The Taliban have ordered all nongovernmental organizations to stop all female volunteers from coming to work, marking another backstep in the group’s 2021 pledge to uphold women’s rights.
The order was given by the Ministry of Economy in a letter to all local and international NGOs. The order claims that the organizations have failed to adhere to Islamic dress rules and other laws of the Islamic Emirate as the reason for the move, according to CNN.
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“Lately there have been serious complaints regarding not observing the Islamic hijab and other Islamic Emirate’s laws and regulations,” according to the letter, which went on to read that “guidance is given to suspend work of all female employees of National and international non-governmental organizations.”
Any NGO that fails to abide by this new rule will have its license revoked, the ministry warned.
The announcement of the new rule came in the same week that the Taliban government announced a ban against women from attending private or public universities in Afghanistan. Ziaullah Hashmi, the spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, shared a letter on Tuesday ordering all private and public universities to enact the ban as soon as possible, according to NPR.
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The Taliban managed to topple the U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan in August 2021 and had initially said it would uphold women’s rights in the country. In the 16 months since then, however, the group’s initial promise has rung hollow.
In May, the Taliban ordered that all women must be covered from head to toe when in public and that any women who fail to obey this order could have their father or closest male relative imprisoned or fired from their government positions.
