BAN ON AFGHAN WOMEN WORKING OUTSIDE HOME THREATENS HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS, WFP DIRECTOR SAYS

10 October 1996

Press Release
AFG/71
WFP/1036

BAN ON AFGHAN WOMEN WORKING OUTSIDE HOME THREATENS HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS, WFP DIRECTOR SAYS

19961010 Ban on Education for Girls Also Cited By Director of Largest Relief Agency in Afghanistan

ROME, 10 October (WFP) -- The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that, in view of recent events in Afghanistan, humanitarian operations there could be threatened and must be reassessed. The WFP is the largest relief agency operating in Afghanistan.

"The decision by the Taliban movement to ban women from working outside the home, as well as to ban education for girls, poses serious consequences for WFP's activities in Afghanistan", WFP Director Catherine Bertini said.

Ms. Bertini said that among United Nations agencies working in Afghanistan, the WFP has the highest number of female workers, comprising four international and 19 national staff. In addition, more than 50 per cent of the WFP's food and rehabilitation projects are aimed at women, making it indispensable that women employees be involved in their management and targeting.

The recent bans on women and girls are expected to curtail the WFP's project activities. Already, a bakery in Kabul operated by war widows has been forced to shut down, leaving 15,000 beneficiaries without bread. In addition, vocational programs that train women in carpet-weaving and tailoring have been forced to shut down.

However, the most urgent problem lies with the upcoming winter. The WFP had been planning to increase its feeding programs in Kabul from 140,000 to 300,000 people in order to meet increased needs.

"Because the task of assessing and targeting beneficiaries is carried out by women workers, the added needs -- let alone the current needs -- can't be met, as a result of the recent ban on women", Ms. Bertini said.

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She said that on 7 October, after consulting with the heads of other United Nations agencies and programmes, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali had issued a press release stating that the restrictions on women "could have serious repercussions on the ability of the United Nations to deliver programmes of relief and reconstruction" to Afghanistan. As a result of those restrictions, Afghan women on the WFP's staff have remained at home, where they are attempting to continue some of their work.

"A key problem WFP will have to resolve is the issue of ensuring that women have equal access to aid", Ms. Bertini said. In many cases, donors have rightly insisted that aid be gender-blind. If women and girls are being deprived of relief, employment or training because of their sex, then we have a major problem."

At the Fourth World Conference on Women last year, the WFP committed itself to increase significantly the percentage of women involved in food-for- work projects, as well as to ensure a greater role for women in managing food distribution. In addition, it pledged to pursue a goal of 50 per cent funding of school feeding programs for girls.

The WFP, the food aid agency of the United Nations, currently feeds more than 1.8 million people throughout Afghanistan. Last year, 57 per cent of total multilateral assistance to Afghanistan was channelled through the agency. As the largest international food-aid agency in the world, the WFP last year fed 50 million people, including half of the world's refugees and displaced people.

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