Taliban ‘dismantling’ HRs: Amnesty international

KABUL (Tolo News): Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) said that the Taliban has taken steps to steadily dismantle the human rights gains of the last twenty years.
The report said that contrary to the Taliban’s stated commitments to respect the rights of Afghans, they have steadily abused human rights including placing restrictions on women, freedom of expression, civil society, women rights activists, and girls’ education. The report referred to attacks on human rights advocates, saying the Taliban are conducting door-to-door searches for human rights defenders.
“In just over five weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human rights. We have already seen a wave of violations, from reprisal attacks and restrictions on women, to crackdowns on protests, the media and civil society,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for South Asia. Zarqa Yaftali, a women’s rights activist, said: “Right now, Afghan women do not have access to education and work. The women do not have the right to participate in politics, and this reveals the humanitarian crisis in the country.”
At the same time, the Taliban continues to state that they will respect human rights based on Islamic sharia. Political analysts, however, say that the Taliban should interact with international countries.
Sayed Hakim Kamal, a political analyst, said: “If the Taliban violates human rights, they will stand against Western countries and their fundamental values, and this may cause Western countries to not recognize them officially.” The concerns over abusing human rights come as Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in a statement said the commission has not been able to fulfil its duties since the previous government collapsed last month.