United Nations (Agencies)
Under pressure from the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, the United Nations is providing some food aid by men only, prompting warnings from donors and humanitarian aid groups that this may be seen as submitting to an internationally condemned ban on most women working in the field of aid. The International Rescue Committee said in an operational note last Wednesday that the role of women is an “operational necessity” and that “without female staff at all levels and in all sectors, we cannot accurately assess needs and deliver assistance and programs on the necessary scale.”
Martin Griffiths, the UN Emergency Relief and Humanitarian Coordinator, stressed that Afghan women should work in food distribution to ensure supplies reach the most vulnerable groups such as women and girls. Griffiths acknowledged to reporters this week that women were not participating in some food aid activities that the WFP described as “operational adjustments” to allow it to continue its work, and said the situation was not adequate. “There are still activities going on where, for example, only men deliver food,” Griffiths said Monday, after visiting Afghanistan last week. The case illustrates a delicate balancing act that the world body has faced since the imposition of the ban on December 24: how to stand firmly on the side of women’s rights while finding ways to continue to work in Afghanistan, where about 28 million people, two-thirds of the population, need help, and 6 million are on the brink of starvation. The Taliban says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law. Since then, it has excluded women from appearing in parks, high schools and universities, and has said women should not leave the house without a male guardian and must wear the niqab.
It is true that women are still allowed to work at the United Nations, but the organization’s operations are facing problems because UN officials said that 70% of the humanitarian response is carried out by local and international aid organizations that are subject to the ban.
Any possible change in the UN’s approach to food aid following the embargo has some donor countries and aid groups worried.
#Afghanistan. #absence #women #raises #concern #relief #organizations