Islamabad: The United Nations said on Tuesday that some Afghan women employed by the UN have been held captive, harassed and restricted on their movement since the Taliban banned women working for the UN. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers informed the United Nations earlier last month that Afghan women assigned to the UN mission could no longer go to work. In a report on the human rights situation in a South Asian country, the United Nations said that ‘Afghanistan’s regime’s discriminatory and illegal policies aimed at severely restricting the participation of women and girls in most areas of public and daily life’. This is the latest incident in a series of legal proceedings.
The report said Taliban rulers have cracked down on many people protesting this year, especially those speaking out on issues related to the rights of women and girls. The UN report noted the arrest and release the next day of four women protesting in Kabul in March over access to education and access to work. The report also mentions the arrest of Matiullah Vesa, head of Penpath, a civil society organization campaigning for the reopening of girls’ schools.
The report also cited the arrest of women’s rights activists and their brothers in northern Takhar province in February. The report said such moves would have a devastating impact on the prospects for prosperity, stability and peace in Afghanistan. The agency’s human rights chief, Fiona Fraser, said that “UNAMA is concerned about increasing restrictions on civilian space across Afghanistan.” The Taliban have previously banned girls from attending schools above the sixth grade and barred them from public life and work. Women have been banned. In December, Taliban rulers banned women from working in government and non-governmental organizations.
In a separate report released on Monday, the United Nations strongly condemned the Taliban for carrying out public executions, floggings and stonings since taking over rule in Afghanistan. According to the report, 274 men, 58 women and two boys were publicly flogged in Afghanistan in the past six months alone.
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