The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned the ban imposed by the Taliban on Afghan women working in non-governmental organizations in the country as a “useless act” against women’s rights, EFE and Agerpres reported.

“This measure will not only deprive Afghan women and their families of their livelihoods, but will also seriously affect the humanitarian and aid operations of a wide network of national and international non-governmental organizations for the benefit of vulnerable Afghan communities,” the OCI said in a statement released Tuesday.

Several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar, also separately condemned the measures taken by the Taliban against women and called on them to reverse them to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to Afghan communities.

Qatar’s foreign minister, who played a mediating role between the US and the Taliban before they took control of Kabul a year and a half ago, stressed in a statement on Monday “the importance of all Afghans getting their rights, including the right to work”.

Islamic countries talk about the “unjustified” decisions of the Taliban

For its part, the United Arab Emirates believes that the latest “unjustified” decisions of the Taliban regarding Afghan women “will undoubtedly hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and will especially affect the most vulnerable sections of the population, including children, women and the elderly.”

Adviser to the Emirati Foreign Minister Lana Nusseibeh, quoted by the country’s official news agency WAM, warned that “about two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population is in need of humanitarian aid, and about six million people are at risk of starvation.”

“Ensuring a prosperous future for Afghanistan and its people depends on the full integration of women and girls into society,” she concluded.

The Taliban also banned women from entering universities

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Economy, in a letter sent on Saturday to all national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Afghanistan, ordered the suspension of their female employees until further notice.

The Taliban justify their decision by saying that women who work in humanitarian non-governmental organizations violate the dress laws adopted as part of their fundamentalist vision of Islam.

The move comes after the Taliban government last week banned female students from entering universities, a ban that was unopposed by the country’s higher education institutions.

Turkey also condemned the ban, saying it was “neither Muslim nor humane.”

But it was just the latest in a series of decisions taken by the Taliban that have severely curtailed women’s rights since they returned to power last August, when the Islamist government in Kabul banned them from even entering parks or traveling unaccompanied by men.