Women’s participation in aid delivery must continue - Inter agenc Committee
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The decision by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to ban women from working in humanitarian non-governmental organizations is a major blow for vulnerable communities, for women, for children, and for the entire country,, the UN said here in a statement Thursday.
The statement, signed by the UN and allied bodies including the World Health Organization WHO), indicated among others that "female staff are key to every aspect of the humanitarian response in Afghanistan".
"They are teachers, nutrition experts, team leaders, community health workers, vaccinators, nurses, doctors, and heads of organizations. They have access to populations that their male colleagues cannot reach and are critical to safeguarding the communities we serve.
"They save lives. Their professional expertise is indispensable. Their participation in aid delivery is not negotiable and must continue."
It said banning women from humanitarian work has immediate life-threatening consequences for all Afghans. Already, some time-critical programmes have had to stop temporarily due to lack of female staff.
This comes at a time when more than 28 million people in Afghanistan, including millions of women and children, require assistance to survive as the country grapples with the risk of famine conditions, economic decline, entrenched poverty and a brutal winter.
"While humanitarian organizations continue to engage the de facto authorities, we cannot ignore the operational constraints now facing us as a humanitarian community.
"We will endeavour to continue lifesaving, time-critical activities unless impeded while we better assess the scope, parameters and consequences of this directive for the people we serve. But we foresee that many activities will need to be paused as we cannot deliver principled humanitarian assistance without female aid workers.
"We remain resolute in our commitment to deliver independent, principled, lifesaving assistance to all the women, men and children who need it.
"We urge the de facto authorities to reconsider and reverse this directive, and all directives banning women from schools, universities and public life. No country can afford to exclude half of its population from contributing to society," the statement said.
The signatories include Mr. Martin Griffiths, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Mr. Qu Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Shahin Ashraf, Chair, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) Board, (Islamic Relief).
The others are Mr. Ignacio Packer, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
-0- PANA RA 29Dec2022
