Stepping up the pressure on the Taliban, the UN Security Council has called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, denouncing a ban on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups. “The members of the Security Council are deeply alarmed by reports that the Taliban have suspended access to universities for women and girls, and reiterated their deep concern of the suspension of school beyond the sixth grade…,” the 15-member body said in a unanimously agreed statement, released Tuesday. The Council said the ban on women and girls attending high school and universities in Afghanistan “represents an increasing erosion for the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” It added that the ban “would have a significant and immediate impact on humanitarian operations in the country”, including those of the United Nations. On Saturday, the Taliban banned women from working in non-governmental organizations, saying the move was justified because some of the workers had not adhered to the required Islamic dress code. The Taliban had already suspended university education for women and secondary schooling for girls. The Council urged the Taliban “to reopen schools and swiftly reverse these policies and practices, which represents an increasing erosion for the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” In its statement, the Council also condemned the ban on women working for NGOs, adding to warnings of the detrimental impact on aid operations in a country where millions rely on them. “These restrictions contradict the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people as well as the expectations of the international community,” it said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed the Security Council’s message, calling the latest restrictions on women and girls “unjustifiable human rights violations” that “must be revoked.” The international community has made respecting women’s rights a sticking point in negotiations with the Taliban government for its recognition and the restoration of aid. Earlier Tuesday, the UN rights chief, Volker Turk, warned of the “terrible” consequences such policies would have. “No country can develop — indeed survive — socially and economically with half its population excluded,” Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. “These unfathomable restrictions placed on women and girls will not only increase the suffering of all Afghans but, I fear, pose a risk beyond Afghanistan’s borders.”