Taliban Order All Afghan NGOs To Stop Female Employees From Working

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2022-12-25T10:20:28+05:00 News Desk
Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban ordered all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to stop their female employees from working after “serious complaints” about their dress code, the Taliban Ministry of Economy said in an notification on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/TOLOnews/status/1606652382577917952

The notification carried an order threatening to suspend the operating licences of national and international NGOs that failed to implement the directive.

The order is the latest assault on women’s rights in Afghanistan. This restriction comes less than a week after the Taliban authorities banned women from attending universities, prompting global outrage and protests.

“There have been serious complaints regarding the non-observance of the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations pertaining to the work of females in national and international organisations,” said a Taliban notification sent to all NGOs.

“The ministry of economy … instructs all organisations to stop females working until further notice,” the notification said. “In case of negligence of the above directive, the license of the organisation which has been issued by this ministry will be cancelled,” it added.

Two international NGOs confirmed that they had received the notification.

“We are suspending all our activities from Sunday,” a top official at an international NGO involved in humanitarian work in Afghanistan said on condition of anonymity. “We will soon have a meeting of top officials of all NGOs to decide how to handle this issue.”

https://twitter.com/JournalistAnees/status/1606690345978306560

Dozens of national and international NGOs continue to work in several sectors across remote areas of Afghanistan, and many of their employees are women.

While the Taliban had promised a softer form of rule when they returned to power in August 2021, they have instead imposed severe restrictions on women, effectively denying them any role in public life.

https://twitter.com/amnestysasia/status/1606664935399755776
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