WNAM MONITORING: The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) shut down eight assistance centers for Afghan returnees after Taliban restrictions prevented female UN staff from working, the agency’s representative in Afghanistan said on Friday.
Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Geneva that the decision was made on Sept. 9, when it became impossible to continue operations without female staff.
“All of us at the United Nations are suffering from a reinforcement of the ban on females working with us. To give you one specific example related to UNHCR, we operate in encashment centers at the border and in the main cities. These centers are essential to distribute the initial cash that people receive, to register people biometrically, and to provide protection screening and interviews,” Jamal said.
“This work is entirely impossible without Afghan female workers, because the experience of biometrics is a very tactile one. The interviews are often confidential, and 52% of returnees are women. We are simply unable to operate without females,” he added.
Jamal stressed that the decision to close the facilities was not taken lightly.
“It is not a decision taken to punish anyone or to make a statement, but simply it demonstrates that we cannot work without female workers,” he said.
The closures affect eight sub-centers across the country, where UNHCR was processing an inflow of around 7,000 people per day, of whom about 80% are eligible for cash assistance. “It is a huge step, and it is creating an enormous amount of suffering for these people,” Jamal said.
He underlined that UNHCR did not consider separating men and women in providing services.
“We did not feel it would be possible or desirable to deny women access to our services. Unfortunately, this results in nobody receiving the services,” he noted.
Jamal said negotiations with the Taliban authorities are ongoing and expressed hope that a solution would be reached soon to allow the resumption of assistance.
