ALBAWABA - A new UN report revealed that following Taliban's rise to power in 2021, the country witnessed a rise in human rights violations, from preventing women and young girls from practicing their basic rights to arbitrary arrests and detentions.
The report mentions at least 800 cases of extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest, torture, and forced disappearance involving former Afghan government affiliates and security personnel.
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban's government spokesperson, said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter): "The recent report of the UN representative in Afghanistan, which says that more than 800 people of the previous administration were killed and tortured by the forces of the Islamic Emirate, is not true and far from reality".
“Unfortunately, instead of understanding the realities of Afghanistan and seeing positive developments, some organizations within the United Nations always seek negative aspects and spread propaganda which, indeed, damage their credibility,” Mujahid added.
Taliban's violations in Afghanistan
In its first report since Afghanistan's defacto rulers took power, The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented hundreds of human rights violation cases detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances.
UNAMA recorded almost half of all extrajudicial killings of former government officials and Afghan security forces during the first four months of Taliban rule. But violations continued in 2022, with 70 extrajudicial killings recorded, AlJazeera reported.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, released a statement following the UNAMA report reading: "UNAMA’s report presents a sobering picture of the treatment of individuals affiliated with the former government and security forces of Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country,".
"Even more so, given they were assured that they would be not targeted, it is a betrayal of the people’s trust," Turk added.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, also said that the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated drastically in the two years since the Taliban took control of the country.
Afghan Witnesses Initiative report
Afghan Witnesses Initiative has released a new report on crimes and human rights violations committed by Taliban. The report saw an alarming rise in murder, torture, and arbitrary arrest against women.
56 verdicts issued by the Taliban Supreme Court also trusted executing more than 350 people, with this type of revenge being linked primarily to alleged "ethical" crimes, such as "adultery, homosexuality, and entering into illicit relationships".
