Agencies-Gaza post
UN condemns killings, violations of rights under Afghan Taliban
The United Nations said in a report on July 20 that hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country about a year ago, although the overall security situation has improved since then.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also emphasized the dire situation of women and girls since the Taliban seized power and how they have been stripped of many of their human rights under Afghanistan’s current rulers.
It is too late for all Afghans to be able to live in peace and rebuild their lives after 20 years of armed conflict. Our monitoring reveals that although the security situation has improved since August 15, the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, are being denied the full enjoyment of their human rights, said Marcus Putzel, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan. .
The UN report stated that up to 700 people have been killed and 1,400 wounded since mid-August 2021, when the Taliban overran the Afghan capital, Kabul while the United States and NATO were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the country.
The majority of these injuries have been linked to attacks by the country’s Islamic State affiliate, a staunch rival of the Taliban that has targeted ethnic and religious minorities in places where they go to school, worship and go about their daily lives.
Afghanistan has seen incessant bombing and other attacks on civilians, often targeting the Hazara ethnic Shiite minority. Most of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State branch in the country.
After seizing power, the Taliban soon began implementing a tougher approach, returning to similar drastic measures when the Taliban last ruled the country, from 1996 to 2001.
They reported fatwas requiring women to cover their faces except for their eyes in public, including for television presenters, and forbidding girls from attending school after sixth grade.
The UN report added that the erosion of women’s rights has been one of the most prominent aspects of de facto administration to date. Since August, women and girls have gradually been given their rights to fully participate in education, the workplace and other aspects of public and daily life, and in many cases they have been completely excluded.
The United Nations said that the decision not to allow girls to return to secondary school means that a generation of girls will not complete 12 years of basic education.
“Education of women and girls and their participation in public life is fundamental to any modern society. Removing women and girls from home deprives Afghanistan of benefiting from the significant contributions they must make. Education for all is not only a basic human right,” UN Envoy Mr. Potzel said. It is the key to the progress and development of the nation.”
During the last Taliban rule in Afghanistan, they subjected women to crushing restrictions, prevented them from education and participation in public life, and required them to wear the all-encompassing burqa.
