Save the Children and other NGOs suspend activities in Afghanistan after ban on female staff

Four international aid agenciesincluding Save the Children, declared on Sunday that they will suspend their humanitarian programs in Afghanistan in response to the government order run by the taliban to prevent women from working.

The Government ordered on Saturday all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) local and foreign that do not allow female staff to work until further notice.

He claimed that the move, condemned around the world, was justified because some women had not adhered to the Taliban interpretation of the Islamic dress code for women.

Three NGOs –Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council y CARE International– declared in a joint statement that they will suspend their programs pending clarification of the government order.

“we can’t get there effectively help children, women and men in dire straits in Afghanistan without our female staff“, the statement said, adding that, without the women’s drive, they would not have reached millions of Afghans in need since August last year.

For his part, he International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported in a statement that it will suspend its services in the country for similar reasons. The IRC claimed that it employs more than 8,000 people in Afghanistan, of whom more than 3,000 are women.

The suspension of some aid programs accessed by millions of Afghans comes at a time when more than half the population depends on humanitarian aid, according to aid agencies, and during the coldest mountain season. nation.

Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International also highlighted the effect of the female staff ban on thousands of jobs, more amid an economic crisis.

Formerly the international aid agency AfghanAid declared that it immediately suspended its operations while consulting with other organizations, and that other NGOs were taking similar steps.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan also expressed concern on Sunday about the move and a previous ban on women attending university, warning of “catastrophic humanitarian consequences in the short and long term.”

forced to comply

A spokesman for the Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, responded to the criticism by stating that all institutions that want to operate in Afghanistan are required to comply with the country’s regulations.

“We do not allow anyone to talk nonsense or threaten the decisions of our leaders under the heading of humanitarian aid,” Mujahid said in a message on Twitter, referring to a statement by the head of the US Mission in Afghanistan.

Chargé d’Affaires Karen Decker asked on Twitter how the Taliban planned to prevent starvation among women and children after the ban. She noted that the United States was the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the country.