The United Nations mission in Afghanistan on Monday accused the Taliban of persecuting women employees of the organization and urged local officials to respect all their staff in the Asian country.
“A pattern of persecution by the authorities in office of women who belong to UN staff is being consummated,” the organization said in a statement.
Recently, three Afghan women working for the United Nations mission were briefly detained and interrogated by “armed security officers attached to the authorities in charge,” it added.
The UN called for an immediate end to this “intimidation and harassment of female Afghan staff” and reminded the authorities of their obligation under international law to ensure the safety of all UN staff operating in Afghanistan.
A Taliban statement issued late Monday denied that the UN staff had been “detained”.
The text adds that in the province of Kandahar (south), the authorities intercepted a group of women, but when they realized that they were UN employees, they stopped questioning them.
A year after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, teenagers are still banned from school and women are forced to cover their entire bodies in public, with only their eyes uncovered.
Taliban hardliners appear to have secured primacy in government, which has placed severe restrictions on access to education and work for girls and women despite initial promises to the contrary, reports the Associated Press news agency ( PA).
On Saturday, Afghan authorities closed five schools for girls older than sixth grade in the Afghan province of Paktia, which had been opened shortly after the recommendation of tribal elders and school principals.
Earlier this month, four girls’ schools in Gardez, the provincial capital, and one in Samkani district, began operating without formal authorization from the Taliban education ministry.
Last Saturday, all these schools were closed again by the authorities.
The UN has urged the Taliban to respect international human rights in the country.
Source: TSF
