KABUL (Khaama Press): A group of United Nations experts has expressed concerns about the detention of women and girls in Afghanistan and called for an immediate halt to this practice.
In a statement released on Friday, the experts urged the Taliban to stop arbitrarily depriving women and girls of their freedom and to release detained individuals promptly.
These UN experts, including Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, also called on the Taliban officials to adhere to Afghanistan’s international commitments regarding human rights, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
The statement from the UN experts highlights that detained women and girls in Taliban detention centres receive only one meal a day, and some of them have been subjected to physical violence, threats, and intimidation. The statement also condemns the practice of assigning the responsibility for women’s clothing to men, as it violates women’s agency, perpetuates gender discrimination, and diminishes their role in society.
Recently, the Taliban detained several girls on the pretext of “immodesty” in Kabul and other Afghan cities, including Daikundi, Bamyan, and Balkh. According to reports, these detained girls were released after their families provided guarantees.
Simultaneously, Amnesty International has called on the Taliban to immediately release two education activists who were detained in October last year. The organization wrote a letter to the Taliban’s intelligence agency, stating that the charges against Ahmad Fahim Ahmadi and Sadeghullah Afghan were fabricated, alleging their involvement in assisting the escape of the Afghan girls’ robotics team from Afghanistan and organizing protests.
Amnesty International also noted that both activists and their families have denied these allegations. The organization criticized the unfair trial of Fahim Ahmadi and Sadeghullah Afghan in December and their subsequent imprisonment in Pul-e-Charkhi prison.
Amnesty International regards the detention of these education activists as an attack on freedom of expression, civil rights, and political rights. They have called on the head of the Taliban’s intelligence agency to cease activities such as abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, and other misconduct against the people.
UN Experts call for an end to girls’ detentions in Afghanistan
