The Taliban government has barred women in Afghanistan from sitting for an important examination needed to practice medicine, according to a report published by the United Nations Monday.
In May, the Taliban instituted a policy allowing only male medical students to take the Exit Supplementary Exam, according to the latest updated issue of the UN’s Human rights situation in Afghanistan report.
According to ABC News, women’s rights have been removed in Afghanistan since the Taliban relaunched power over the country in late August of 2021.
Earlier in July, Taliban leaders ordered all beauty parlours in the country to close by the 25th of the month.
Also, in a recent development, the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health previously blocked women from taking medical school exit examinations in February.
Earlier in December, the de facto rulers banned women from attending university last December.
In April, the Taliban government implemented a ban, prohibiting all women in Afghanistan from working for non-governmental aid organizations, including the United Nations.
The UN Security Council later said the move was “undermining human rights and humanitarian principles in the country.”
Other non-governmental agencies have had their licenses to operate in Afghanistan suspended or revoked. Some have had their female employees jailed, the latest UN report disclosed.
Women, both foreign and Afghan have also been arrested for failing to travel in the company of a male family member.
In early May, two Afghan female staff of an international non-governmental organisation were arrested by Taliban forces at an airport because they were travelling without a male companion or mahram, the report said.
“In June, a midwife was detained and interrogated for five hours by the Taliban’s intelligence service, which threatened her with death if she continued her work with an NGO. She resigned two days later as a result,” the report said.