprecedented decision. In the history of the United Nations, no other regime has ever tried to ban women from working for the Organization just because they are women. In the last twenty months, the Taliban authorities have issued a series of increasingly restrictive measures against women and have effectively tried to limit their participation in all aspects of the country’s social, economic and political life. By cutting the female population out of public life, Afghanistan risks not only aggravating the economic crisis but also further isolating itself from the international community.