The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has called on the Taliban to reconsider the decision to ban women from working for NGOs, saying it was in “violation of the purposes of Islamic law and the methodology of the Messenger of Allah.”
Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration had last year ordered all local and foreign non-governmental organisations to stop female employees from coming to work – in what marked as yet another crackdown on women’s freedom since their return to power in August, 2021. This came after it had already suspended university education for women and secondary schooling for girls until what they termed as further notice.
The statement was reportedly issued by OIC in its final communique of the Extraordinary Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee on ‘The Recent Developments and the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan’, reported news agency ANI, citing local news channel TOLO.
Expressing concerns over “the worsening humanitarian and human rights situation in Afghanistan”, the group of 57 member states called on Islamic Emirate to respect human rights, including the rights of women and children.
In an earlier statement, OIC secretary-general Hissein Brahim expressed deep concerns on the developments of the “unfortunate events” in Afghanistan.
He noted that “we conveyed, through my special envoy, messages to the de facto authority in which we emphasized the importance of the government’s fulfilment of its previous promises to open schools for girls in light of the solid and clear foundations of the Islamic religion that encourage education.”
United Nations high commissioner for human rights Volker Tur too this month urged the Taliban to revoke a raft of policies that target the rights of women and girls, noting both the “terrible, cascading effects” on their lives and the destabilizing risks such policies pose to Afghan society.
