UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged on May 4 that the United Nations would stay in Afghanistan despite the difficulties, but he made a new attack on the "unprecedented" curbs on Afghan women's rights. The country’s Taliban rulers, who reclaimed power in August 2021, also have put other restrictions on females, including barring them from school beyond the sixth grade. The measure is being actively enforced by the country’s intelligence agency, which reports to the Taliban-led government’s leadership in Kandahar, although their chief spokesman says there are no obstacles for UN operations in Afghanistan. In April, the government extended the ban to UN offices and agencies in Afghanistan. The Taliban-led government last December barred Afghan women from working at NGOs, allegedly because they were not wearing the hijab correctly and were not observing gender segregation rules. “We cannot disengage despite the challenges,” the statement said. “We also reiterate the United Nations’ dismay over the relentless onslaught by the de facto authorities against the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan,” the statement said.īut the statement said that while lifting restrictions on the delivery of aid to Afghans is essential, the United Nations must remain focused on supporting the Afghan people. The UN mission said in a statement from Kabul on May 5 that the decision is unlawful under international law, including the UN Charter and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The United Nations in Afghanistan has reiterated its condemnation of a decision by the Taliban-led government to ban Afghan women from working for the UN, saying the move "seriously undermines our work, including our ability to reach all people in need." IN PHOTOS: Despite being outgunned, Kyiv continues to "hold the line" as it punishes Moscow's forces in their relentless and bloody assault on the destroyed eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. "One must be wary of military analysts' assumptions and understand that these are speculations," Humenyuk said. Natalia Humenyuk denied that the crossing had taken place already and said the shelling was "provoked by loud statements that preceded the actual reality and ran a little ahead." In Kherson, Russian forces stepped up their shelling of Ukrainian-controlled part of the southern region, a spokeswoman for the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine said in televised comments, after reports that the Ukrainian military had crossed the Dnieper and established positions on the eastern bank of the river. Russia's Defense Ministry later said that on the night of April 24, Ukraine "tried to attack" the base of the Black Sea Russian Fleet in Sevastopol with three drones, all of which were shot down. Moscow-installed Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said the city had been attacked by two Ukrainian drones, one of which was shot down by Russian air defenses while the second one exploded by itself. Separately, RFE/RL correspondents reported that two explosions could be heard early on April 24 in the Russian-occupied Crimean port of Sevastopol. Two more civilians were killed in Bakhmut by Russian shelling the previous 24 hours, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on April 24, adding that two others were wounded. The reports could not be independently verified. His comments came after Russia's Defense Ministry said on April 23 that its forces had captured two districts in the western part of the city that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Russia's mercenary group Wagner, says his forces control almost completely. The Russians are suffering heavy losses - we are destroying their personnel and their offensive potential," Syrskiy wrote. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. RFE/RL's Live Briefinggives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians.
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