Afghanistan: Humanitarian crisis threatens basic human rights

Briefing the UN Human Rights Council, Nada Al-Nashif detailed how the profound humanitarian situation successful Afghanistan is threatening basal rights, with women, girls, and civilian nine among those most affected. 

Dignity oregon deprivation 

“How the de facto authorities – indeed, and the planetary community - address the drastic economical and humanitarian crises successful the state volition find Afghans’ enjoyment of quality rights, present and into the future,” she said. 

“They volition people the quality betwixt imaginable lives of dignity and well-being – oregon accelerating deprivation, injustice and tragic nonaccomplishment of life.” 

Staff from the UN quality rights office, OHCHR, stay connected the crushed in Afghanistan, wherever the system is largely paralysed and poverty and hunger are rising.   

Ms. Al-Nashif said that as Afghans struggle to conscionable basal needs, they are being pushed to instrumentality hopeless measures, including child labour and kid marriage. News reports person besides surfaced of children being sold. 

A substance of beingness and death 

The situation is further compounded by the interaction of sanctions and the freezing of State assets.   

“The hard argumentation choices that Member States marque astatine this captious juncture, to avert economical collapse, are virtually beingness and death. They volition specify Afghanistan’s pathway into the future,” she said. 

Ms. Al-Nashif reported that though warring has receded since August, erstwhile the Taliban took over, Afghan civilians stay astatine hazard of struggle arsenic the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) and other armed groups are inactive carrying retired lethal attacks. 

Extrajudicial killings 

Despite a wide amnesty by the Taliban, announced successful August, her bureau has received “credible allegations” of much than 100 killings of erstwhile Afghan nationalist information forces and others associated with the erstwhile Government.   

At slightest 72 killings were attributed to the Taliban, and successful respective cases the bodies were publically displayed. 

“In Nangarhar state alone, determination besides appears to beryllium a signifier of astatine slightest 50 extra-judicial killings of individuals suspected to beryllium members of the ISIL-KP. Brutal methods of killings, including hanging, beheadings, and nationalist show of corpses person been reported,” she added. 

Concern for women and children 

Ms. Al-Nashif was besides profoundly acrophobic implicit the continued hazard of kid recruitment, peculiarly boys, by some ISIL-KP and the de facto authorities.  Children besides proceed to comprise the bulk of civilians killed and injured by unexploded ordnance. 

Meanwhile, women and girls look large uncertainty erstwhile it comes to respecting their rights to education, livelihoods and participation. Some 4.2 million young Afghans are already retired of school, 60 per cent of them girls.   

There has besides been a diminution successful girls’ secondary schoolhouse attendance, adjacent successful provinces wherever the de facto authorities person permitted them to be school.  This is mostly owed to the lack of women teachers, since successful immoderate locations girls are lone allowed to beryllium taught by women. 

Unanswered questions 

Although a 3 December decree connected women’s rights was “an important signal”, Ms. Nashif said it leaves galore questions unanswered.  

“For example, it does not marque wide a minimum property for marriage, nor notation to immoderate wider women and girls' rights to education, to work, to state of movement, or to enactment successful nationalist life,” she said. 

Furthermore, women are largely prohibited from working, but for immoderate teachers, health workers and NGO staff.  They besides cannot take products to market since local de facto authorities’ have closed women-operated bazaars.  

“Many Afghan women and girls present person to beryllium accompanied by a antheral comparative whenever they permission their residence. These are strictly enforced successful immoderate places, but not all,” Ms. Al-Nashif told the Council. 

She warned that UN partners estimation that restricting women from moving volition lend to an contiguous economical nonaccomplishment of up to $1 billion. 

Civil nine nether attack 

Afghan civilian nine has besides travel nether attack.  Since August, astatine slightest 8 activists and 2 journalists person been killed, and others injured, by unidentified equipped men. 

The UN ngo successful the country, UNAMA, has documented astir 60 apparently arbitrary detentions, beatings, and threats of activists, journalists, and unit of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, attributed to the de facto authorities.   

Several women's rights defenders have also been threatened, and determination is wide fearfulness of reprisals since a violent crackdown connected women's peaceful protests successful September. Many media outlets have shuttered, arsenic have numerous civilian nine groups.  

Justice connected lockdown 

Furthermore, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has been incapable to run since August, while the Afghanistan Independent Bar Association faces a nonaccomplishment of independency arsenic the de facto authorities now administer its activities nether the de facto Ministry of Justice.   

“The information of Afghan judges, prosecutors, and lawyers – peculiarly women ineligible professionals – is simply a substance for peculiar alarm,” Ms. Al-Nashif added. “Many are presently successful hiding for fearfulness of retribution, including from convicted prisoners who were freed by the de facto authorities, notably men convicted of gender-based violence.” 

Ms. Al-Nashif stressed that upholding quality rights is captious for Afghanistan to determination forward. 

“The de facto authorities’ respect for and extortion of cardinal rights and freedoms of each persons successful Afghanistan, without discrimination, is integral to ensuring stability. Failure to uphold quality rights volition inevitably pb to further turmoil and unrest, and volition hold back Afghanistan’s development,” she said. 

“Moreover, arsenic a subordinate of the planetary community, Afghanistan is bound by the existing planetary obligations of the treaties it has ratified. Obligations nether these treaties stay successful place, careless of the peculiar authorities exercising effectual power.” 

“Avalanche of hunger and destitution”: WFP 

The disintegrating Afghan system is making it hard for radical to get capable to eat, the World Food Programme (WFP) said connected Tuesday. 

The UN bureau urgently needs $220 cardinal a period successful 2022 arsenic it ramps up operations to supply nutrient and currency assistance to much than 23 cardinal Afghans facing terrible hunger. 

WFP has assisted 15 cardinal radical crossed each 34 provinces successful the state truthful acold this year, reaching immoderate 7 cardinal successful November alone, up from 4 cardinal successful September. 

“Afghanistan is facing an avalanche of hunger and destitution the likes of which I person ne'er seen successful my 20 positive years with the World Food Programme,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the agency’s Country Director there. 

Desperate measures 

WFP’s latest phone survey recovered an estimated 98 per cent of Afghans are not consuming capable food, a worrisome 17 per cent summation since August. 

Families are hardly coping, the bureau said, and are resorting to hopeless measures with the onset of winter, with 8 successful 10 eating less, and 7 successful 10 borrowing nutrient conscionable to get by.