Over the past two days, a number of female UN staff in Kabul have been targeted by Taliban-affiliated gunmen.
Internal sources confirm that these individuals have visited the staff’s homes and forced their families to stop the women from working by making direct threats.
In some cases, the threats have been accompanied by insults, filming and humiliating family members, and fathers have been warned that if their daughters return to work, they will face fatal consequences.
Most of the threats have been directed at UNICEF, UNAMA, World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Development Program.
The pursuits began around the headquarters in Pul-e-Charkhi and continued to neighborhoods such as Makrorian, Karte Chahar, Dar-ul-Aman, Khair Khana and other parts of the capital.
Following these threats, UN offices have asked female staff to work from home until further notice. No official response or guarantee has been provided by these offices yet.
This is the first time that the Taliban threat has gone beyond work restrictions and become a direct threat of death.
Human rights activists have called for an immediate response from the international community to support women’s safety and employment rights.
