New York: After Taliban signaled at enforcing ban on women from working, the United Nations told its staff members in Afghan not to report to work for the next two days.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York that UN officials in Afghanistan received ‘word of order’ from Taliban regime banning female national staff members of UN from working, according to Reuters.
Stephane Dujarric added that UN will meet with Afghan official on Wednesday for more clarity as it is looking into the impact of the latest order by Taliban.
About 400 Afghan women work for the UN and Taliban’s ban made UN authorities to ask all staff members including male and female not to report to work for 48 hours, the report further said.
Just as the new edict from Taliban comes, the female staff of UN Mission in eastern province of Nangarhar had been stopped from reporting to work, which the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) deplored on Tuesday.
"There was a much more official communication made in (Nangarhar provincial capital) Jalalabad. We were told through various conduits that this applied to the whole country," Dujarric reportedly said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took to Twitter condemning the ban of women staff from working.
‘If this measure is not reversed, it will inevitably undermine our ability to deliver life-saving aid to the people who need it’, he said.
After returning to power in the war-torn Afghanistan, Taliban initially claimed it would respect women’s’ rights before systematically imposing strict interpretation of Islamic laws in the nation.