A UN expert has warned that Taliban policies are blocking Afghan women and children from receiving urgent medical care
A new assessment shared in Geneva outlines how restrictions imposed by the Taliban are preventing Afghan women and children from receiving emergency medical care. The findings were presented by Richard Bennett, who said that regulations affecting women’s movement, dress, and access to male medics are placing lives in danger.
According to the report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, women in need of urgent treatment must follow mandatory dress codes, be accompanied by a male guardian, and rely on male medical staff. One woman was forced to give birth alone outside a hospital because she arrived unaccompanied. Another lost her four-year-old son because she could not travel alone with him to seek help.
At the press briefing, Bennett said, “The Taliban’s restrictions must be reversed, otherwise they will be killing people.”
Gender discrimination described as systemic
Bennett said the policies were not isolated incidents. “These policies are not isolated measures. They form an institutionalised system of gender discrimination that denies women and girls autonomy over their own bodies, health, and futures,” he said.
He confirmed that the report was shared with Taliban authorities, though no response was received. The
Taliban maintains it respects women’s rights in line with its interpretation of Islamic law.
Education bans shrinking the medical workforce
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has barred girls from schooling beyond the primary level and introduced a series of morality laws limiting expression and employment. As of last year, around a quarter of Afghanistan’s health workers were women, but the ban on their medical education has closed off the training pipeline. Bennett warned this will further reduce the number of available female practitioners required under gender-segregated healthcare rules.
“It’s a completely unjustifiable policy. It puts the entire health system in jeopardy, and unless reversed, it will lead to unnecessary suffering, illness and death,” he said.
At the same briefing, Suraya Dalil said she feared a surge in deaths linked to childbirth. “Unfortunately, we expect higher mortality—maternal mortality (and) infant mortality – in the coming years because of the fact that the health workforce are systematically restricted,” she said.
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