Afghanistan: UN warns of growing crisis under increasingly authoritarian Taliban rule

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said the country’s de facto rulers who have imposed their own interpretation of strict Islamic law have “delivered a period of stability not seen in decades” in Afghanistan, yet the population is at risk of a worsened humanitarian and development crisis as international funding declines.

“The de facto authorities are exacerbating this crisis by policies that focus insufficiently on the real needs of its people and undermine its economic potential,” Ms. Otunbayeva said.

Humanitarian response

She noted that the current humanitarian response plan, which requires $3 billion dollars, is only 30 per cent funded.

“There are no indications that significant additional resources will be provided as we approach the final quarter of the year,” Ms. Otunbayeva said.

The lack of funding has contributed to the discontinuation of over 200 mobile and static healthcare services this year, and another 171 health facilities are set to close in the next few months.

Furthermore, food rations in communities already experiencing hunger have been cut from 75 to 50 per cent of the required amount and several million vulnerable civilians live in areas where they lack access to safe water.

“The humanitarian crisis will soon become a development crisis, given Afghanistan’s quickly growing youth population, an economy that is unable to absorb them and international donors who are reluctant to provide development aid due in large part to restrictions on the movement and activities of half the population,” the Special Representative said.

Restrictions on women

Ms. Otunbayeva told Council members Afghanistan is currently ostracised by the international community, noting that the Taliban would not need foreign intervention if they only “​​unlocked the resourcefulness of their entire population”.

In July, at a meeting on Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar, UN Member States and international organizations met to consider next steps to aid the civilian population in the country.

But, Ms. Otunbayeva told the Council that progress was quickly undermined shortly after the meetings convened as the authorities adopted a “moral oversight law” which placed further restrictions on women.

Increasingly oppressive laws

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous provided further details on this law, noting that it requires women and girls to cover their bodies completely when leaving the home and prohibits them from speaking in public and from looking at men they are not related to.

“Afghanistan’s women do not only fear these oppressive laws, they also fear their capricious application,” Ms. Bahous said. “A life lived in such circumstances is truly incomprehensible.”

The Executive Director also mentioned continued restrictions on women’s education, noting that only Afghan boys remain in school and receive an education based on a curriculum whose details are only known by the Taliban.

‘We must listen to the girls in Afghanistan’

Also briefing the Council, a 21-year-old Afghan girl referred to as Mina who no longer resides in the country explained that action needs to be taken now to address restrictions imposed on women by the de facto authorities.

She shared her concerns that the next generation of Afghan girls would believe they are not worthy of an education.

“We must listen to the girls in Afghanistan and do anything we can to stop this oppression,” she said.

Briefers call on Council to act now

UN Women chief Bahous and other briefers called on the 15-member Council for action to be taken to defend women and other civilians in Afghanistan.

“We can decide now to put our political will and resources behind our solidarity with Afghan women,” she said.

“I implore you again not only to stay this course but to commit to it with renewed determination.”