KABUL (Khaama Press): Rina Amiri, the US Special Representative for Afghan Women, has expressed deep concern over the severe human rights violations taking place in Afghanistan, labeling them as some of the most egregious violations of human rights in the country.
Ms. Amiri wrote in her social media platform X, that the United States has imposed sanctions on two officials from the Taliban administration in connection with their involvement in women’s rights violations.
She emphasized that “The Taliban’s discriminatory edicts targeting women & girls are some of the most heinous human rights abuses in the world.”
She added that “Today, the US has issued sanctions related to restricting access to secondary education on Khalid Hanafi & Fariduddin Mahmoud. We must continue to hold accountable those involved in repressing the women & girls of Afghanistan.”
In another note released on the occasion of Human Rights Day on December 10th, the US Special Representative stated, “I once again call on the Taliban to release Zhulia Parsi, Manizha Sadat, Neda Parwani, Parisa Azada, and all human rights defenders who have been detained solely for their courageous defense of the rights of the Afghan people.”
Women’s rights activists point out that Human Rights Day is being commemorated at a time when women and girls in Afghanistan have been deprived of their most fundamental rights, and this tragedy has been systematically enforced with such intensity over the past two years that there is little hope for improvement in the remaining circumstances.
One of the women protesters who is living in hiding in Kabul due to increasing threats spoke to Khaama Press: “For two years, I stood alongside those who demanded their rights and tried to defend my own human rights as someone who breathes and has a right to live, but I have only faced isolation in this path.”
According to her, securing women’s rights has no economic benefit for the global community or regional countries, and human rights organizations also lack the practical ability to take action.
This protesting woman is concerned about her friends who are imprisoned by the Taliban administration: “My friends are suffering in Taliban prisons, and no one knows what they are experiencing there. It is heartbreaking because no country is helping in this regard, and no institution has the capability to do so.”
The grassroots women’s protest movement in Afghanistan has issued a statement regarding the “severe torture of women protesters” in the prisons of the Taliban administration. They stated that three members of this movement, who have been in prison for almost a month, have been subjected to severe psychological, mental, and physical torture.
According to this movement, none of the individuals or legal entities, from international organizations to Richard Bennet (the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan), who are responsible for investigating such cases, have taken effective and practical steps to secure the freedom of these women protesters.
Most heinous HR violations occurring in Afghanistan: Rina
