Three months since Afghan women staff prevented from entering United Nations premises across the country
Statement by UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson
Date:
It has now been three months since the de facto authorities (DFA) in Afghanistan imposed restrictions preventing Afghan women staff and contractors from entering United Nations premises across the country.
Over these 91 days, our Afghan women colleagues have continued their vital work for the people of Afghanistan, from their homes and in communities.
With determination and professionalism, they have supported more families affected by recent earthquakes in eastern and northern Afghanistan, more returnees arriving from Pakistan and Iran, and countless men, women and children seeking food and clean water, healthcare, safe shelter and agriculture, climate resilience and livelihoods support.
The longer these restrictions remain in place, the greater the risk to these life-saving services.
Afghan women are indispensable to the United Nations’ work in Afghanistan. Only through their presence can we reach women and girls safely and provide culturally appropriate assistance to those who need it most. Assistance must be delivered by women, to women.
The United Nations continues to strenuously oppose these restrictions, which violate the UN’s founding principles of human rights and equality, set out in the UN Charter, and undermine our ability to deliver on our mandate.
UN agencies, funds and programmes in Afghanistan have implemented further interim operational adjustments in response to this crisis and continue to assess viable options for continuing our principled and essential operations.
We call for the ban on Aghan women staff and contractors from entering United Nations premises to be reversed, and for their safe access to offices and the field, so that assistance can reach the women and girls who need it most.