Dozens of Afghan women working for the United Nations in Afghanistan have received explicit death threats, according to a new UN report released on Sunday, reported by Al-Jazeera.
The threats were made in May, targeting female national staff members whose rights have been strongly restricted since the Taliban regained power in 2021.
The UN mission (UNAMA) said the threats came from unidentified people linked to the women’s work with UN agencies, funds, and programmes, forcing the organisation to adopt interim measures to protect their safety.
Taliban Deny Responsibility
The report revealed that Taliban representatives told the UN they were not responsible for the threats and said an Interior Ministry investigation was underway.
Denying any threats, the ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani called the claims “completely incorrect” in comments to The Associated Press.
Restrictions on Women Intensify
The Taliban banned Afghan women from working with domestic and foreign NGOs in December 2022 and extended the ban to the UN six months later, threatening to shut down any organisation still employing women.
The UN report also detailed further curbs on women’s freedoms, including enforcement by the Vice and Virtue Ministry requiring women to wear a full-body chador, with arrests made for wearing only a hijab. Women have also been barred from public spaces under Taliban laws.
A separate UN report from August 2024 concluded that at least 1.4 million girls were deliberately denied education during the Taliban’s three years in power. The new findings mark the first official confirmation of death threats against Afghan women working for the UN and come amid growing concerns over the erosion of women’s rights in the country. (Inputs from Al-Jazeera)
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