UN human rights Chief Volker Turk says Afghanistan’s governing Taliban authorities must reverse their ban on Afghan women working for NGOs.

Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, women have been progressively erased from public spaces, prompting the United Nations to denounce the “gender apartheid” the administration has established.

Last Thursday, the Taliban’s economy ministry wrote to ACBAR, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development which brings together around two hundred NGOs, telling them to comply with a decree issued two years ago which bars them from employing Afghan women.

On Sunday, ACBAR however met with the ministry and said afterwards those female workers in health and education would be exempted and those working online could continue as normal.