“The human rights situation remains deeply concerning,” said UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, during his briefing to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, October 26. “The country continues to face a human rights and humanitarian crisis and the people of Afghanistan continue to suffer.”
In front of diplomats from around the world, he condemned the Taliban for closing girls’ secondary schools, noting that “in no other country are girls denied the right to secondary school education.” He also raised the “deeply troubling” issues most pressing to ethnic and religious minorities: violent attacks and marginalization.
At a press conference held after his report, Bennett talked of the “huge regression in the rights of women and girls,” saying that “the reversal is probably unprecedented in history.” He called it a “huge setback,” noting that “secondary schools for girls have been closed now for 401 days.”
Even if the situation facing women and girls wasn’t catastrophic, “there would still be serious concerns about the human rights situation in Afghanistan; for minorities, in relation to civic space, and for freedom of media,” Bennett said, “There is a humanitarian crisis. There is long standing impunity and lack of accountability.”
In particular, he talked about the lack of media coverage outside of Afghanistan regarding the terrorist attack on the Kaaj education centre in Kabul that killed 54. Of those who died, 51 were young Hazara women. “This is an intersectional issue: it was an attack on an ethnic group, a religious minority, an attack on education, and it was [directed] largely at young women,” he said at the press conference.
“There has been a pattern of discrimination as well as direct attacks, on different minorities on Hazara Shia, on Sufis, on Sikhs, and Hindus,” he explained. “It certainly goes beyond a non-inclusive government. There have been numerous attacks on schools, hospitals, mosques, public buses, that are based around ethnicity and religion.”
He also pointed out that Afghan media is often prevented by the Taliban from reaching areas where demonstrations or attacks are occurring. For example, he noted that it’s “very difficult for journalists to go in and out” of Panjshir province, where demonstrations have been violently repressed and where armed resistance to the Taliban is based.
“I have talked with witnesses,” he said. “It seems to me there is a serious cause for concern about egregious violations of human rights and violations of international law, including extrajudicial executions of fighters out of combat, that have been captured already. And also suppression of the population from going about its normal life.” Bennett continued, “There are multiple reports of disappearances, and executions, as well as of people fleeing the country.”
