Taliban presiding over extensive rights abuses in Afghanistan, says UN
Taliban authorities have presided over widespread human rights abuses since they took control of Afghanistan last August, the UN said, including 160 killings of former government officials and members of the security forces, and dozens of cases of torture, arbitrary arrests and inhumane punishments.
A UN report, released on the day an Australian journalist said she had been detained in Kabul and forced to tweet a retraction of her reporting, also detailed a broad assault on the press. In total 173 media workers were affected by abuses including detention, threats, ill-treatment and assault.
“[The United Nations] has documented persistent allegations of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture and ill-treatment carried out by the de facto authorities,” found the report, titled Human Rights in Afghanistan.
“De facto authorities” refers to the Taliban government that has not been recognised by any member of the international community nearly a year after taking control.
The UN said it was “concerned about the impunity” with which Taliban members appear to have carried out human rights violations. A sweeping crackdown on critics, targeting media, protesters and civil society activists has exacerbated the problem.
“The human rights situation has been compounded by the measures taken by the de facto authorities to stifle debate, curb dissent and limit the fundamental rights and freedoms of Afghans,” the report found.
Though civilian casualties fell sharply when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and fighting has stopped in most of the country, the new government was not able to guarantee security for its citizens, particularly religious and ethnic minorities.
Armed conflict killed 700 civilians and injured more than 1,400 between 15 August 2021 and June this year, the UN found. Most died in suicide attacks by Islamic State fighters, and from unexploded weapon remnants left behind when fighting ended in much of the country.
Between 1 January and 14 August 2021, in the final months of intense battle, more than 2,000 civilians were killed and more than 5,300 injured.
The UN also highlighted inhuman punishments and killings of Afghans accused of so-called moral crimes including sex outside marriage.
A Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, criticised the report as “propaganda” and said the incidents documented were not true. “There is no arbitrarily kill or arrest in the country. If someone kills or arrests arbitrarily, the one is considered criminal and will face the sharia law,” he said in a statement on Twitter.
The UN, which required three independent sources on a human rights abuse to include it in the report, detailed some cases where the Taliban had arrested individuals accused of human rights abuses. The UN also “appreciated the level of engagement to date” from Taliban authorities.