John Egeland: The Afghan government will soon finalize the guidelines for womens return to work and education

Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary General Jon Egeland says he met with caretaker government officials in Kandahar and told him that guidelines for women to return to work and education are almost complete. Today (Wednesday, 3rd of Gemini), Mr. Eggland wrote in a tweet that after five months of the ban on women’s work in international aid organizations, he returned to Afghanistan and met with a number of caretaker government officials in Kandahar. He emphasized: “I asked the leaders of the current government authorities in Kandahar to give a time frame when our female colleagues can start their work for the needy.” He says that he was told during these meetings: “The guidelines that allow women to return to the workplace and resume their education are almost completed.” The secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council added that caretaker government officials have said they are willing to seek “temporary solutions” that would allow “work by women for women” to deal with the growing humanitarian crisis in the country. Mr. Egeland added that in these meetings he called for “immediate progress” in the field of women’s return to work. He warns that time is being wasted, budgets are being reduced and suffering is increasing. “We cannot and will not work only with men’s teams,” he emphasizes. The Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council stated: “Only women can reach women. “We will not work with men.” Also, he wrote in a tweet that the caretaker government officials argue that removing Afghanistan from the financial system, cutting off development aid, not recognizing their government and freezing Afghanistan’s foreign assets will cause an economic crisis. This is despite the fact that the Ministry of Economy of the caretaker government banned women from working in domestic and international non-governmental organizations about five months ago, and after that it also banned women from working in United Nations offices in Afghanistan.