World must not forget Afghanistan because of Ukraine war: UN
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Russian invasion of Ukraine must not make the world forget Afghanistan, the UN refugee chief said on Tuesday, warning that ignoring its humanitarian needs could be very risky.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi, who is on a four day visit to Afghanistan, said the international community must continue to engage with the Taliban authorities as Afghanistan desperately needs humanitarian assistance.
"The whole attention of the world at the moment is focussed on Ukraine," Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told AFP at a UN compound in the Afghan capital.
"But my message coming here is, don't forget the other situations, where attention and resources are needed and Afghanistan is one of them.
"The risks of distraction are very high, very high ... Humanitarian assistance has to flow no matter how many other crises compete with Afghanistan around the world."
Donor countries, UN agencies and Afghan civil society are set to take part in an online fund raising event this month. The summit would focus on delivering food, shelter and health services, particularly for women and girls.
The Taliban seized power on August 15 amid a hasty withdrawal of US-led foreign forces, and since then the country's humanitarian crisis has deepened.
The United Nations and other global aid agencies have said that more than half of Afghanistan's 38 million people are facing hunger this winter.
In January, the UN made its biggest-ever single-country aid appeal, calling for $5 billion to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
But Grandi said that the war in Ukraine has already started to make it difficult to raise funds for Afghanistan.
The UNHCR itself had made an appeal of $340 million for Afghanistan for 2022 but so far has managed to raise only about $100 million, he said.
'Generous response" needed
"So, we need to push because the needs are the same now as they were in September" just after the Taliban takeover, Grandi said.
"Generous response has to continue" for Afghanistan, he said, a country that has millions of its citizens living as refugees in neighbouring countries like Iran and Pakistan.
Grandi, who acknowledged that the security situation across the country had improved since the Taliban came to power, said that aid related discussions with the Islamists have been increasingly "frank and open".
Since the Taliban stormed back to power, about 200,000 internally displaced people have also returned to their homes thanks to improved security, he said.
And if the Taliban continue to make progress on issues like women's rights, then steady international aid will also continue to come to Afghanistan, Grandi added.
Global donors led by Washington have insisted that any foreign aid will depend on the Taliban's policy when it comes to women's rights to education and work.
Since coming to power the Taliban have imposed several restrictions on women, but officials have said that secondary schools for girls would reopen soon.
"We will see in few days when schools reopen, then the international community will take note," Grandi said.
"When 25 years ago this country fell off the radar screen, it ended very badly ... we can not go down the same road. I hope that common sense will prevail," he said, referring to a brutal civil war of the 1990s and the ensuing first term of the Taliban that lasted until 2001 when they were toppled by US-led forces after the September 11 attacks.
Get the latest news as Taliban gains control of Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera/AFP
Afghanistan's supreme leader said Sunday the country's women were being saved from "traditional oppressions" by the adoption of Islamic governance and their status as "free and dignified human beings" restored.
In a statement marking this week's Eid al-Adha holiday, Hibatullah Akhundzada -- who rarely appears in public and rules by decree from the Taliban's birthplace in Kandahar -- said steps had been taken to provide women with a "comfortable and prosperous life according to Islamic Sharia".
The United Nations expressed "deep concern" last week that women were being deprived of their rights under Afghanistan's Taliban government and warned of systematic gender apartheid.
Since returning to power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have stopped girls and women from attending high school or university, banned them from parks, gyms and public baths, and ordered them to cover up when leaving home.
They have also barred them from working for the UN or NGOs, while most female government employees have been dismissed from their jobs or are being paid to stay at home.
However, Akhundzada said "necessary steps have been taken for the betterment of women as half of the society".
"All institutions have been obliged to help women in securing marriage, inheritance and other rights," his statement read. — AFP
UN chief Antonio Guterres will gather international envoys at a secret location in Doha on Monday in an increasingly desperate bid to find ways to influence Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. — AFP
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday calling on Taliban authorities to "swiftly reverse" all restrictive measures against women, condemning in particular its ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations.
The resolution, unanimously adopted by all 15 Council members, said the ban announced in early April "undermines human rights and humanitarian principles."
More broadly, the Council called on the Taliban government to "swiftly reverse the policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms."
It cited access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and "women's full, equal and meaningful participation in public life."
The Council also urged "all States and organizations to use their influence" to "promote an urgent reversal of these policies and practices." — AFP
G7 foreign ministers on Tuesday demanded the "immediate reversal" of a ban on women in Afghanistan working for non-governmental organisations and the United Nations.
"We call for the immediate reversal of unacceptable decisions restricting human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the latest bans prohibiting Afghan women from working for NGOs and the UN," the top diplomats said in a statement after two days of talks in Japan.
The group also slammed the Taliban authorities' "systematic abuses of human rights of women and girls and discrimination against the members of religious and ethnic minorities".
Taliban authorities triggered international outrage this month after extending a December ban on Afghan women working for non-governmental organisations to include the UN.
They have rejected criticism over the move, saying it is an internal issue that should be "respected by all sides." — AFP
The United Nations is being forced to make an "appalling choice" over whether to continue operations in Afghanistan while the Taliban government bans women from working for the organisation, the world body says.
Under their austere interpretation of Islam, Taliban authorities have imposed a slew of restrictions on Afghan women since seizing power in 2021, including banning them from higher education and many government jobs.
In December, they banned Afghan women from working for domestic and foreign non-governmental organisations, and on April 4 extended that to UN offices across the country.
In a statement Tuesday, the UN mission in Afghanistan said the ban was "unlawful under international law, including the UN Charter, and for that reason the United Nations cannot comply".
"Through this ban, the Taliban de facto authorities seek to force the United Nations into having to make an appalling choice between staying and delivering in support of the Afghan people and standing by the norms and principles we are duty-bound to uphold," it said. — AFP
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