Afghanistan Peace CampaignAnalysts said that the caretaker government should cancel its decision on banning women from working in NGOs and education.
CARE, an international aid agency, in a statement on Jan. 16 said it will be resuming its health and nutrition operations in Afghanistan after obtaining the necessary assurances from the Ministry of Public Health that “our female staff will be able to carry out their work safely and unfettered, both in community-based and support roles.”
Earlier, Save the Children announced that it would resume some of its activities in the country.
“Our female colleagues are an essential part of our organization and we cannot deliver a principled response without them, so we welcome the opportunity to resume our health and nutrition operations given the scope of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said there have been no restrictions for women in the health sector and that CARE had stopped operations based on its own decision.
“First of all, the staff belonging to the Ministry of Public Health have not faced any problems and their operations are underway,” said Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, a spokesman for the public health ministry. “Some of the organizations have stopped their activities due to misunderstanding. A meeting took place in this regard and these organizations have resumed their activities.”
Analysts said that the caretaker government should cancel its decision on banning women from working in NGOs and education.
“Many women who were engaged in working in many government and non-government organizations are the breadwinners for their families and if they are unable to work and bring food for their families, they would sadly with challenges,” said Abdul Naseer Rishtia, an analyst in economic affairs.
“There should be no further restriction and ban on international organizations’ activities so that poverty can be prevented and the crisis will not increase,” said Shakir Yaqoobi, an analyst in economic affairs.
This comes as Stephanie Tremblay, associate spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said that the United Nations fund in Afghanistan is aiming for humanitarian purposes.
“We use the fund to conduct the work on the UN in the country primarily to provide critical humanitarian assistance to the millions of Afghans who needed it,” she said.
The announcement by the Ministry of Economy on banning women from working in NGOs led to the suspension of the activities of many major aid organizations in the country.