United Nations: Cutting off communications in Afghanistan has exacerbated the suffering of the population and endangered the lives of women

This came after the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan published a briefing paper on this cut, documenting many impacts, including delayed or non-existent access to health care and emergency services, disruption of humanitarian operations, exacerbation of discriminatory restrictions against women and girls, violation of people’s daily and family lives due to their inability to communicate with others, and disruption of the conduct of commercial and banking businesses.

At a press conference held in Geneva on Tuesday, Commission spokesman Jeremy Lawrence stressed that the communications blackout and other restrictions were disproportionate. “violates the right to freedom of expression and access to information,” It conflicts with Afghanistan’s human rights obligations.

Women and girls in Afghanistan are already being exposed, Lawrence said “extremely harsh restrictions” Adding that the lack of communications made their lives more difficult. He pointed out that women were unable to communicate with their mahrams, which was required for traveling long distances, and in some parts of the country for daily commutes.

He also pointed out that women and girls are deprived of online learning, which has become the only way available for many of them to receive education due to the ban imposed on their education.

In addition, the UNHCR spokesperson said humanitarian operations were disrupted, and health workers reported deaths that could have been avoided as a result of the outage.

And he said: “A pregnant woman went to a hospital in Laghman province suffering from severe bleeding. She needed to be urgently transferred to the regional hospital to receive treatment, but the hospital ambulance broke down and there was no way to call for help. The fetus died, and the woman survived with complications.”

Lawrence said the de facto authorities had not yet made any public comment on the reasons for the closure, but stressed that “as responsible for Afghanistan’s human rights obligations, they must ensure that any restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and access to information are provided by law and that they are a necessary and proportionate response to a legitimate concern under international human rights law.”