The authorities in Afghanistan are further restricting the role of women in humanitarian aid, according to the UN.

“These measures are putting life-saving humanitarian assistance and other essential services for hundreds of thousands of people affected by a recent deadly earthquake at risk.

“It is having a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of people in need of help,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned in a statement.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was forced to close its aid centres for people.

The authorities are now denying local UN staff access to all UN facilities, with military guards at the door, Arafat Jamal, UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, said in Geneva on Friday.

He spoke of a “quite outrageous imposition on all of us.”

This applies, for example, to the eight aid centres where people, some of whom were displaced from Pakistan against their will, arrive, are registered, and receive emergency aid.

Around 7,000 people arrive there every day. A total of 52 per cent of those arriving are women.

“Without female staff, it is not possible to help women,” he said.

The UNHCR cannot and does not want to restrict access to men only; the centres have now had to be closed.

(dpa/NAN)