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UN Report Details of Taliban Abuses in Afghanistan – Global Issues

  • Idea by John Sifton (New York)
  • Associated Press Service

The report also emphasizes devastating humanitarian impact of the country’s economic crisispartly caused by the actions of foreign governments, noting that “all parties are responsible for the failure to exercise economic and social rights”.

The report describes “a staggering setback in the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights by women and girls”. It notes that “there is no other country where women and girls disappear so rapidly from all spheres of public life”, echoing a recent statement by UN experts describing “widespread, systematic and comprehensive“Attack on the rights of women and girls.

The report also details abuses by the Taliban against former government officials, journalists and religious minorities, among other vested interests.

As someone who worked in Afghanistan before the fall of the first Taliban government in 2001, I have witnessed first-hand the repression of the Taliban. The details of the report are familiar.

Under the Taliban, the rule of law meant nothing. It’s not even clear what “law” is. Since last year, when the Taliban revoked the country’s constitution and declared that all laws should comply with Sharia, or Islamic law, it has not been It is clear which laws and regulations are in effect or how the crime will be dealt with.

Instead, only “rules and decrees are arbitrarily developed and interpreted”, according to the UN report, and legal cases “are handled in an idiosyncratic manner between states”. jurisdictions and locations,” while basic crimes “are often solved by security forces without involving prosecutors or judges.”

In a nutshell, “law” is anything a Taliban official might say. It is hard to imagine a more threatening human rights situation.

Taliban authorities should take the report’s recommendations seriously. Most urgently, they should abolish abusive policies that violate the rights of women and girls, protect religious minorities, and engage with the special rapporteur and other United Nations offices. to develop reforms.

The United Nations Human Rights Council will discuss the report’s findings later this month. States should take advantage of this opportunity to extend the mandate of the special rapporteur and establish a new body dedicated to investigating abuses and improving accountability.

Afghans enjoy more than what the Taliban gave them: A life with little freedom, no real justice, and half the population without education or work.

John Sifton is the Asia Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch. He has served as a Researcher and Acting Deputy Director of Washington. He focuses on South and Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East as well as terrorism and counterterrorism issues around the world.

IPS UN Office


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© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service

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