By Banafsha Binesh in TOLOnews Online, June 19, 2023 at 9:05 PM
The participants of the “1st Meeting – 53rd Regular Session of the Human Rights Council,” in Geneva expressed concerns about the human rights situation in Afghanistan.
The UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur for Afghan human rights, Richard Bennett, told the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva that the Afghan “de facto authorities must be required to comply with the international human rights obligation.”
Bennett, who was presenting his report about the situation of human rights including the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, called on the Afghan interim government to form an inclusive government.
“The de facto authorities must be required to comply with the international human rights obligations. Rescind all the discriminatory edicts and restore the rule of law, including legal protections for women, especially those focused on ending violence against women and girls and prosecuting perpetrators,” he said. “They must establish an inclusive government and respect the rich diversity of Afghanistan’s people.”
The US envoy for Afghanistan’s human rights and women, Rina Amiri, who was also speaking to the council, said that “respect for human rights and women’s inclusion at levels of society is important to addressing the welfare of Afghans and integral to economically viable, stable and secure Afghanistan.”
Qatar’s envoy to the UN office in Geneva, Hend Al-Muftah, told the meeting that her country has expressed its deep concern regarding the suspension of female students in secondary school and the prevention of Afghan women from working at NGOs.
The UN Rapporteur for Afghan human rights said in its report that “in its resolution 51/20, the Human Rights Council requested the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls to prepare a joint report on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.”
The Islamic Emirate has yet to comment regarding the concerns of the participants of the UN Human Rights meeting in Geneva.
However, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid on Friday called Bennet’s report unjust and baseless, saying that the cultural and Islamic values of Afghanistan have been neglected in this report.
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-183841
