UN Security Council Of The Taliban's Prohibition Of Women In Afghanistan

Illustration of the UN Security Council meeting. (Wikimedia Commons/UNSomalia)

JAKARTA - The UN Security Council on Tuesday called for full, equivalent and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, condemning the ban by Taliban-led administration on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups.

In a statement agreed through consensus, the 15-member council said the ban on women and girls attending secondary schools and universities in Afghanistan was "an increased erosion to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms."

The university ban on women was announced when the New York Security Council met in Afghanistan last week. Meanwhile, girls have been banned from secondary school since March.

The council said the ban on women's humanitarian workers, announced on Saturday, "will have a significant and direct impact on humanitarian operations in the country," including those carried out by the United Nations.

"This restriction goes against the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people, as well as the hopes of the international community," said the Security Council, which also expressed full support for the UN political mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter on Tuesday that the restrictions were "un justifiable human rights violations and should be lifted."

He added: "Actions to exclude and silence women and girls continue to cause tremendous suffering and a major setback for the potential of the Afghan people."

Earlier, four major global aid groups, whose humanitarian efforts have reached millions of Afghans, said on Sunday they were suspending operations because they were unable to run programs without female staff.

Separately, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council last week that 97 percent of Afghans live in poverty, two-thirds of the population needs help to survive, 20 million people face acute hunger and 1.1 million teenage girls are barred from going to school.

It is known that the Taliban seized power in August last year. They mostly banned girls' education when they last came to power two decades ago, but said their policies had changed. Taliban-led government has not been recognized internationally.