UNSC to hold meeting to discuss Taliban’s ban on female NGO workers

NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will hold a closed-door meeting next week to discuss the Taliban’s decision to ban women from working in NGOs in Afghanistan, Tolo News reported.

Japan and the United Arab Emirates have requested a closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council on January 13 to discuss decisions announced by the Taliban, Shahad Matar, a spokesperson for the UAE permanent mission to the UN announced in a statement on Twitter.

“The UAE & Japan called for a private meeting of the #UNSC on Afghanistan to be convened on 13 January in light of the latest decisions announced by the Taliban and their impact, including on the humanitarian situation,” Shahad Matar said in a tweet.

Earlier in December, the Taliban ordered all national and international non-government organizations to suspend the jobs of female employees until the further announcement, Tolo News reported.

On December 26, Lana Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative of the UAE to the UN, condemned the Taliban’s decision to ban women from working in local and international NGOs in Afghanistan.

Nusseibeh warned that the decision of the Taliban will hinder efforts to provide humanitarian relief in Afghanistan when about two-thirds of the Afghan people need humanitarian assistance, and about six million people face the threat of famine, according to the statement released by UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Meanwhile, United Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US is “committed to standing up for women wherever their rights are threatened, including in Afghanistan, as unfortunately, we continue to see deepen and get worse.”

He made the statement at the US Strategy on Global Women’s Economic Security.

The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States and the High Representative of the European Union expressed concern about the Taliban’s order barring female employees of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the workplace.

“The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States and the High Representative of the European Union are gravely concerned that the Taliban’s reckless and dangerous order barring female employees of national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the workplace puts at risk millions of Afghans who depend on humanitarian assistance for their survival. We call on the Taliban to urgently reverse this decision,” the official website of the European Union quoted the Foreign Ministers as saying in the statement.

It further said, “We support the Afghan people’s calls for girls and women to return to work, school, and university, and for women to continue to play essential roles in humanitarian and basic needs assistance delivery, and we urge the Taliban to respect the political, economic, social, and cultural rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.”