GENEVA (14 August 2023) – Two years after seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban continues to violate many human rights including implementing a system of total discrimination, exclusion and subjugation of women and girls, UN experts said today. The gap between promises and practices by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities has widened and the idea of a “reformed” Taliban has been exposed as mistaken, the experts said. To mark that two years have passed since the Taliban’s take-over of Afghanistan, they issued the following statement:
“Two years ago, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. Since then, the policies they have imposed on the Afghan population have resulted in a continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights, including the rights to education, work, and freedoms of expression, assembly and association. Consistent credible reports of summary executions and acts tantamount to enforced disappearances, widespread arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment, as well as arbitrary displacement, have caused increased concern. The hardest hit are women and girls, ethnic, religious and other minorities, people with disabilities, displaced persons, LGBTQ+ persons, human rights defenders and other civil society actors, journalists, artists, educators, and former government and security officials.