UN Reiterates Concerns About Women’s Work, Education Ban

July 9, 2023 2:09 pm

Kabul: UN Women director Osnat Lubrani said that banning women and girls from work and education in Afghanistan contradicts basic human rights and the humanitarian principles of independence and naturality.

In an interview with CNN, Lubrani called the blocking of women’s beauty salons in Afghanistan the latest violation of women’s rights by the current government and added that this decision will affect the entire society in Afghanistan.

“It is something that is unprecedented, and it is really affecting more than 28 million women who in need of humanitarian assistance cannot get support, because they can only be supported through women, and there is now a ban that has been placed since 24 September on women working in humanitarian organizations. So, this is having a terrible impact banning women from work, and it contradicts basic human rights and the humanitarian principles of independence and naturality,” Lubrani noted.

Osnat Lubrani, UN Women Director, Humanitarian Section, further stated: “I was just recently in Afghanistan and speaking to the women … there are women that were supposed to finish their medical degrees that are now being denied. It is going to rob the country of thousands of medical workers. So, it is a catastrophe for the entire society, and it needs to be fought against every day.”

In the meantime, Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, tweeted that “the closure of beauty salons in Afghanistan is yet another blow to women´s rights and a further attempt at removing them from public life. The future of Afghanistan must include women.”

“It is really a strong economic blow to families. A woman who is busy working outside the home. Everyone has a problem in their family in some way, there are those who are homeless, there are those whose husbands are unable to work, they don’t have a job, or they are sick,” said Mrs. Hosseini, a member of the Kabul Beauty Salons Union.

Former president Hamid Karzai discussed the current situation of the country and other issues with the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a video call.

Karzai tweeted that he requested that Germany continue providing aid to the Afghan people and thanked the nation for its assistance to Afghanistan over the previous two years.

Karzai thanked Minister Baerbock for Germany’s steadfast friendship with Afghanistan and “appreciated her unwavering support to the noble cause of education for girls and the return of women to work.”

Karzai tweeted: “We also discussed the importance of intra-Afghan dialogue as an appropriate approach for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan.”

“During the video call he emphasized the need to provide aid. They also talked about reopening schools and universities for girls, which is a vital issue,” said Shahzada Masoud, a relative of Hamid Karzai.

Although the Islamic Emirate made no comments on this, it has already said that the rights of women and girls are ensured in accordance with the Islamic values in the country.

This comes after a verbal order of the leader of the Islamic Emirate on Monday last week banned women’s beauty salons in Kabul and the provinces of the country.

Following that order, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said the reason for banning women from working in beauty salons was due to the economic problems of the people and Sharia law.