The Taliban rejected a United Nations report highlighting rights violations and freedom restrictions since the group’s takeover in August 2021, reassuring that Afghan women are safe and face “no threat”
Taking to Twitter, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid declared, “No Afghan woman is killed in wars or raids, nor does she lose her relatives, now, no one dishonours Afghan women, no Afghan woman’s children are innocently in prisons.”
Mujahid claimed that women are now working in education, public health, passport offices, airports, police, media, banks, and other essential fields.
While he acknowledged that some women have been disincentivised from attending jobs due to an “unfavourable working environment,” he reassured that they are still receiving their salaries. Further, he said that women engaged in begging have been “collected from the streets and given reasonable wages.”
The spokesperson added the Taliban has reopened 181 public and private universities to both men and women.
in short, Afghans live peacefully and now they are far from war, insecurity, killings and troubles.
— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) September 12, 2022
Despite the oppressive rules, freezing assets and banking problems, government entities are working hard for economic prosperity of the country and well-being of the nation. 6/13
He also pushed back against allegations of minorities being discriminated against, saying their rights are “protected” and that nobody has been “killed, arrested, charged, or prevented from worshiping.” He claimed that the Taliban has in fact prevented “hundreds” of such attacks.
He further revealed that former employees of Western countries who had “raised guns against their countrymen” have also been given “public amnesty.”
To this end, Mujahid underscored that Afghans are now “living peacefully” and “far from war, insecurity, killings, and troubles.” He dismissed the report as “biased” and “far from reality,” saying it was both “irresponsible and controversial.”
Mujahid argued that the report had failed to highlight or praise the achievements of the Taliban, which was evidence that the organisation is being “misused” to publish “wrong information,” which would “damage the reputation” of the UN. In this regard, he urged the institution to “respect the opinions and beliefs of people from all over the world and not take a position equal to the mood of certain countries.”
Advance version of my initial report to the #HumanRightsCouncil has been uploaded here: https://t.co/fgiAKxjFYg
— UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett (@SR_Afghanistan) September 8, 2022
I will present it to the Council on 12 Sept. Dari & Pashto versions will be available soon.
The statement comes in response to a report by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett published on September 9. In the document, Bennett lamented the “staggering regression” in women’s civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, which he said has caused them to “disappear from all spheres of public life.”
The report asserted that the Taliban has reversed any progress Afghanistan had made over the past two decades, particularly with regard to women’s right to education, health, and participation in public affairs.
It rejected the Taliban’s claims about girls’ education, noting that girls’ secondary schools are closed in 24 of 34 provinces, effectively barring 850,000 girls from attending school.
In particular, Bennett raised concern about the deterioration of women’s rights, such as mandating the hijab, urging them to stay home “unless necessary,” restricting their ability to travel, and revoking their professional licenses and qualifications. The report quoted an Afghan woman saying, “The Taliban have affected even our normal, educated men, and changed their minds and behaviour.”
“Amnesty International emphasizes that the findings in the Special Rapporteur’s report… must serve as enough evidence to the Human Rights Council ⁰to start time bound plans of actions ⁰to pressurize the Taliban for an immediate ⁰end of the human rights abuses and violations.” https://t.co/9Mur18nB6v
— Amnesty International South Asia (@amnestysasia) September 12, 2022
Apart from the deterioration in the right to education, the special rapporteur highlighted that children’s rights organisations had reported a “sharp increase” in child marriage, which they said is a consequence of the combined impact of the deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation and the erosion of gender rights.
He highlighted that violence against women is also rising, attributing this in part to a decree that bars women from travelling without a male relative, which has made it more challenging for victims to escape abusive situations. Moreover, the representation of women in the justice sector has severely decreased.
The report describes “staggering regression in women and girls’ enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.” It notes that “in no other country have women and girls so rapidly disappeared from all spheres of public life.”https://t.co/h4AyMf1qu8
— John Sifton (@johnsifton) September 7, 2022
Bennett also raised alarm about surging poverty and food insecurity in the country, which has been aggravated by “drought, rising commodity prices, reduced incomes, supply chain disruptions, decreased supplies caused by conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, and insufficient donor support.”
The report also took aim at Western sanctions for severely debilitating a country that has historically depended on foreign aid for over 80% of its budget. The West has blocked over $9 billion in foreign reserves and said it will only consider removing sanctions if the Taliban commits to improving human rights and ensuring that Afghan soil is not used by terrorists.
Benett noted that these punitive measures have sent Afghanistan’s healthcare system into a “precarious state.”
The report also raised concern about the ongoing conflict between the Taliban forces and the National Resistance Front in the Panjshir Valley. The special rapporteur highlighted reports providing evidence of “arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial killings and torture.”
Furthermore, he reported that even though the Taliban had announced “general amnesty” for previous armed forces members and other officials, the implementation was flawed.
Bennett also took aim at the Taliban for dismantling several critical government departments and organisations, such as the Human Rights Commission, the High Council for National Reconciliation, the Independent Election Commission, and the ministries of peace, parliamentary affairs, and women’s affairs.
Apart from these issues, he also touched on issues such as detention and treatment of prisoners, ethnic and religious minority rights, and the deterioration of fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and access to justice.