December 27, 2022

The United Nations’ human rights chief on Tuesday decried increasing restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan, urging the country’s Taliban rulers to reverse them immediately. He pointed to “terrible consequences” of a decision to bar women from working for non-governmental organizations.

Last week, Taliban authorities stopped university education for women, sparking international outrage and demonstrations in Afghan cities. On Saturday, they announced the exclusion of women from NGO work, a move that already has prompted four major international aid agencies to suspend operations in Afghanistan.

“No country can develop — indeed survive — socially and economically with half its population excluded,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement issued in Geneva. “These unfathomable restrictions placed on women and girls will not only increase the suffering of all Afghans but, I fear, pose a risk beyond Afghanistan’s borders.”

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