United Nations:
The United Nations said on Thursday it would not stop providing aid to Afghanistan, despite the Taliban’s ban on women working in the country’s aid sector.
“Let me make it very clear that the United Nations and humanitarian partners are deeply committed to providing lifesaving services to the people of Afghanistan,” Ramiz Alakbarov, the coordinator of the UN resident in Afghanistan, told reporters.
Speaking after the G7 issued a statement calling the hardline Islamists’ action “reckless and dangerous,” Alakbarov said Afghanistan’s humanitarian needs are “absolutely enormous.”
“We do not believe it is possible to take comprehensive humanitarian action without the participation of women,” he said.
However, he added: “It’s important that we stay and deliver.”
“Aid is never conditional. You cannot condition the provision of food or health aid to a starving person or a dying person.”
He said the UN emergency coordinator and other UN officials will visit Afghanistan in the coming weeks to discuss the situation with the country’s Taliban rulers, who also recently barred women from university.
“I believe from my interaction with the Taliban, the best way to get to a solution is not pressure. It’s dialogue. This movement has not responded well to pressure in the past.”
UN officials have already held several “constructive” talks with Taliban authorities about the situation, he said, citing talks with the health minister.
“It is clear that the delivery of health services to women and girls will not be possible without medical staff,” he said.
He said the minister agreed that there should be no hindrance and that the female service workers should be allowed to return to work.
“We are only working on one thing, and that is to resolve the bottleneck and initiate negotiations so that women can go back to work and girls can go back to school, based on the realization that this is an absolutely essential right from other people.’ Alakbarov said.
“We need to focus on finding the solutions.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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