Taliban authorities on Saturday ordered non-governmental organizations to stop working with women for failing to follow an appropriate dress code, an announcement that comes four days after girls were banned from studying at university for the same reasons.
“There have been serious complaints about the non-compliance with the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations relating to the work of women in national and international organizations”said the ministry, responsible for approving the licenses of NGOs operating in Afghanistan, in a letter obtained by AFP.
“In case of disregard of the directive (…) the license of the organization which was issued by this ministry will be cancelled”specifies the mail addressed to national and international NGOs.
Like living in a prison with 1001 rules: being a girl under the Taliban
Two international NGOs that AFP spoke to confirmed that they had received the ministry statement.
“We are suspending all our activities from Sunday”told AFP, on condition of anonymity, a senior official of an international organization involved in humanitarian action in several remote regions of the country.
Afghan women banned from university
The announcement comes just four days after the Taliban government decided to ban Afghan women from attending public and private universities in the country for an indefinite period.
The Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, explained two days after this announcement that he took this decision because the “students going to university … did not respect the instructions on the hijab”.
“The hijab is obligatory in Islam”he insisted, referring to the obligation imposed on women in Afghanistan to cover their faces and their entire bodies.
According to him, girls who studied in a province far from their home “were also not traveling with a ‘mahram’, an adult male companion”.
Enslaved women, humanitarian crisis… What has changed in Afghanistan, one year after the return of the Taliban
Prohibited from gardens
This new attack on women’s rights has come as a shock to many young Afghan women already excluded from secondary schools and has drawn international condemnation.
Despite their promises to be more flexible, the Taliban have returned to the ultra-rigorous interpretation of Islam that marked their first spell in power (1996-2001).
For 16 months, liberticidal measures have multiplied, in particular against women who have been gradually excluded from public life and excluded from colleges and high schools.
Fanoos Basir, Afghan feminist footballer, refugee in France for a year: “I have the impression that we no longer interest anyone”
In an unexpected about-face, on March 23, the Taliban had closed secondary schools just hours after their long-announced reopening. Various members of power had said that there were not enough teachers or money but also that schools would reopen once an Islamic curriculum was developed.
In Afghanistan, the war against women
As well as being deprived of education, women are also banned from most government jobs or paid a pittance to stay at home. They are also prohibited from traveling without being accompanied by a male relative and must wear a burqa or hijab when leaving their homes. In November, the Taliban also banned them from entering parks, gardens, sports halls and public baths.
