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WORLD NEWS Thursday 21 July 2022

U.N. slams killings, rights abuses under Afghanistan’s Taliban

By RAHIM FAIEZ
Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Hun-
dreds of people have
been killed in Afghanistan
since the Taliban overran
the country nearly a year
ago, even though security
on the whole has improved
since then, the United
Nations said in a report
Wednesday.
The United Nations Assis-
tance Mission in Afghani-
stan also highlighted the
poor situation of women
and girls since the Taliban
takeover and how they
have been stripped of
many of their human rights
under Afghanistan’s cur-
rent rulers.
“It is beyond time for all
Afghans to be able to Human Rights Chief within the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, Fiona Frazer,
live in peace and rebuild speaks during a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, July 20, 2022.
their lives after 20 years of Associated Press
armed conflict. Our moni-
toring reveals that despite
the improved security situ- sembly, freedom of expres- The U.N. also said an am- The U.N. report added that
ation since 15 August, the sion and freedom of opin- nesty for former govern- the erosion of women’s
people of Afghanistan, in ion. They have limited dis- ment officials the Taliban rights has been one of the
particular women and girls, sent by cracking down on announced last year has most notable aspects of
are deprived of the full en- protests and curbing me- not been consistently up- the de facto administra-
joyment of their human dia freedoms, including by held. Frazer said the U.N. tion to date. Since August,
rights,” said Markus Potzel, arbitrarily arresting journal- recorded 160 extrajudicial women and girls have pro-
deputy special representa- ists, protestors and civil soci- killings and 178 arrests of gressively had their rights to
tive of the Secretary-Gen- ety activists and issuing re- former government and fully participate in educa-
eral for Afghanistan. strictions on media outlets. military officials. tion, the workplace and
The report said as many The report catalogued hu- The report said human other aspects of public
as 700 people have been man rights violations affect- rights violations must be in- and daily life restricted and
killed and 1,400 wounded ing 173 journalists and me- vestigated by the authori- in many cases completely
since mid-August 2021, dia workers, 163 of which ties, perpetrators held ac- taken away.
when the Taliban over- were attributed to the de countable, and incidents The decision not to allow
ran the Afghan capital of facto authorities. Among should be prevented from girls to return to secondary
Kabul as the United States these were 122 instances reoccurring in the future. school means that a gen-
and NATO were in the final of arbitrary arrest and de- Taliban spokesman Zabi- eration of girls will not com-
weeks of their withdrawal tention, 58 instances of ill- hullah Mujahid called the plete their full 12 years of
from the country. treatment, 33 instances of U.N. report “baseless and basic education, the U.N.
The majority of those casu- threats and intimidation propaganda” and its find- said.
alties were linked to attacks and 12 instances of incom- ings “not true.” “The education and partic-
by the Islamic State group’s municado detention. Arbitrary arrests and kill- ipation of women and girls
affiliate in the country, a Six journalists were also ings are not allowed in in public life is fundamental
bitter rival of the Taliban killed since August, 2021, the country and if anyone to any modern society. The
which has targeted ethnic including five by self-iden- commits such crimes, they relegation of women and
and religious minority com- tified Islamic State affiliates will be considered guilty girls to the home denies
munities in places where and one by unknown per- and face legal action, he Afghanistan the benefit of
they go to school, worship petrators. added. the significant contributions
and go about their daily The right to the freedoms After their takeover last they have to offer. Educa-
lives. of peaceful assembly, ex- year, the Taliban quickly tion for all is not only a basic
Afghanistan has seen per- pression and opinion are started enforcing a sharply human right, it is the key to
sistent bombings and other “necessary for the devel- tougher line, harking back progress and development
attacks on civilians, often opment and progression of to similar radical measures of a nation,” said Potzel,
targeting the mainly Shiite a nation,” said Fiona Frazer, when the Taliban last ruled the U.N. envoy.
Muslim ethnic Hazara mi- the U.N.’s human rights rep- the country, from 1996 to During the previous Taliban
nority. Most of the attacks resentative in Afghanistan. 2001. rule in Afghanistan, they
have been claimed by the “They allow meaningful de- They issued edicts requiring subjected women to over-
Islamic State group’s affili- bate to flourish, also ben- women to cover their faces whelming restrictions, ban-
ate in the country. efiting those who govern except for their eyes in pub- ning them from education
The report added that the by allowing them to better lic, including women pre- and participation in public
Taliban have made clear understand the issues and senters on TV, and banned life and requiring them to
their position on the rights problems facing the popu- girls from attending school wear the all-encompassing
to freedom of peaceful as- lation,” she added. past the sixth grade. burqa.q