Unhcr handbook for the protection of women and girls

As expected, the Taliban have already begun to restrict women's access to work. Aside from the obvious normative and human rights implications, banning women from the workforce will significantly impact the ability of humanitarian agencies to deliver aid effectively. Indeed, it will make an effective humanitarian response impossible.

For example, women's full and safe participation is critical to identifying the priorities, needs, and capabilities of women and girls. Female staff are also necessary to mitigate risks of GBV and provide survivor-centered and culturally appropriate support to survivors.

They, too, are needed to provide essential health care including sexual and reproductive health services. Indeed, for humanitarian aid to be effective and life-saving in Afghanistan, female staff must be a part of all programming. Only through the inclusion of female staff can assistance meet the specific needs of women and girls, as well as those gender-specific needs related to education, WASH, food security, and livelihoods.

As a country director of one humanitarian organization explained , "Restrictions on women working would not only be an infringement of their rights, but would also have widespread repercussions for how aid is delivered. Only women can enter people's homes and assess needs reliably…". These decisions not only contradict a principled humanitarian response, but they also render women and girls invisible and risk undermining further negotiations with the Taliban about women working.

Both a pragmatic and a principled approach to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan demands that women are able to work and work safely. Many leaders of today's Taliban want international legitimacy and international financial aid. Yet, as soon as the Taliban toppled the Ghani government, the European Union was quick to declare that it would not work with the Taliban let alone recognize them as the legitimate governing power in Afghanistan, unless they respected human rights, were inclusive of women, and abided by international legal obligations.

The establishment of this commission sends the signal that the Taliban seeks oversight, if not full control over foreign aid. The Taliban has assumed leadership of a country in crisis. To remain in power, they must demonstrate an ability to avert further deterioration of the economy , food security situation , and health care system. This will only be possible with significant international humanitarian assistance in the shorter term and responsible investment in international development in the longer term.

The Taliban could make progress toward international recognition and the resumption of significant development aid by taking at least two measures. First, they could respect the rights of Afghans to leave the country, including those who lack identification documents. The Taliban must allow safe passage for people fleeing the country. Second, they must support comprehensive and principled humanitarian action in Afghanistan.

Donors, other UN member states, and aid agencies should push the Taliban to facilitate safe passage out of the country for at-risk women and girls who seek to leave and to expand humanitarian access to assist those who will remain in Afghanistan. Crucial to effective humanitarian access is respecting the rights of women to be at the front and center of the response. Afghan women must be permitted to safely work in all aspects of humanitarian operations, including and especially as frontline humanitarian staff.

The UN should take the lead on these efforts. The UN should negotiate with the Taliban and monitor their actions. Furthermore, all parties that interact with the Taliban must share a consistent message. They should all pressure the Taliban to permit the departure of those women who choose to flee and demand that within Afghanistan women can deliver all forms of humanitarian aid.

As countless people across dozens of fields of expertise try to analyze what went wrong in Afghanistan and how to move forward, the future of women and girls is an abiding and compelling concern. In so many areas of the country, Afghan women and girls have made significant progress over the past twenty years. The average life expectancy for women increased by about ten years, maternal death rates were cut in half, more than 50 percent of girls were attending primary school, and more than 44, young Afghan women were attending public universities.

At the time of the Taliban takeover, close to 30 percent of the Afghan Parliament were women. However, their educational, financial, political, and social advancements are at risk of being lost. Moreover, the humanitarian and displacement crises within Afghanistan further threaten the fate of millions of women and girls.

Now that the U. This is particularly consequential for several at-risk populations of women and girls: women and girls under direct threat, women and girls who require humanitarian assistance, displaced women and girls, and women and girls who hope to flee Afghanistan altogether. The Biden administration should work with neighboring countries of Afghanistan to establish safe passage arrangements by which at-risk Afghan women and girls can safely leave the country and be assured assistance after displacement.

It must ensure that women feel safe to use these means of exit and can realistically access them. In its diplomatic and assistance efforts, the administration must intentionally factor the unique needs of and restrictions on women and girls——such as ID requirements, family ties, and the need to travel with a male chaperone.

Furthermore, the Biden administration should work with neighboring countries to ensure that when Afghans——particularly women and children——arrive, the governments of those countries do not impede onward travel if they are trying to relocate elsewhere. The Biden administration should raise the refugee ceiling and prioritize Afghan women and girls for resettlement in the United States through existing and new programs.

Refugees International has already called for the Biden administration to raise the Presidential Determination——the ceiling for the number of refugees permitted to resettle in the United States——from , for FY to at least , Within that ,, the administration should also increase the regional allocation for Near East and Central Asia to account for the large number of Afghans who will likely need protection.

Finally, the State Department should consider creating a P-2 program specifically for Afghan women and girls who credibly fear Taliban reprisals. Adjudicators should take into account the culturally specific, case-specific, and gender-specific challenges that Afghan women and girls might have when presenting their cases for resettlement consideration.

The position should also include responsibility for coordinating the U. The United States and other donor governments should fully fund new and existing humanitarian appeals so that displaced women and girls in humanitarian settings can get the services they need.

Identification can present particular challenges because women and girls are often less visible in displaced populations than men and boys, they may not be or feel able to report protection incidents, particularly if these occur in the private domain. It is therefore important to ensure an enabling environment which supports continuing identification and analysis of the situation.

In others, the presence of a combination of individual and wider protection environment factors will expose women and girls to heightened risk. In still others, if women and girls have been subjected, for instance, to SGBV in the area of origin or during flight, this may leave them at heightened risk in the place of displacement.

Continuing assessment is required to monitor threat levels, as they may change over time. It involves collaboration between, and the involvement of, all relevant actors, including men and boys, to enhance understanding and promote respect for women's and girls' rights.

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Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube. UNHCR is working to promote gender equality by using a rights- and community-based approach, by mainstreaming age, gender and diversity, and through targeted actions to empower women and girls in civil, political and economic areas. The aim is to ensure that the rights of all persons of concern — whether male or female, young or old, or facing discrimination on account of disability, ethnicity, class, sexuality or other factors — are enjoyed equally.

This Handbook is a tool to help achieve this.