Kabul [Afghanistan], August 11 : Dozens of Afghan women working for the United Nations in Afghanistan have received explicit death threats, according to a new UN report, highlighting the severe restrictions on their rights since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Al Jazeera reported.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said female national staff were subjected to direct death threats in May, as per the latest update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan published on Sunday.
The report noted that the Taliban informed the UN mission that their cadres were not responsible for the threats, and that an Interior Ministry investigation is underway.
However, the Interior Ministry spokesman, Abdul Mateen Qani, denied the allegations. "This is completely incorrect," Qani told The Associated Press news agency, as reported by Al Jazeera.
"The ministry has an independent department for this, and we have a strategic plan for protection and security so there is no threat to them in any area, nor can anyone threaten them, nor is there any threat to them," he added. Qani did not respond to questions about the investigation, Al Jazeera said.
The threats originated from unidentified individuals connected to their work with UNAMA, other agencies, funds, and programmes, "requiring the U.N. to implement interim measures to protect their safety," according to the UN report cited by Al Jazeera.
The Taliban banned Afghan women from working in domestic and foreign nongovernmental organisations in December 2022, extending this ban to the UN six months later. They also threatened to close agencies and groups still employing women. Aid agencies and NGOs have reported disruptions and interference in their operations, which the Taliban authorities deny.
This UN report is the first official confirmation of death threats against Afghan women working in the sector. It also highlighted other violations of women's freedoms and safety, including inspectors from the Vice and Virtue Ministry enforcing the wearing of a chador, a full-body cloak covering the head. Women have been arrested for only wearing the hijab.
Women have also been denied access to public spaces, in line with laws banning their presence in such areas, Al Jazeera reported.
An August 2024 UN report found that Afghanistan's Taliban government has "deliberately deprived" at least 1.4 million girls of their right to education during its three years in power. About 300,000 more girls have missed school since UNESCO last conducted a count in April 2023, the report warned, adding that "the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy."
In July, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders over abuses against women and girls.
ICC judges said there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhunzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of gender-based persecution.
"While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms," the ICC said in a statement.
The Taliban has "severely deprived" girls and women of rights to education, privacy, family life, and freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience, and religion, the ICC judges added.
The Taliban rejected the ICC warrants as "baseless rhetoric," stating it does not recognise the ICC's authority and highlighting the court's failure to protect the "hundreds of women and children being killed daily" in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.