G7 Tells Taliban to ‘Urgently Reverse’ Ban on Women Aid Workers 

Commuters make their way along a street during snowfall in Kabul on December 29, 2022. (AFP)
Commuters make their way along a street during snowfall in Kabul on December 29, 2022. (AFP)
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G7 Tells Taliban to ‘Urgently Reverse’ Ban on Women Aid Workers 

Commuters make their way along a street during snowfall in Kabul on December 29, 2022. (AFP)
Commuters make their way along a street during snowfall in Kabul on December 29, 2022. (AFP)

G7 foreign ministers on Thursday called on the Taliban to "urgently reverse" a ban on women working in Afghanistan's aid sector.  

The ban is the latest blow against women's rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban reclaimed power last year.  

The hardliners also barred women from attending universities earlier this month, prompting global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities. 

The G7 ministers along with those of Australia, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and the Netherlands said in a joint statement they were "gravely concerned that the Taliban's reckless and dangerous order... puts at risk millions of Afghans who depend on humanitarian assistance for their survival". 

"We call on the Taliban to urgently reverse this decision," they said in the statement issued by Britain's foreign ministry. 

It comes after six aid bodies suspended operations in Afghanistan in response to the ban. 

They included Christian Aid, ActionAid, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE. 

The International Rescue Committee, which provides emergency response in health, education and other areas and employs 3,000 women across Afghanistan, also said it was suspending services. 

"Women are absolutely central to humanitarian and basic needs operations. Unless they participate in aid delivery in Afghanistan, NGOs will be unable to reach the country's most vulnerable people to provide food, medicine, winterization, and other materials and services they need to live," the G7 statement said.  

Rights undermined 

"The Taliban continue to demonstrate their contempt for the rights, freedoms, and welfare of the Afghan people, particularly women and girls," it added.  

Christian Aid has warned that millions of people in Afghanistan are on the "verge of starvation".  

"Reports that families are so desperate they have been forced to sell their children to buy food are utterly heartbreaking," said Christian Aid's head of global programs Ray Hasan.  

A ban on women aid workers would "only curtail our ability to help the growing number of people in need", he added.  

The Taliban's ban has come at a time when millions across the country are dependent on humanitarian aid provided by international donors through a vast network of NGOs.  

Afghanistan's economic crisis has only worsened since the Taliban seized power in August last year, which led to Washington freezing billions of dollars of its assets and foreign donors cutting aid.  

After the minister of higher education banned women from universities, charging that they too were not properly dressed, protests were forcefully dispersed by the authorities.  

Since returning to power in August last year, the Taliban had already barred teenage girls from secondary school.  

Women have also been pushed out of many government jobs, prevented from travelling without a male relative and ordered to cover up outside of the home, ideally with a burqa.  

Adding their voice to the call to reverse the ban, UN agency chiefs said female staff were "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.... They save lives," said the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on Afghanistan, which brings together UN and other international humanitarian aid organizations, in a statement late Wednesday.  

"Their participation in aid delivery is not negotiable and must continue."  

The G7 grouping takes in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, US as well as the European Union. 



Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
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Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo

The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that states supplying weapons to Israel as it pursues conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon despite evidence of violations of international law are empowering belligerents elsewhere.

Tirana Hassan, HRW's Executive Director, said that countries like the United States, Germany and Britain could influence Israel's actions and should do so by ending arms sales.

"If there continues to be military support to the Israeli Defense Force and they (Western governments) know that these weapons are being used in the commission of war crimes, then that should be enough for weapons sales and transfers to stop," she told Reuters in an interview.

"At this stage, the parties that could have some sort of influence and curb the behavior of the warring parties, when it comes to Israel, it's the US it's the UK, and it's Germany, and it's through weapons sales and transfers."

Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It says its enemies are fighting amongst civilian populations, making its operations more difficult, and that it is acting in self-defense. Reuters has asked the Israeli authorities for comment on Hassan's remarks.

Hassan said that when states which abused rights saw there were no consequences, they felt emboldened to continue.

Governments supplying them with weapons were undermining their own credibility as defenders of international law and human rights as well as the credibility of the international system, she said.

"It sends a message that these rules apply differently to us and our allies as they do to others, and that has really serious consequences," she said.

This contradiction when Western countries were demanding accountability for Russia's invasion of Ukraine was being exploited by countries like Russia and China, she said.

"They are very quick to point out double standards from the West and are trying to use that to undermine the system."

Hassan spoke to Reuters as the UN rights office released a report on the death toll in the Israel-Hamas Gaza war where it said nearly 70% of verified fatalities were women and children.

Palestinian authorities say that more than 43,500 people have been killed in Gaza in the 13-month war triggered by Hamas attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"This should now motivate the world into action. There is really no justification for the killing of children," Hassan said.

On Oct. 13, Washington imposed a deadline for its ally Israel to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

Asked about the likely impact of the election of Donald Trump in the United States, she said there was "little assurance" of his commitment to international law during his previous tenure as president.

"Now we have seen in some of the statements on the campaign trail threats of mass deportation of millions of people and this sends a very worrying message," she added.