GENEVA: The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has closed eight centres providing support to Afghan refugees forced back to the country because Taliban authorities are preventing female U.N. staff from entering them, an official said on Friday.
The United Nations says Pakistan is driving Afghan refugees back home against their will, warning that around 1 million people could be affected. In the first week of September alone, nearly 100,000 people crossed back, UNHCR data showed.
Arafat Jamal, UNHCR Representative to Afghanistan, said it closed eight centres providing cash and other support to returnees on Sept. 9 because of the ban on female aid workers.
"This was an operational decision. It is not a decision taken to punish anyone or to make a statement, but simply it demonstrates that we cannot work without female workers in certain circumstances," he told a Geneva press briefing by video link from Kabul.
"It is a huge step, and it is creating an enormous amount of suffering for these people," he said, adding that these centres typically helped around 7,000 people a day.
