Save the Children warned on Saturday that the Taliban ban on women working as aid workers could force Afghan children into “working on the streets, in factories or in people’s homes because the services supporting them have been paused due to the ban.”
The Taliban leadership’s decision to ban women from working as aid workers resulted in Save the Children and other major humanitarian agencies, including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), CARE International and the Norwegian Refugee Council suspend aid delivery programmes in Afghanistan. The UN too halted some of its aid operations.
In a statement posted on its website, Save the Children said: “Female aid workers make up 50% of the organisation’s workforce and are crucial for reaching women and girls who, due to cultural reasons, cannot interact with male aid workers.
“Parents desperate to feed their families are increasingly sending their children to work in often dangerous environments. A recent assessment found that 29% of female-headed households in 2022 had at least one child engaged in child labor, up from 19% in 2021.”
Despite international pleas from country officials and international organisations, the Taliban has refused to reverse its decisions.
