KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – UN Women has called on the Taliban to end a nationwide ban preventing Afghan female staff from entering UN offices, warning that the restriction threatens the delivery of vital humanitarian assistance across the country.
In a statement on Sunday, UN Women’s Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson, said female staff and contractors have been barred from accessing UN compounds for more than three months.
The restriction, imposed in early September and expanded nationwide through written and verbal orders by Taliban officials, has forced women employees to work from home.
Ferguson said the measures violate the UN’s founding principles of human rights and equality, laid out in the UN Charter, and significantly weaken the organization’s ability to deliver assistance safely and effectively.
According to UN Women, dozens of Afghan women working for the UN have continued their duties remotely, supporting families hit by recent earthquakes, assisting Afghans returning from Pakistan and Iran, and delivering services to vulnerable women and children. Ferguson said that without women workers, the UN cannot provide culturally appropriate support to the people who need it most. “Assistance must be delivered by women to women,” she said,
The statement noted that the longer the restrictions remain in place, the greater the risk to essential aid programs, including protection services, psychosocial support, and emergency relief operations that rely heavily on female staff for safe access.
The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported in September that Taliban forces blocked Afghan women employed by the UN from entering compounds in Kabul, Herat, and Balkh. The ban was first enforced on September 7, when Taliban guards in the capital turned away women reporting for duty.
The Taliban initially imposed a similar prohibition in April 2023, shortly after restricting most Afghan women from working with NGOs and government offices. Although the UN later secured arrangements allowing limited operations with female staff, the latest restrictions have again halted in-person work for nearly 400 Afghan women formerly employed by UN entities.
UN Women urged the Taliban to immediately reverse the ban and guarantee women’s safe access to UN offices and field locations so that aid can reach women and girls with the greatest needs.
The appeal comes as Afghanistan faces multiple humanitarian emergencies, including the aftermath of deadly earthquakes, mass deportations of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries, and a prolonged drought that has deepened food insecurity nationwide. Aid agencies warn that restrictions on female workers further limit their ability to assess needs, distribute supplies, and maintain programs that specifically support women-headed households.
The ban is part of a broader series of Taliban restrictions on women and girls, including bans on education beyond sixth grade, most forms of employment, long-distance travel without a male guardian, visits to parks and public spaces, and the operation of beauty salons. Rights groups, UN experts, rights groups, and Afghan activists say these policies collectively amount to gender apartheid, leaving women and girls increasingly isolated from public life.
