United Nations: The UN has apologised for “a significant lapse in judgement” after photographs surfaced of some of its personnel in front of a Taliban flag in Afghanistan during a visit by deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed this week to the war-torn country when she met the de facto authorities and expressed alarm over women’s rights violations.
Mohammed, the highest-ranking woman in the United Nations, along with Executive Director of UN Women Sima Bahous and Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Political, Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations Khaled Khiari completed a four-day visit to Afghanistan on Friday.
During the visit, the delegation met Taliban leaders in Kabul and Kandahar and conveyed their alarm over the recent restrictions on education and work of women and girls across the country. However, as Mohammed was meeting the group’s leaders, photographs of some UN security personnel in front of the Taliban flag drew criticism. “That photo should never have been taken. It clearly shows a significant lapse in judgment. It was a mistake and we apologise for it. And in terms of that, I believe the supervisor for these officers has spoken to them on this,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters here Friday when questioned about the visit and the photographs.
Haq said the photograph was taken while the Deputy Secretary-General was meeting the de facto leaders in Afghanistan. Her security had taken her to that meeting and were waiting next door, he said.
In a post on Twitter, Head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan Ali Maisam Nazary said the “@UN personnel in Kabul taking a photo w/a terrorist group’s flag brings the United Nation’s impartiality & integrity into question.
“We kindly ask @antonioguterres to investigate this matter & for @UNAMAnews to prevent such insensitive actions that can tarnish its reputation,” Nazary said in a reference to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
Nazary also posted two photographs showing the UN personnel standing in front of the Taliban flag. Leading the high-level UN delegation on behalf of the Secretary-General, Mohammed conveyed concerns over the Taliban’s recent decree banning women from working for national and international non-governmental organisations, a move the UN said undermines the work of numerous organisations helping millions of vulnerable Afghans. “My message was very clear: while we recognise the important exemptions made, these restrictions present Afghan women and girls with a future that confines them in their own homes, violating their rights and depriving the communities of their services,” Mohammed said.
“Our collective ambition is for a prosperous Afghanistan that is at peace with itself and its neighbours, and on a path to sustainable development. But right now, Afghanistan is isolating itself, in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis and one of the most vulnerable nations on earth to climate change,” she said. “We must do everything we can to bridge this gap.”
The Taliban have issued an order to close universities to female students across the country until further notice, barred girls from attending secondary school, restricted women and girls’ freedom of movement, excluded women from most areas of the workforce and banned women from using parks, gyms and public bath houses. Mohammed and Bahous also met with affected communities, humanitarian workers, civil society
and other key actors, in Kabul, Kandahar and Herat. “What is happening in Afghanistan is a grave women’s rights crisis and a wake-up call for the international community. It shows how quickly decades of progress on women’s rights can be reversed in a matter of days,” Bahous said, expressing UN Women’s solidarity with Afghan women and girls and vowing to continue amplifying their voices to regain all their rights.