The United Nations has made a direct and public appeal to Afghanistan's Taliban authorities, calling for the immediate reversal of a months-long ban that prevents Afghan women from working inside UN offices. The restriction, which has forced hundreds of female staff to work remotely since September, is severely undermining life-saving humanitarian operations across a country grappling with multiple crises.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Susan Ferguson, the Special Representative of UN Women in Afghanistan, emphasized that the ban violates the organization's core principles of human rights and equality. "The longer these restrictions remain in place, the greater the risk to these life-saving services," Ferguson stated. She explained that female staff are indispensable for reaching women and girls in a culturally appropriate manner, a necessity in Afghanistan's conservative society where male aid workers often cannot directly assist female beneficiaries.
The ban has had immediate and severe operational consequences. Most notably, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was forced to suspend cash assistance programs for Afghan returnees from Pakistan and Iran in September. This decision impacted vital support for thousands of families, as the agency found it impossible to conduct the necessary interviews and biometric registration for the more than 50% of returnees who are women without its female staff.
This suspension is part of a broader paralysis. The UN reports that Taliban security forces are visibly stationed at the entrances of UN compounds in major cities like Kabul, Herat, and Mazar-i-Sharif to enforce the measure. The restriction also blocks female staff from traveling to field locations, hampering responses to emergencies such as the series of deadly earthquakes that struck eastern Afghanistan in late August and early September, which killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The ban on UN employment is not an isolated policy but a key component of what UN officials and human rights groups describe as a systematic "gender apartheid" aimed at erasing women from public life. Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has issued edicts barring girls from secondary and university education, prohibiting women from most forms of employment, and restricting their freedom of movement without a male guardian. These policies have created a desperate humanitarian situation where 23 million people need aid, with women and girls disproportionately affected.
The cumulative effect has been devastating for the healthcare system and emergency response. A shortage of female medical professionals, exacerbated by the ban on higher education, means women struggle to access care, particularly for maternal health. Following the recent earthquakes, the World Health Organization highlighted a critical "paucity of female staff" in medical facilities, limiting treatment for injured women and girls.
The international community is responding with increasing firmness. The UN is actively engaging the Taliban to lift the restrictions, noting they disregard previously agreed arrangements that allowed the organization to function. At a higher level, the UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a quarterly briefing on Afghanistan this month, where the human rights situation is expected to be a key focus.
Simultaneously, legal avenues for accountability are progressing. In a landmark move last January, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for top Taliban leaders, including Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, for persecution on gender grounds, a crime against humanity. Furthermore, in late September, several countries including Germany, Canada, and Australia initiated proceedings against Afghanistan at the International Court of Justice, alleging the Taliban's policies violate the international convention on eliminating gender discrimination.