UN flags human rights violations in Afghanistan after Taliban takeover

Kabul, Jul 20 (EFE).- The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday highlighted the deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan, especially for women and girls, after the Taliban took over the country last year.

“Our monitoring reveals that despite the improved security situation since 15 August, the people of Afghanistan, in particular women and girls, are deprived of the full enjoyment of their human rights,” Markus Potzel, UNAMA’s special representative for Afghanistan, said in a report.

“The relegation of women and girls to the home denies Afghanistan the benefit of the significant contributions they have to offer,” along with depriving them of the right to secondary education, which has been banned for girls in the country by the Islamists, Potzel added.

As per the report, around 700 civilians were killed and 1,406 injured in attacks mainly carried out by the Islamic State against ethnic and religious minorities since the Taliban seized power.

The UN also expressed concern over the impunity offered to Taliban fighters in cases of human rights violations, such as “extrajudicial killings of individuals accused of affiliation with armed groups, as well as cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments and extrajudicial killings of individuals accused of moral crimes.”

Moreover, it said that the amnesty promised to officials of the previous government had not been respected consistently, as the Taliban had carried out 160 extrajudicial killings.

“The human rights violations must be investigated by the de facto authorities, perpetrators held accountable, and ultimately, incidents should be prevented from reoccurring in the future,” the report demanded.

The UNAMA accused the all-powerful ministry of propagation of virtue and prevention of vice of imposing measures to “limit the human rights and freedoms of Afghans, in particular women and girls.”

While as part of a crackdown on media, within the past 10 months there had been “122 instances of arbitrary arrest and detention” of journalists along with “58 instances of ill-treatment, 33 instances of threats and intimidation and 12 instances of incommunicado detention.”

“The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom of opinion are not only fundamental freedoms, but they are also necessary for the development and progression of a nation,” stressed Fiona Frazer, UNAMA Chief of Human Rights.

She said that human rights in Afghanistan were further under threat due to the worsening economic and humanitarian crisis, with at least 59 percent population in need of humanitarian assistance, six million more than early 2021.

“The international community has an obligation to ensure that sanctions, while they remain in place, do not have a negative impact on human rights,” Frazer said. EFE

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