Respect for women’s rights by the Taliban in Afghanistan, in particular access to quality education, is a “red line”, warned the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, this Tuesday.
Speaking at the opening of a special meeting of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on Afghanistan, Michelle Bachelet called on the Taliban to honor their promises on women’s rights. “A fundamental red line will be how the Taliban treat women and girls and respect their rights to liberty, freedom of movement, education, self-expression and employment, in accordance with standards international human rights issues, ”said the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
An “inclusive” government
“In particular, ensuring access to quality secondary education for girls will be an essential indicator of the Taliban’s commitment” to human rights, she added, calling for the establishment of ‘an “inclusive” government with significant representation of women. The special session on Afghanistan is being held at the request of Pakistan, as coordinator of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on human rights and humanitarian issues, and of Afghanistan, represented by Nasir Ahmad Andisha , the diplomat that the former government had appointed, with the support of nearly a hundred countries, including France and the United States.
Nasir Ahmad Andisha called on the HRC to send “a strong message to all parties, including the Taliban, to make them understand that human rights abuses will have consequences”. During the debates, some sixty countries presented a joint declaration – read by the Spanish representative to the United Nations, Aurora Diaz-Rato, notably calling for “an immediate end to the targeted killings of women’s rights defenders”. Since taking power on August 15, the Taliban have been trying to convince the population that they have changed and that their regime will be less brutal than the previous one, between 1996 and 2001. They then imposed an ultra-rigorous version of Islamic law. . Women could neither work nor study, and thieves and murderers faced terrible punishments.
“Serious violations”
The Taliban say today that they will respect the rights of women and that they will be allowed to receive an education and work. But that does not stop the flow of those who do not believe in their promises and want at all costs to leave. In Kabul, thousands of people gather around the airport, hoping to be able to leave their country on board planes chartered by the West. Michelle Bachelet, who in early August had referred to “reports of violations that could be assimilated to war crimes and crimes,” said Tuesday that she had received “credible information showing serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses in many areas ”under Taliban control.
And to warn the Taliban: “human rights violations undermine the legitimacy of their perpetrators – both vis-à-vis the population, but also regional and international institutions and other states”. Michelle Bachelet called on the HRC to put in place “a dedicated mechanism to closely monitor the evolution of the human rights situation in Afghanistan, including – in particular – the implementation by the Taliban of their promises”. Several NGOs have called for the establishment of an international investigation, as the CDH has created for Burma or Venezuela. But the draft resolution presented by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC merely asks the High Commissioner to investigate human rights violations and publish a report in the first quarter of 2022.