NEW YORK: More than 30 independent UN human rights experts have called for the international community to recommit to support the people of Afghanistan, in a statement marking two years since the Taliban took power.
The gap between promises and practices by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities has widened during this period, they said, denouncing the idea of a “reformed” Taliban.
They said Taliban policies imposed on the population “have resulted in a continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights, including the rights to education, work, and freedoms of expression, assembly and association.”
The experts cited consistent credible reports of summary executions and other violations, including enforced disappearances, widespread arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment, and displacement.
Hardest hit are women and girls, ethnic, religious and other minorities, people with disabilities, displaced persons, and transgenders. Human rights defenders and other civil society representatives, journalists, artists, educators, and former government and security officials, are also affected.
“Despite reassurances by the Taliban de facto authorities that any restrictions, particularly in terms of access to education would be temporary, the facts on the ground have demonstrated an accelerated, systematic, and all engulfing system of segregation, marginalization and persecution,” they said.
They noted that in comparison to last year, discrimination against women and girls has deepened, subjecting them “to total domination so egregious, that the collective practices constitute gender persecution, a crime against humanity”.
Bans targeting women and girls
Last December, Afghan women were barred from working with humanitarian organizations, which was later expanded to include UN agencies.
The Taliban also prohibited girls from attending secondary school. Recently, authorities in several provinces reportedly stopped allowing girls over the age of 10 from attending school.
“Women have even been denied the ability to seek comfort in some of their own spaces such as beauty salons that were frequented and run by women, as these have been recently ordered to close,” the experts said.
Furthermore, promises for a more inclusive form of government did not materialize, the amnesty for former government and military officials is being violated, and guidelines to stop torture and ill treatment in detention centres are often ignored, among other concerns.
The Taliban authorities also have introduced the use of cruel and undignified punishments such as stoning, flogging and burying under a wall in contravention of international human rights standards, they said, adding that “the concept of a “reformed” Taliban has been exposed as mistaken.”
The rights experts called for the Taliban to immediately reverse the treatment of women and girls, including allowing them to enjoy all human rights such as the rights to freedom of movement, participation in political and public life, and access to education.
The experts also highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, which is occurring amid an economic downturn, with an estimated 16 million children not receiving basic food or healthcare. The situation is driving harmful practices such as child marriage, abuse, exploitation, and even the sale of children and body organs.
Nearly 30 million Afghans require assistance, an all-time high. However, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, recently reported that a $3.2 billion plan to support them faces a “critical funding gap” of $1.3 billion.
The experts feared that the consequences could include discontinuation of community-based classes, reduced food assistance, and closure of health facilities.
The experts called for the international community “to commit to the people of Afghanistan with renewed vigour and increased unity”, if the situation is to change.
They urged decisive action that includes “ensuring political engagement with all Afghan interlocutors manifests a human rights centered and gender integrated approach”, bridging the humanitarian funding gap, and finding ways to provide aid that reaches the Afghan people directly.
