UNAMA warns UN Security Council restrictions on women harming progress in Afghanistan

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned the UN Security Council that restrictions on women are undermining Afghanistan’s progress and worsening humanitarian challenges.

Georgette Gagnon, acting head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said the Taliban are prioritising ideological policies over the welfare of people in Afghanistan, particularly through restrictions affecting humanitarian work.

Speaking at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Gagnon said the ban on women participating in humanitarian activities demonstrates how Taliban policies are undermining aid operations and limiting the ability of agencies to assist vulnerable communities.

She warned that Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis has worsened this year due to a sharp drop in international funding, rising needs, and the return of large numbers of migrants, combined with restrictive Taliban policies.

Gagnon said major urban centres are now under severe pressure as years of economic decline and repeated climate shocks have weakened families’ ability to cope, triggering new waves of migration and internal displacement.

Humanitarian partners have requested about $1.71 billion this year to assist 17.5 million people in Afghanistan, but only around 10 percent of the funding has been secured so far, according to UN officials.

The Taliban banned Afghan women from working in United Nations offices about six months ago, a move that the UN says severely restricts its ability to deliver aid and reach Afghan women in need.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have also prohibited women from working in many government and non-government organisations and barred girls from education beyond the sixth grade.

The United Nations and several countries have repeatedly urged the Taliban to reverse these restrictions as a key step toward Afghanistan’s reintegration into the international community, but the group has so far shown little willingness to change its policies.

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