'Immense suffering': UN denounces Taliban ban on women attending university, working for aid groups

The United Nations says the Taliban's order banning humanitarian aid organisations in Afghanistan from employing women erodes human rights and fundamental freedoms.

A Taliban fighter stands guard in Kabul, Afghanistan, 26 December 2022. Source: AAP / Ebrahim Noroozi

Key Points

• The UN Security Council has denounced a Taliban ban on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the restrictions were "unjustifiable human rights violations and must be revoked".
• The Taliban has also banned girls from attending high school since March.

The United Nations Security Council has called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, denouncing a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups.

In a statement agreed by consensus, the 15-member council said the ban on women and girls attending high school and universities in Afghanistan "represents an increasing erosion for the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms".

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday the restrictions were "unjustifiable human rights violations and must be revoked".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Source: AAP

"Actions to exclude and silence women and girls continue to cause immense suffering and major setbacks to the potential of the Afghan people," he tweeted.

The university ban on women was announced as the Security Council met to discuss Afghanistan in New York last week.

Girls have been banned from high school since March.

The council said a ban on female humanitarian workers, announced on Saturday, "would have a significant and immediate impact for humanitarian operations", including those of the United Nations.

"These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people as well as the expectations of the international community," the Security Council said, expressing its full support for the UN political mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA.

Four major global aid groups, whose humanitarian efforts have reached millions of Afghans, said on Sunday they were suspending operations because they were unable to run their programs without female staff.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council last week 97 per cent of Afghans live in poverty, two-thirds of the population need aid to survive, 20 million people face acute hunger and 1.1 million teenage girls were banned from school.

The Taliban, which seized power in August last year, largely banned the education of girls when last in power two decades ago but said its policies had changed.

The Taliban-led administration has not been recognised internationally.