The United Nations said that women and girls are being gradually excluded from public life in Afghanistan.
In a briefing to the Security Council today, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Head of the Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Roza Otunbayeva noted that the lack of progress in addressing human rights issues is a key factor in the current standoff between Afghanistan and the international community.
Otunbayeva told delegates that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is problematic, including systemic discrimination against women and girls, the suppression of political dissent and freedom of expression, the lack of meaningful representation of minorities, and the continuing incidents of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment.
She stressed the need for greater engagement with the Taliban de facto authorities, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
"To have a place at the UN, the Taliban must accept and work to uphold the international norms and standards set out in the UN treaties that Afghanistan has ratified, which are non-negotiable conditions," she said. ”
The impasse is hard to break
Otunbayeva welcomed an independent assessment of the challenges in Afghanistan, which was mandated by the United Nations in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Security Council in March this year.
Overall, she said, the Taliban's response to the assessment showed that they preferred bilateral solutions over multilateral solutions, and that the Taliban continued to insist that the ban on girls' education and women's employment was an internal matter, but that the ban violated existing treaty obligations.
She feared that that would only perpetuate the impasse that the report was trying to break.
联合国图片/Manuel Elias
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Head of the Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Otunbayeva briefed the Security Council on 20 December.
Dialogue and engagement
Otunbayeva believes that any future approach must be guided by two factors, namely, a lasting and more concrete international consensus on Afghanistan and a better use of the willingness of the de facto authorities to engage in dialogue with members of the international community.
"Dialogue doesn't mean approval," she said. It can be used to voice opposition, but it can also encourage change.
"We've often said that we need to learn from our engagement [with the Taliban] since August 2021. One of the lessons, I think, is that this kind of engagement is not enough. There must be more direct contacts with the de facto authorities, including in Kabul. ”
Regional security concerns
Otunbayeva also briefed the Council on the latest developments related to other issues related to security in Afghanistan and the region, humanitarian affairs and education.
She noted that, while unexploded ordnance remained a serious problem, especially for children, the de facto authorities continued to maintain an generally good level of security in Afghanistan.
She said the Shia community is still at disproportionate risk of harm. In recent months, three attacks have killed a total of 39 Shiite members, all of which the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL-Khorasan Province) has claimed. In addition, nine more people were killed in three other targeted attacks in Herat against Shiite clerics.
At the same time, countries in the region are concerned about more potential threats emanating from Afghanistan. Otunbayeva stressed that this is especially true in Pakistan, which believes that the de facto authorities in Afghanistan have done too little to contain the "Pakistani Taliban movement", which claims responsibility for the recent major terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Deportation Orders in Pakistan
Last month, Pakistan began deporting undocumented Afghans living in the country, and nearly 500,000 people have now returned to Afghanistan. Otunbayeva noted that the expulsion order led to a further deterioration in relations between the two neighboring countries.
Afghans have reportedly been subjected to arbitrary arrests, detentions and deportations in Pakistan, and these incidents continue to increase significantly. Many Afghans have no choice but to pack up and leave Pakistan.
"These returnees are the poorest group," she said. Of those, 80,000 are homeless and nowhere to go in Afghanistan. The human rights consequences faced by women and girls who are forced to return are particularly severe. ”
© 粮食署/Rana Deraz
A truck carrying the boy's and his family's belongings is waiting to be returned to Afghanistan.
The quality of education has declined
She also stressed that the quality of education in Afghanistan is a growing concern. While the international community has rightly focused on calling on the Taliban to lift the ban on girls' education, boys have also been adversely affected by declining levels of education and reduced access to education.
She noted that, despite the growing anecdotal evidence received by UNAMA staff that girls of all ages could attend the madrasas of Madrazar, which disseminated Islamic teachings, it was not entirely clear what the specifics of those schools were, such as the specific composition Xi of the schools, whether the schools taught a standardized curriculum that included modern educational subjects, and the number of girls who were able to attend such schools.
Otunbayeva said that the Ministry of Education of the de facto authorities is reportedly conducting an evaluation of these madrasahs, as well as a review of the curriculum of public schools. Education authorities also reported that they were working to create conditions so that girls could return to the classroom.
"But time is ticking, and this generation of girls is falling behind," she warned. The economic self-sufficiency agenda planned by the de facto authorities cannot be achieved without sufficiently modern curricula and ensuring equal access to education for girls and boys. ”
Otunbayeva also noted that counter-narcotics is another area of cooperation. Following the imposition of a drug ban in April 2022, the de facto authorities in Afghanistan have succeeded in reducing opium poppy cultivation by 95 per cent, thereby addressing a long-standing international concern.
OCCHA: The humanitarian crisis is intensifying
Meanwhile, Ramesh Rajasingham, head of the Coordination Office of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said Afghanistan remains one of the countries with the highest humanitarian needs in the world, with more than 29 million people in need of assistance this year. That's a million more people than in January and 340% more than five years ago.
As a result of three major earthquakes in Afghanistan's Herat province in October, thousands of families are now living in tents and makeshift shelters. And the sudden arrival of Pakistani returnees could have far-reaching consequences.
"The urgent needs of Afghan women and girls are increasing in tandem with more repressive measures by the de facto authorities in Afghanistan," Rajasingam said. ”
He noted that while no new bans or restrictions have been imposed on women working in local and international aid organizations or the United Nations in recent months, there are still other ways to limit their influence and participation in their work, including written requests to remove them from leadership positions.
"Nevertheless, we continue to have a level of practical cooperation with the de facto authorities on the ground, which has enabled Afghan women to participate in humanitarian operations," he said. In addition, a number of humanitarian projects that were initially suspended because of the ban have now resumed and expanded their operations. ”