(Kabul) The Taliban on Tuesday rejected UN accusations that women’s rights in Afghanistan have “regressed” since their return to power and ensured that “thousands” of Afghan women held public jobs, but for some ” home “.
Posted at 8:23 a.m.
Updated at 9:21 a.m.
The Islamist fundamentalists explained that female employees of several ministries and public services were not allowed to go to their offices, so as not to contravene the Taliban interpretation of Islamic rules on the separation of the sexes, but that they continued “to be paid” by staying at home.
“Women and men working together in an office, it is not possible in our Islamic system”, justified the chief of staff of the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Sharafuddin Sharaf, joined by AFP.
On Monday, a UN special rapporteur denounced in particular “the significant decline in the rights of women and girls” since the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua) also accused the Taliban authorities on Monday of intimidating and harassing its female staff working in the country, in particular after the “temporary” detention of three employees for questioning.
The United Nations report is “biased and far from representing reality”, reacted in a press release the spokesman of the regime, Zabihullah Mujahid.
“Thousands of women work in education, higher education, health […] “, he assured.
According to Sharafuddin Sharaf, “not a single female” civil servant has been fired since the Taliban took over.
Nevertheless, he explained, female employees of several ministries and public services where gender segregation measures have not yet been put in place are not allowed to come to their offices.
Where “they are not needed”, their male colleagues have the “responsibility to ensure their work”, added Mr. Sharaf.
A woman told AFP that she was not allowed to enter her old office and that she had to sign a register once a week in a parking lot, to receive 10,000 Afghanis (about 110 euros) per month , less than a third of his former salary.
“Most of the time they insult and humiliate us,” said Nasria Tamkeen. “We cannot call it a salary, because it cannot fund the needs of a family,” she lamented.
In most ministries, however, “where they are needed, women work”, assured Mr. Sharaf without being able to give the total number of women civil servants.
Since their return to power, the Taliban have imposed very strict rules on the conduct of women, especially in public life.
Islamist fundamentalists have closed secondary schools for girls in most provinces. They also ordered women to cover themselves fully in public, ideally with a burqa.
Women demonstrated repeatedly to protest the loss of their jobs and demand the right to work, and some of them were forcefully suppressed by the Taliban.