A United Nations mission in Afghanistan claims that the Taliban militant group, which took control of the country's government after the withdrawal of American troops in August 2021, is harassing female employees.
The mission urged local officials to respect all of its staff in a statement released on Monday. It read, "There has been an emerging pattern of harassment of Afghan UN female staff by the de facto authorities."
Staggering Repression of Women
The statement added that three Afghan women who were working for the UN were recently detained briefly and questioned by "armed security agents of the de facto authorities." The UN also called for an immediate end to all such acts of "intimidation and harassment targeting its Afghan female staff."
The agency reminded local authorities of their obligations under international law to guarantee the safety and security of all UN personnel operating in Afghanistan. The Taliban released a statement late Monday evening that denied that local authorities had "detained" any UN employees, as per the New York Post.
The militant group added that in southern Kandahar province, authorities had stopped a group of women, but when they realized they were UN employees, stopped questioning them. Now, a year after the group took power in the country's government, teenage girls are still not allowed to go to school, and women are required to cover themselves from head to toe in public.
Hard-liners appear to hold sway in the Taliban-led government, which imposed severe restrictions on access to education and jobs for girls and women, despite initial promises to the contrary.
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According to ABC News, Taliban authorities on Saturday shut down five girls' schools above the sixth grade in eastern Afghanistan's Paktia province. The school had briefly opened after a recommendation by tribal elders and school principals.
Harassment of Female Employees
Four girls' schools in Gardez, the provincial capital, and one in the Samkani district, began operating earlier this month without formal permission from the Taliban Education Ministry. All five schools were once again closed by authorities on Saturday.
The situation comes as the UN has repeatedly urged the Taliban militant group to ensure respect for international human rights in Afghanistan. The incident also came as the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, called for radical changes to the situation in the country.
He said, "The severe rollback of the rights of women and girls, reprisals targeting opponents and critics, and a clampdown on freedom of expression by the Taliban amount to a descent towards authoritarianism."
On the other hand, Afghanistan ambassador Nasir Ahmad Andisha, who represents the topped government, went further, describing a "gender apartheid" in the country. Many female Afghans addressed the same meeting, including rights activist Mahbouba Seraj, who urged the 47-member council to set up a mechanism to investigate abuses.
She said, "God only knows what kind of atrocities are not being reported. And I want that to be reported because this is not right. World: this is not right. Please, please, you've got to do something about it," The Guardian reported.
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