Afghanistan Severely Divided by Gender: UN Special Envoy

The Special Representative for Afghanistan and the head of the United Nations said on Wednesday that the “Taliban claim to have united the country, but they have also severely divided it by gender.”

Briefing the UN Security Council meeting, Roza Otunbayeva stated that at a moment when Afghanistan needs all of its human capital to recover from decades of war, half of the country’s potential doctors, scientists, journalists, and politicians are shut in their homes, their dreams crushed their talents confiscated.

The 20th December prohibition on higher education and the 24th December restriction on women working for NGOs both have significant repercussions for the Afghan populace and the relationship between the Taliban and the international community, according to Otunbayeva.

She said that the reality is that Funding for Afghanistan is likely to drop if women were not allowed to work. Meanwhile, she added that “We understand that the Taliban have a highly different worldview than any other government, but it is difficult to understand how any government worthy of the name can govern against the needs of half of its population.”

The statement also stated that “women’s rights, human rights, and girls’ education” are the precise expectations of the Afghan people and that we will support them, Otunbayeva said.

Afghanistan remains the largest humanitarian crisis globally; two-thirds of the population, 28 million people, will need humanitarian assistance this year to survive. This will cost $4.62 billion, the single-largest country appeal ever. Almost half of the population, 20 million people, are experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity. Six million are one step away from famine-like conditions.

The humanitarian relief provided to the Afghan people is nevertheless disrupted by the bans on women working for NGOs because most of these organizations are run by women. In the meantime, the envoy stated her worry that the de facto government would also ban the national women staff members who work for the UN.

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